Braddock, Pennsylvania

My Great, Great Grandfather returned from the civil war a broken and mentally haunted battered man.

You see he was accidentally forced to kill his own brother during the American Civil War that was a civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865, fought between northern states loyal to the Union and southern states that had seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.

The civil war began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of Black people. In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict.

The Civil War erupted from a variety of long-standing tensions and disagreements about American life and politics. For nearly a century, the people and politicians of the northern and southern states had been clashing over the issues that finally led to war: economic interests, cultural values, the power of the federal government to control the states and most importantly, slavery in American society. While some of these differences might have been resolved peacefully through diplomacy, slavery was not among them.

War finally broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina just over a month after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North, which also included some geographically western and southern states, proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery. After some time in legal limbo, many Southern black men once slaves took up arms against their former masters and distinguished themselves on campaign and on the battlefield. By the time, the war was over, black soldiers made up 10% of the Union Army and had suffered more than 10,000 combat casualties. Some black men from way down south fought and aided the Confederacy.

So here you have two black brothers and former slaves actually fighting against one another. My Great, Great Grandfather revealed in his Autobiography. Titled: Slavery What? The reason why his brother probably joined the Confederate Army was because he got tricked into joining because he couldn’t read or write.

First of all, while there were indeed Black American Confederate soldiers, they were not legally permitted to fight for the Confederate army until the last month of the Civil War. This was when the Confederacy was in extreme need of all the extra soldiers it could get, as it became increasingly likely the Union would win the war.

In his book my Great, Great Grandfather stated years after the war he was still vehemently disgusted about his brothers decision to fight for the other side. Especially, after when he saw what color of uniform he was given to wear. His younger brother Rufus he should have went AWOL and came up north in which wasn’t any better fighting for the Union.

He wasn’t colored blind (no pun intended) I hope not to know. Okay, so I added that piece of history that may have been another reason.  

In some historical context the Black soldiers who were butchered in cold blood by the Confederate troops were regularly enlisted in the Union army, were in full uniform and were defending the United States flag.

There was segregation between the many white soldiers and small number of black soldiers. The black soldiers in most cases felt like they were being treated like 2nd class citizens. 

I had to truly ask myself what is a 2nd class citizen even in 2020?

The black soldiers were typically given backbreaking and dangerous jobs, such as handling risky Nitroglycerin type of ammunition and were largely denied the opportunity to prove themselves in combat.

A 2^nd class citizen is especially a member of a minority group, who is denied the social, political and economic benefits of citizenship. A person who is not accorded a fair share of respect, recognition, or consideration. Then I discovered that there is even a 3^rd class citizen. Them being of the lowest or poorest class or quality; basically inferior. There are even 4^th and 5^th classes of people but I’m not going to get into that today.

My Great, Great, Grandfather said that he stuck a British RR 67 WD L35 729 bayonet with leather scabbard straight through his brothers heart, not knowing it was him at the time during the Fort Pillow Massacre.

The Fort Pillow Massacre in Tennessee on April 12, 1864, in which some 300 Black soldiers were killed, was one of the most controversial events of the American Civil War. Though most of the Union garrison surrendered.

My Great, Great, Grandfather stated, thus wounded soldiers should have been taken as prisoners of war, the soldiers were killed. The winning feeling that was experienced by the Confederates he said, was short-lived as they abandoned the fort the same day as when they fought and died for it. The Confederates won the battle and gained control of literally nothing. Fort Pillow was not a demographic jewel and had little to no value as a southern target.

He proudly boosted that he fought in several major battles such as The Battle of Gettysburg in which was fought from July 1 to July 3 in 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. That battle was General Robert E. Lee's final attempt to invade the North. 

He also wrote about fighting in The Battle of Brandywine and German Town: These are two other major battles that were fought on the grounds of Pennsylvania.

After my Great, Great Grandfather returned from the war he started his family living in Braddock, Pennsylvania. The borough was incorporated on June 8, 1867.

The town's industrial economy began in 1873, when Andrew Carnegie built the Edgar Thomson Steel Works on the historic site of Braddock's Field. 

Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 10 miles upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. 

When he returned home he quickly discovered that in the North, free Black Americans faced stiff competition for jobs as European immigrants formed a large part of both the skilled and unskilled labor force. Free Black Americans also faced discrimination in hiring practices. Many who had worked as skilled tradesmen in the South, where the immigrant population was smaller.

He had been a black smith before the war and got hired into E. T. Steel mill. Where my Great Grandfather worked as a millwright, my Grandfather as a Welder. My father as Crane Operator and me as an Iron Rigger.

I even graduated from General Braddock High School in 1973.