I am looking for information on the Union Company of Black soldiers called 5th regiment (col) MS and ARK. My great grand father, Abram Taylor Washington, is listed on a pension request card as 'alias Taylor Withers'. Wife, Dora E. and son (the youngest) William. He was from Jackson and later Meridian MS. This regiment seems to have been involved in serious fighting but little is written about it. I have not pursued trying to get the entire record of his service as noted on the card on line where his wife made the request. Has anyone else had a relative in this unit? Does anyone know what the practice of alias names meant? Thanks. Bettye W. Harwell email: [email protected]

Dear Bettye: I searched on the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/index.html For the 5th Regiment, Abram Washington, and Abram Withers and came up blank each time. I did a search on Google for these terms: 5th Union regiment Mississippi Arkansas colored And I came up with a number of possibilities. There appears to have been both a 5th Cavalry and 5th Infantry. Does the pension record say he was in the cavalry or infantry? For the cavalry you can start with this website: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/5thuscc/ This cavalry site also contains a roster. While there are some Washingtons on it, there is no Abram and no Withers at all. For the infantry, there are brief regimental histories on this website: http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/uncolinf4.htm Where I found this: 112th Regiment Infantry Organized at Little Rock, Ark., from 5th Arkansas Colored Infantry April 23 to November 8, 1864. Attached to 1st Division, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, June, 1864, to January, 1865. Colored Brigade, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to April, 1865. Post and garrison duty at Little Rock, Ark., entire term. Transferred to 113th United States Colored Troops (New) April 1, 1865. To make it even more confusing, there is also a 5th Regiment of Heavy Artillery: http://www.civilwararchive.com/Unreghst/uscolarty.htm 5th Regiment Heavy Artillery Organized from 1st Mississippi Heavy Artillery (African Descent). Designated 4th Heavy Artillery March 11, 1864, and 5th Heavy Artillery April 26, 1864. Attached to 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Vicksburg, Miss., to February, 1865. Unattached, Post of Vicksburg, Dept. of Mississippi, and Dept. of the Gulf to May, 1864. SERVICE.--Garrison duty at Vicksburg, Miss., until May, 1866. Expedition from Vicksburg to Rodney and Fayette September 29-October 3, 1864. Expedition from Vicksburg to Yazoo City November 23-December 4, 1864. Mustered out May 20, 1866. Lost during service 4 Officers and 124 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 697 Enlisted men by disease. Total 829. Nothing ever seems easy in genealogical research. If I were you I'd do the Google search I noted above and go through all the sites that come up and see if you can find anything that matches what you know about your great grandfather. Does the pension application give you an additional clues such as what battles he was in that could be matched to the actions of the regiments above? Good luck with your research! Ralph Poore 3440 S. Brookshore Place Boise, Idaho 83706 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Bettye Harwell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 3:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Civil War Union regiment I am looking for information on the Union Company of Black soldiers called 5th regiment (col) MS and ARK. My great grand father, Abram Taylor Washington, is listed on a pension request card as 'alias Taylor Withers'. Wife, Dora E. and son (the youngest) William. He was from Jackson and later Meridian MS. This regiment seems to have been involved in serious fighting but little is written about it. I have not pursued trying to get the entire record of his service as noted on the card on line where his wife made the request. Has anyone else had a relative in this unit? Does anyone know what the practice of alias names meant? Thanks. Bettye W. Harwell email: [email protected]