Christian Abraham Fleetwood (1840 - abt. 1914)

Born 21 Jul 1840 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Husband of Sara Louise (Iredell) Fleetwood — married 16 Nov 1869 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Died about 28 Sep 1914 at about age 74 in Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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Biography

Christian Fleetwood is Notable.

Christian Fleetwood was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Christian Fleetwood was awarded the Butler Medal.

Sergeant Major Christian Fleetwood served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: August 1863
Mustered out: 4 May 1866
Side: USA
Regiment(s): G Company, 4th Regiment, United States Colored Troops

Sergeant Major Christian A. Fleetwood was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the United States Army during the U.S. Civil War. In his lifetime he was a newspaper publisher and the organizer and commander of a battalion of the District of Columbia National Guard.^[1]

Born in Baltimore^[2] in 1840, he was the son of free African Americans, Charles and Anna Maria Jones Fleetwood.^[1][3] He was educated in the home of his father's employer, wealthy sugar merchant John C. Brune, and graduated in 1860 from Pennsylvania's Ashmun Institute (later Lincoln University).^[1][3] He worked for the Maryland Colonization Society and traveled to Liberia and Sierra Leone.^{[1] [3]} When he returned to the United States, he was one of the publishers of the Lyceum Observer, one of the first African American newspapers in the border slave states.^[1][3] He was among the wave of African Americans who enlisted in the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation, volunteering for G Company, 4th Regiment, United States Colored Troops in August of 1863.^[4][5][3] His education and experience qualified him for the rank of sergeant at enlistment, and within days he was promoted to sergeant major.^[1][5][3]

Sergeant Major Fleetwood was awarded the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor, for gallantry during the Battle of Chaffin's Farm near Richmond, Virginia, on 29 September 1864.^[3] As his regiment charged on enemy fortifications, under fire, Fleetwood came upon a just-wounded sergeant, Alfred B. Hilton, the bearer of two flags, one of which he'd recovered from another fallen flag bearer. As Hilton fell, Fleetwood and another soldier, Charles Veale, each grabbed a flag before they hit the ground. Under heavy fire, Fleetwood waved the flag and rallied his retreating troops. Fleetwood, Hilton, and Veale were each awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions on that day.^[1] His citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Major Christian A. Fleetwood, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 29 September 1864, while serving with 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, in action at Chapin's Farm, Virginia. Sergeant Major Fleetwood seized the colors, after two Color Bearers had been shot down, and bore them nobly through the fight.^[1]

He was also awarded the Butler Medal, by General B.F. Butler, commander of the colored corps.^[1] Although every officer of the regiment signed a petition for Fleetwood to be commissioned an officer, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton did not approve the appointment.^[1] Fleetwood's Medal of Honor is now housed at the Smithsonian Institute. ^[6]

After the war, he worked as a bookkeeper, then at the Freedmen's Bank, and then for the War Department. He organized a battalion of D.C. National Guardsmen. This unit was expanded into the Sixth Battalion of the D. C. National Guard in 1887, and he was commissioned its major and commander. In 1888 he also organized Washington, D.C.'s Colored High School Cadet Corps, and was their first instructor. Some of his proteges later enlisted for World War I, and others sought a commission at the Colored Officers Training Camp in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In 1891, after several African American battalions were consolidated into the First Separate Battalion of the D. C. National Guard, Fleetwood was passed over for commander, and he resigned in 1892.^[1]

Marriage

Christian Fleetwood married Sara Iredell, great granddaughter of vice-president Aaron Burr through his illegitimate son, Jean Pierre Burr, on 16 November 1869 in Washington, District of Columbia.^[1] They had one daughter, Edith, in 1884.^[7][8]

Death

Christian Fleetwood died on 28 September 1914^[9] from heart failure at the age of 74. His funeral was held at St Luke's Episcopal Church, and he was interred in Columbian Harmony Cemetery in Washington, D.C. The First Separate Battalion of D. C. National Guard served as the funeral escort. His pallbearers were prominent Washingtonians Arthur Brooks, Daniel Murray, Whitefield McKinlay, and Judge Robert H. Terrell.^[1] In 1959 when Columbia Harmony Cemetery was closed, his remains were moved to National Harmony Memorial Park in Maryland.^[10][11]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12} Wikipedia contributors, "Christian Abraham Fleetwood," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christian_Abraham_Fleetwood&oldid=1107237244 (accessed January 31, 2023).
2. ↑ "Civil War Medal of Honor recipients, A-L," Medal of Honor recipients, United States Army Center of Military History https://web.archive.org/web/20190901225510/https://history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html: accessed 25 October 2018).

   Rank and organization: Sergeant Major, 4th U.S. Colored Troops
   Place and date: At Chapins Farm, Va., 29 September 1864.
   Entered service at: ------.
   Birth: Baltimore, Md.
   Date of issue: 6 April 1865.
   Citation: Seized the colors after 2 color bearers had been shot down, and bore them nobly through the fight.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} "Christian Fleetwood," The Civil War in America (Biographies), Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/biographies/christian-fleetwood.html : accessed 24 October 2018).
4. ↑ US Civil War Service Record, 4th US Colored Infantry, Em-Gra, Fleetwood, Christian A; Fold3.com, database with images (https://www.fold3.com/image/122058395?xid=2312 : accessed 15 July 2020) (subscription required); citing NARA M1820. Compiled military service records of volunteer Union soldiers who served with the United States Colored Troops, 2nd through 7th Colored Infantry, 1861-65, roll 36.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} National Park Service. "Soldiers and Sailors Database," The Civil War (https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/soldiers-and-sailors-database.htm : accessed 25 October 2018).
6. ↑ Smithsonian Institution. "Soldiering," CivilWar@Smithsonian (http://www.civilwar.si.edu/soldiering_medal_of_honor.html# : accessed 25 October 2018)
7. ↑ "District of Columbia Births and Christenings, 1830-1955," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F755-WMX : 10 January 2020), Chris A Fleetwood in entry for Fleetwood, 1884.
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMXB-19L : accessed 15 July 2020), Christian A Fleetwood, Washington city, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 17, sheet 21A, family 399, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,158.
9. ↑ "District of Columbia Deaths, 1874-1961," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7RK-3VV : accessed 15 July 2020), Christian A. Fleetwood, 28 Sep 1914, District of Columbia, United States; citing reference ID 219382, District Records Center, Washington D.C.; FHL microfilm 2,115,610.
10. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 15 July 2020), memorial page for Christian Abraham Fleetwood (21 Jul 1840–28 Sep 1914), Find A Grave: Memorial #7101937, citing National Harmony Memorial Park Cemetery, Hyattsville, Prince George's County, Maryland, USA; Maintained by Find A Grave.
11. ↑ Newspapers.com. "Funeral Services Held for Maj. C.A. Fleetwood", The Evening Star, District of Columbia, 02 Oct 1914, page 7.

See also:

• 1850 Census: "1850 United States Federal Census"
  The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Baltimore Ward 11, Baltimore, Maryland; Roll: 284; Page: 162a; Line Number: 11
  Ancestry Record 8054 #19653653 (accessed 15 September 2023)
  Charles Fleetwood (38), Waiter, in Baltimore Ward 11, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Born in Maryland.
• "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M69C-BX3 : 18 March 2020), Christian Fleetwood in entry for Charles Fleetwood, household 323, page 50, 11th Ward Baltimore City, Baltimore, Maryland, United States; US National Archives, micropublication M653, roll 463
• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNWB-637 : 19 March 2020), Christian Flatwood in entry for Charles French, household 246, page 30, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), micropublication M593.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKLN-T4J : accessed 15 July 2020), Christine A Fleetwood, Precinct 8, Washington, District of Columbia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 147, sheet 5A, family 76, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 153; FHL microfilm 1,374,166.
• "Organization Index to Pension Files of Veterans Who Served Between 1861 and 1900," United States : The National Archives, 5 September 1889 (https://www.fold3.com : accessed 26 October 2018); Fleetwood, Christian A.
• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD4H-DBN : 4 April 2020), Christian Fleetwood in household of Charles Fleetwood, Baltimore, ward 11, Baltimore, Maryland, United States; citing family 618, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States, Freedmen's Bureau Records of Persons and Articles Hired, 1865-1872," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QP-Q1TQ : accessed 15 July 2020), Christian A Fleetwood, 19 Jun 1867; citing Residence, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1902, Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1861-1880, RG 105, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2003), roll 17; FHL microfilm 2,424,792.
• "United States, Freedmen's Bureau Records of Persons and Articles Hired, 1865-1872," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QP-7MLD : accessed 15 July 2020), Christian A Fleetwood, 31 Aug 1867; citing Residence, Washington, District of Columbia, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1902, Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1861-1880, RG 105, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2003), roll 17; FHL microfilm 2,424,792.
• Wikidata: Item Q551364