James C. Toy (July 1836 – April 7, 1889), a

Harford County, Maryland Harford County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is al ...

, native, led the 2nd Regiment Cavalry, U.S. Colored Troops in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, then farmed on

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, where he became active in the

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, serving in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868 and the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

representing Northampton County, Virginia , before a war-related disability caused him to move to

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and then to

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, where he worked for the Government Printing Office until shortly before his death.

Early and family life

Born some time between 1836 and 1841 in rural

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, Harford County, Maryland, to Eleanor Toy (1853–) and her husband, carpenter and farmer John Toy (1803 – c. 1872), James was the third of six sons; the family also included five daughters but no slaves. He married Mary Toy in 1874. Their son William was born in 1876 and daughter Rose in 1883.

Career

During the

, James Toy and two of his brothers volunteered to serve for three year terms in the Union Army. All were initially sent to Maryland's Eastern Shore, a hotbed of

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sympathizers, perhaps because of its agricultural dependence on slavery. James Toy joined the Purnell Legion, Maryland Cavalry in December 1861 and would ultimately muster out of that unit as a sergeant. His elder brother George Toy received a commission as lieutenant of the 1st Regiment Eastern Shore Maryland Volunteer Infantry, and would later serve with the

11th Regiment Maryland Volunteer Infantry The 11th Maryland Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 11th Maryland Infantry was organized at Baltimore, Maryland, and mustered in on June 15, 1864, for 10 ...

. His younger brother Edward Toy would serve the entire war in the

2nd Maryland Infantry, Eastern Shore The 2nd Maryland Infantry, Eastern Shore was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 2nd Maryland Infantry, Eastern Shore was organized at Charlestown, Maryland, Charlestown, Maryland beginni ...

, enlisting as a private and rising to sergeant. On January 3, 1864, James Toy volunteered to lead colored troops then being organized at Fort Monroe in Virginia, and received a commission as 1st lieutenant of the 2nd Regiment Cavalry, U.S. Colored Troops, first helping to lead company H and later rising to the rank of captain and leading Company D. The unit participated in the Siege of Petersburg and related actions until February 1865, and then was sent to

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and assigned duties on

before being dispatched to Texas in June 1865, although Toy would be mustered out in Maryland in February 1866. Toy returned to Virginia's Eastern Shore to farm. In Virginia's first postwar election, Captain Toy and Edward K. Snead were elected as Republicans to represent Northampton and neighboring

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at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868. After that Constitution was adopted, Northampton voters elected Toy to the

in 1869 and re-elected him to the part-time position the following year. In 1871, in a close election, former slave and Union veteran Peter J. Carter won the seat, and would remain a major force in the Republican party on the Eastern shore for more than the next decade. Toy continued to farm in Northampton County in 1880, but moved to

and in April 1881 applied for a veterans pension because of a disability. By 1894, Toy and his wife had moved to

, where Toy had a job as a messenger, and by 1897 worked at the Government Printing Office as a result of a nomination from Virginia's first Congressional District (which includes Northampton County which Toy once represented in the state legislature).

Death and legacy

James C. Toy resigned his government job for health reasons in January 1914, and died in Washington, D.C. the following month, survived by his second wife, a daughter and a son. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, although his gravestone incorrectly lists him as a former Maryland legislator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toy, James C. 1836 births 1914 deaths 19th-century American legislators Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates People of Maryland in the American Civil War Politicians from Harford County, Maryland People from Northampton County, Virginia People from Petersburg, Virginia People of Virginia in the American Civil War Burials at Arlington National Cemetery 19th-century Virginia politicians