Abraham Jackson

Quick Facts

Significance:

Freedom Seeker on the Planter, 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Soldier

Place of Birth:

Petersburg, Virginia

Date of Birth:

Approximately 1838

Place of Death:

Unknown

Date of Death:

Unknown

There is not much information about Abraham Jackson, before being part of the crew of the Planter. His Army service record lists him as being born in Petersburg, Virginia. So, whether he was moved to Charleston, by his enslaver, to support the war effort, or he was sold to an enslaver in the Charleston area prior to the war and leased to the Confederate Army is unknown.¹ According to reports Jackson was either a fireman, the person responsible for tending to and running the boiler on a steam ship, or a common deckhand on the Planter.   

It's unclear how much Abraham Jackson had to do with the actual escape plan. There are two accounts that place Jackson on the Etwan with Charles Chisolm and the families of the crew. Where they waited on the North Atlantic Wharf, for the Planter and its crew to launch its strike to freedom.² According to John Smalls’ account in the Black River Gazette, “Jackson having charge of de boat, and no white folks in her.”³, may show that Jackson was a trusted member of the Etwan crew and not the Planter.  

In the early morning hours of May 13, 1863, with the crew of the Planter was reunited with their families on the North Atlantic Wharf. Jackson and the rest of the crew made the required preparations and started their voyage through the Charleston Harbor, and all the perilous tests that would challenge the nerve of every man on the ship. The route of the Planter would first send them past Castle Pickney, between Fort Ripley and Fort Johnson, then past Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, then out to open sea, until they reached the US Navy’s Southern Blockading Squadron.  

After the Planter reached the US Navy Blockade, the ship and her crew were brought to Beaufort, SC. It’s not clear what Jackson did in between arriving in Beaufort in May of 1862 and March of 1863, but on March 20, 1863, Jackson enlisted in the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers alongside John Smalls and William Morrison. Although there is no record of it, it is probable that Jackson was with the rest of the 2nd South Carolina when they made their daring late-night raid up the Combahee in June, under the command of Harriet Tubman and Col. James Montgomery.  

During his time serving in the 2nd South Carolina (later the 34th USCT), Jackson served in operations launched from Morris Island, more than likely seeing action at Grimball’s Landing and Fort Wagner. Jackson was sent down to Jacksonville, FL with the rest of the 2nd South Carolina in February of 1864. There the Regiment was reorganized as the 34th US Colored Infantry Regiment. Later that year, Jackson would return to South Carolina to participate in the Battle of Honey Hill in November of 1864. The 34th continued to harass Confederate supply lines with expeditions through South Carolina and Florida until Jackson and the regiment mustered out in Jacksonville in February of 1866.  

In a 1902 letter to the Commissioner of Pensions, Robert Smalls states, “…Abraham Jackson, who came out in the steamer and was one of her crew. He went to Jacksonville, Fla. Immediately after war and I have never heard from him since.”⁴ Jackson more than likely stayed in Jacksonville when the 34th mustered out of service, like many USCT troops that occupied the city during the war. The Black population of Jacksonville quadrupled from 1,000 to 4,000 following the war, with a short interwar period of a Black majority in Jacksonville until the outbreak of WWI.⁵ 

Abraham Jackson shows up in an 1867 Freedmen’s Bureau labor contract, working on the Plantation of A.J. Albles, in Jefferson County, FL, for fifteen dollars a month. There is a record of an Abraham Jackson marrying Mary Ann Johnson in Gadsden County, Florida on May 22, 1869. Gadsden County only a short distance from Jefferson County and Jacksonville, all along the northern part of Florida. On one of the pension records for Abraham Jackson, his widow is listed as Jackson, Anna M. Possibly an Anna Marie, Mary Anna, or some misidentified variation of the same name. In the 1885 Florida State Census for Gadsden County, an A. Jackson shows up as a farmer, married to an Ann with three daughters (14,10,7) and one son (5). A daughter Ann the only one listed by name. The others just by a single initial, A, M, and A.      

With the almost complete destruction of the 1890 US Census from fire, any record of Abraham Jackson seems to disappear after the 1885 Florida State Census. Jackson would have only been 62 years old by the time the 1900 US Census took place, so it’s possible he was still alive, but it’s hard to say with no record to support it.

Sources

1. Records of the Adjutant General's Office, U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records,1863-1865, 34th U.S. Colored Infantry, Abraham Jackson, NARA, accessed through Ancestry.com.
2. “A Jackass in Lion’s Skin,” The Charleston Daily Courier, October 13, 1870, Pg. 1. & W.A. Bacon, “Old Papers,” Black River Gazette, Fri, Jul 12, 1872, Pg. 1.
3. IBID
4. Robert Smalls, Letter to E.T. Ware Commissioner of Pensions, August 22, 1902.
5. James B. Crooks, “The History of Jacksonville Race Relations Part 1: Emancipation and Jim Crow” The Florida Times Union, September 5, 2021.