Another true hero in the battle for freedom is Milton Holland. For his bravery at the battle of Chapin's Farm in Virginia he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on April 6, 1865.
Milton took over command of the 5th United States Colored Infantry troops after all of the officers had been killed. Even though wounded he led his troops to victory
Milton Holland was an 18 year old when he registered to serve. He was born in Austin Texas around 1845. He states in this record that he was freed before 1861. Milton was formerly owned by Spearman Holland of the Holland Plantation. Milton enlisted in Athens Ohio on June 22nd 1863
****Milton is also one of three sons born to Bird Holland a confederate soldier and the half brother to Spearman.)****
Here he was listed as a First Sgt and served in that capacity for eleven months. His commanders were so impressed with his ability he was promoted.
On August 31st Holland was promoted to Sgt Major and in September 1864 was transferred out of Company C
Milton Holland was listed on the Muster-Out Roll in Carolina City North Carolina on September 20th 1865.
This is faint but it basically reads according to my eyes: Written on August 2 1865 Holland is requesting a hearing on the injustice of the case implying that he had been absent from roll call. Holland stated that he has commanded the entire time for the last last five months.
Adjutant General Report listing rundown of promotion and then demotion. Holland was promoted in the field but since the army did not recognize African Americans as officers Holland was stripped of his promotion.
After moving from Washington DC where Milton worked for the government he and his wife Virginia took residence in Maryland as evidence of this 1910 census.(click to enlarge)
Holland later in life. Milton left this earth on May 15th 1910 in Silver Springs Maryland and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Thank God for Men like these who fought for our freedom. Now our task is to get the word out about these men so that our children and children's children will know of the sacrifices that our ancestors made. I know that as a kid growing up, we were not privy to this information in school.
8 comments:
Isn't it great what you can find on service records and other primary source documents? I love to read blog posts like this, that show the research trail. Thanks for sharing the story.
I love it Heather, and also its great to get the word out about such brave soldiers.. Thanks for the comment
I posted twice last week about the Mass. 54th regiment and I recieved above average email. I think people are hungry for this kind of information, even though the 54th was in a movie. No comments on the blog though, which is odd.
Amen to that Heather. I bet people are reading your blog and getting good information. I think most people enjoy the read and don't think to comment. Human nature
mabe (smile)
I was THRILLED to see this post. It just so happens that I spent the afternoon with two descendants of Hollands from Georgia. As we were talking, we found information about Milton. We were speculating as to whether or not Bird Holland could have been in Georgia first. The Georgia Hollands are a really interesting group, too. I'll have to tell them about your blog.
Thanks Kathy! I am equally thrilled that you were here. Spearman and Bird were brothers but the only indication I have seen is that Spearman was born in Ms.
I think you may be right. Last night I spent quite a bit of time "googling" this family in google reader. It looks like I could find the family in Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, but not Georgia (as I hoped).
I was just wondering, where did you find those service records? I've turned up some in the past, but not all. R.G. Ratcliffe
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