Bracken County's African-American Civil War Story
Bracken County’s undulating ridges are not conducive for large farming operations, particularly crops and as a result there were not a large number of slaves in the county. According to the 1860 Slave Schedule Bracken County had 177 slave owners with 553 Black slaves and 196 Mulatto slaves. There were also in the county 55 free Blacks and 28 free Mulattoes. However, as a microcosm of the state as a whole, many leading men who would serve the Union were slave holders.
There are two known black men buried in Bracken County today that served during the Civil War.
Elijah Burse Bass - Born in 1840, with black complexion, black hair and eyes, standing five feet and five and a quarter inches tall and listed as a laborer in Maysville, which means most likely a slave. He enlisted in the 121st United States Colored Infantry on October 8, 1864 in Maysville. Bass was transferred to the 13th United States Colored Heavy Artillery on May 23, 1865 and mustered into the 13th the next day in Greenupsburg. He would be mustered out of the 13th on November 18th in Louisville. By 1910 Bass was “working out” as a farm laborer, indicating that he was working for other farmers in the area. He would file for a for pension October 31st, 1890 and paid $15.00 per month in 1912; the pension would increase to $72.00 by 1926. His widow Nancy would then file on December 3, 1929. She would live until 1948. Elijah Bass is buried in Maple Grove Cemetery.
Albert Pogue Steen - Born in 1832, Steen was five feet and nine inches tall, with a brown eyes and complexion, black hair, and became a member of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. For those of you who have seen the movie “Glory,” the 55th was formed at the same time as the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the latter made famous by the movie. Both regiments were filled with men from Ohio as Ohio’s governor, David Tod, was slow to allow the formation of a black Ohio regiment and black men of Ohio wanted to serve. The 55th was organized at Readville, Massachusetts on June 22, 1863. Steen, whose residence upon enlisting was Ripley, Ohio, was a twenty-seven year old farmer when he joined Company E. According to the 1890 United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War, Steen had taken a gun shot wound to the hip during his time in the 55th, although it is unknown at which action this occurred. He seems to have been a healthy soldier as he was never listed as sick on the bi-monthly reports. He did, however, lose his canteen and haversack at one point, resulting in $1.79 being deducted from his pay. The 55th saw most of its service in South Carolina, and was heavily engaged at Honey Hill on November 30th, 1864. Steen would be discharged from the regiment on August 28, 1865 at Charleston, South Carolina, and return to the region. He would marry Mary Elizabeth Rankin, seventeen years his junior, and they would have three children. Albert would file for his pension in 1888, and would die in Augusta on October 10, 1913. He is buried in Hillside Cemetery.