Robert Jones (1843 - July 15, 1932)
In the 104th US Colored Troops, Robert Jones joined thousands of Black soldiers fighting not only for the Union but for their own freedom and rights.
Robert Jones was born in 1843 in South Carolina. The plantation economy, built on the backs of enslaved Black men and women, created a society fiercely committed to preserving slavery. For people like Robert, life was defined by the dehumanizing laws of the antebellum South.
In 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, sparking the crisis that led to the Civil War. Three years later, the United States War Department's General Order No. 143 allowed Black men to serve as soldiers, and thousands across Union and Confederate states alike answered the call.
Robert enlisted in the 104th United States Colored Troops, one of six regiments of Black soldiers organized in South Carolina. For men like Robert, service in the USCT was more than a chance to fight for the Union. It was a pathway to freedom, respect, and the right to claim citizenship in a country that had long denied their humanity. "Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S.," abolitionist Frederick Douglass famously declared, "there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”
Though Robert’s 104th Regiment never saw combat, they served in essential garrison and guard duties across South Carolina until early 1866, helping to enforce the Union’s authority in a state that remained deeply resistant to change.
After mustering out, Robert married Betty and settled in Austin, Texas, where he worked as a drayman, delivering goods with his own wagon. Robert’s grave is marked with a government-issued headstone and stands as a testament to his courage and the sacrifices made by thousands of Black soldiers.
