Belleville Volunteers Restore Graves Of Black Civil War Veterans

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Volunteers in Belleville recently restored the graves of several Black Civil War veterans in tribute to the Juneteenth holiday.

Michael Perrone, president of the Belleville Historical Society, shared the following details about the effort with Patch this week:

“Last Thursday while doing restoration work at Bloomfield Cemetery, the Belleville Historical Society came across the gravestone of Jacob Freeman, a Black Civil War veteran. The stone was in need of a cleaning, and the society thought that it would make for a good Juneteenth commemoration project. The society did some additional research and learned that there were four other Black Civil War veterans buried in the cemetery. The society then went to work locating and cleaning the other stones.”

Perrone continued:

“One veteran, James Sloane, was buried without a headstone. The society went to work creating a mold to reproduce a regulation Civil War headstone for Sloane, who served as a private in the 24th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment.”

More than 178,000 Black men served in the Army and Navy during the Civil War, with a 20 percent death rate, much higher than that of white soldiers. During the war, 16 Black soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, Perrone said.

Perrone noted that during the Civil War and up until 1948, the U.S. Army was segregated, however, the Navy was not segregated.

The society is planning to hold a short dedication ceremony of the Sloane headstone on Saturday, June 22 at 11 a.m. Bloomfield Cemetery is located at 316 Belleville Avenue, near Bloomfield High School.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Belleville-Nutley Facebook page.