Horace James (May 6, 1818 – June 9, 1875) was a minister who served as a
chaplain in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served in the
25th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment and was tasked with assisting
freedmen
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...
in North Carolina in 1863.
James was born in
Medford, Massachusetts to Galen C. James and Mary R. Turner, who was from
Scituate, Massachusetts. James graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1840.
After President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
issued the
Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in rebel territory in April 1863,
John G. Foster appointed James, an experienced
Congregational
Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
chaplain, as "Superintendent of Negro Affairs for the North Carolina District" to support the transition to freedom for former slaves. He was to develop a colony from the
contraband (escaped slaves) camp that had developed on
Roanoke Island. It became known as the
Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony and was active from 1863 until 1867. James also managed other camps for freedmen in the state, such as one at
Trent River near his base at
New Bern
New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...
. Foster directed James to settle the people, give them farming tools, and prepare them for a "free and independent community."
["The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony"](_blank)
, provided by National Park Service, at North Carolina Digital History: LEARN NC, accessed 11 November 2010 He issued a report on his department's activities in 1864. Some of his letters, orations, and sermons were published.
[ including one he gave July 4, 1862 to the Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers at ]Newbern, North Carolina
New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...
.[ Some of his letters were to his father's newspaper ''The Congregationalist''.]James City, North Carolina
James City is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,899 at the 2010 census. It is part of the New Bern, North Carolina Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Histor ...
, established as a colony of freedmen, was named for him.[
]
Personal life
James married Helen Leavitt in Medford in 1843 and they moved to Wrentham, Massachusetts
Wrentham ( ) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,178 at the 2020 census.
History
In 1660, five men from Dedham were sent to explore the lakes near George Indian's wigwam and to report back to the ...
where he served as pastor of the Wrentham Original Congregational Church. They had one son, Horace Melville James (born March 28, 1846).[
]
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Horace
1818 births
1875 deaths