07/11/2019
The Center for Civil War Photography
HONORING HER REMARKABLE ANCESTOR'S GRAVESITE
by Craig Heberton IV
Stories about the life of EDWARD RICHARDSON (pictured in his sergeant's uniform, below), a slave who became a Union soldier, were passed along to his great-granddaughter, Susan Richardson-Sanabria (also pictured, below). Eight years ago, after years of effort, Ms. Richardson-Sanabria succeeded in placing a Department of Veterans' Affairs headstone, reflecting Richardson's service in the Civil War, over his grave at the Spencer U.A.M.E. Church, 314 Bailey St., Woodstown, New Jersey. This is as much her story of fortitude as it is her ancestor's.
Beginning in her childhood, Susan Richardson-Sanabria soaked up stories from her father’s Aunt Sade about Edward Richardson’s birth on Oct. 15, 1841 into slavery on a plantation in Cecilton, Md.; how he taught himself to read and write; his escape from captivity via the Underground Railroad aided by Quaker families; his work on the farm of Quaker Samuel Lippincott; his enlistment into the Union Army during the Civil War at Camp William Penn near Philadelphia; his actions as a soldier [mustering into Company A of the 22nd Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops on December 7, 1863], including receiving the Butler Medal (for meritorious or heroic acts of bravery at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm at New Market Heights); his marriage to Fannie Sturges (pictured in the tintype with Richardson, below) in 1866 and their life in a house on Bailey Street in Woodstown, New Jersey, just a few doors down from the Spencer U.A.M.E. Church and graveyard.
Richardson was "a color bearer in some of the fiercest combats of the war, including Petersburg," according to "Camp William Penn" (2008), at p. 79, edited by Donald Scott Sr. He is said to have "witnessed the fall of Richmond, the surrender at Appomatox and marched in Lincoln’s funeral procession in Washington."https://blogs.stockton.edu/hist2177/files/2011/01/Salem-NJ-Seven-Steps-to-Freedom.pdf
According to Richardson-Sanabria, her Great Aunt Sade "lived to be 99 years old and lamented the fact that [Edward Richardson] did not have a proper headstone on his grave." Richardson-Sanabria "realized that I was the only one left who knew where Edward Richardson was buried ... My great-grandfather’s grave did not even have his name or date of birth, so I decided I needed to take action ... I [turned to] [Edward Richardson's] original enlistment paper [inherited] from my father who had gotten it from his Aunt Sade." The enlistment information allowed her to obtain copies of Richardson’s military service and pension records from the National Archives.
Eventually she enlisted the help of Paul Horvath of Layton Monuments and Markers in Woodstown. With all of her assembled information, including the enlistment papers, he obtained an official granite marker for Richardson which was delivered to the cemetery and installed in July 2011. Said Horvath: “For many, a headstone brings final closure to a family. In this case, it not only marks his life, but the role he played in the Civil War. That is very meaningful for the family.”
In the words of journalist Tracy R. Wiggins, "Now that a proper headstone marks his grave, people will be left in no doubt as to where Richardson is laid to rest. Now, his life will not only be left to memory, but there is a physical marker of his accomplishments."
After Edward Richardson died on May 11, 1922, his death notice in the "Woodstown Monitor" recited that he was remembered by friends as being “a good man” with a “reputation here for integrity and ambition” [who rose from the] “position of a slave … to that of a man highly respected and loved by not only the colored people of this community, but white people as well.”
“I am humbled by the faith and perseverance that my great-grandfather demonstrated in orchestrating an escape from a Maryland plantation where he had been born to make his way in unfamiliar territory as a fugitive, find work, become a soldier and then return to marry, support and raise a family. According to oral history he was a very hard worker and somewhat of an entrepreneur who managed to purchase a thrasher so that he could make extra money using the machine to thrash other farmer’s crops as well as his own. He never drank, he never lied and they said he took a horse from the plantation when making his escape from slavery and regretted that he was unable to return the horse. My impression is that my great-grandfather would be disappointed to learn that all Civil War veterans’ graves have not been decorated with headstones and some have no marker at all. However, I think he would be pleased that one of his descendants pursued the matter of obtaining a headstone, which he earned through service to his country.” -- Susan Richardson-Sanabria
https://www.nj.com/salem/2011/07/escaped_slave_civil_war_soldie.html
Detail from a tintype captioned "Edward V. Richardson, b. 1840, and Fannie Sturgis, former slaves from Maryland," in the Randolph Lindsly Simpson African-American collection, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, JWJ MSS 54, 2002738, by an unknown photographer, which the collector dated to about 1865, on the back of which are three and 1/2 tax stamps (each of 3 cents, and the lower of which are cancelled with the word "Simkia"). There was once an envelope accompanying the tintype stating in part: "Grandad ... E.R. Richardson whose name in slavery was Richard Jones ... Tom Richardson."
Image of Susan Richardson-Sanabria holding a copy of a print of the photograph of Edward Richardson and Fanny Sturges/Sturgis from the article "Escaped slave, Civil War soldier receives proper grave marker in Woodstown cemetery thanks to efforts of his great-granddaughter," by Tracy R. Wiggins in the July 24, 2011 online issue of NJ.com: https://www.nj.com/salem/2011/07/escaped_slave_civil_war_soldie.html
