Association to Commemorate the Chinese Serving in the American Civil War, Part 14

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Some comments from the readers :

Subj: RE: FW: Hello
Date: 2/23/01 11:55:47 AM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Monty (copy Gordon): A friend of mine has a Cannon digital cam-recorder and is willing to do the filming. Please proceed with scripting how you want it filmed and the questions I will respond to. I was thinking that I will also film a scene at his gravesite for your possible use. My friend wanted to know what I should be sending you a copy of what he shoots on a VCR cassette or the little cassette in the recorder. It was great having the opportunity to talk last night. I thank you for the opportunity to contribute to your project and, in turn, to help obtain citizenship for Mr. Cohota. I read in Newsweek of President Clinton's frenzied last week in office that he even promoted Meriweather Clark of Lewis and Clark fame to the rank of major from that of captain. Mr. Cohota's case should have no problems of righting a wrong after all these years. I will look up the address and telephone number of Joseph Pierce's great grand-daughter in Florida and sent it to you. Best to you, Irving

(Webmaster's reply: Hi Ms. Bartlett-Sloan, Thank you for the tip. If some time in future I have a chance to visit the Carter House in Franklin, I will ask for Ms. Kay Sloan. Thanks again for posting my web site among your group. It generates quite a few very positive responses from some members, who are interested in the Civil War and who care about education on their adopted children. It is ironic that most of the well known Chinese serving in the ACW were themselves "adopted" by the American sea captains. Take care and good luck. Gordon Kwok.)

Subj: RE: American Experience on Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Date: 2/23/01 10:06:39 AM Eastern Standard Time
To: Gordonkwok@aol.com, If you ever get the chance to visit the Carter House in Franklin, TN, just ask for Kay Sloan. She is my mother-in-law and does a great job with the tour. Nearby is the Stones River battlefield in Murfeesboro, and Chattanooga with the Chattanooga and Chickamauga battlefields is slightly less than 2 hours south of there. Marie Bartlett-Sloan

Subj: Your ACCSACW website
Date: 2/21/01 9:19:46 PM Eastern Standard Time
Mr. Kwok, I find it hard to express in words my feelings when I saw your web site, which a friend told me about. My wife, daughter and I are intensely interested in the Civil War. Our daughter, Leah Yun, is adopted from Changzhou in Jiangsu province. Since she was 4 years old we have been taking her to Gettysburg, where we learned about Joseph Pierce and his role in the battle with the 14th Connecticut (his photo is on the Wall of Faces there in the Visitor Center). We learned more about him from a retired army colonel, John Dynia, on the Gettysburg Discussion Group. Leah knows a tremendous amount about the CW. When we first went there she started making a series of drawings which we call her Cyclorama. She participated in a children's program there in which they "joined" a regiment for an hour and got to know something about a soldier's life. Our family membership in the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg is in her name. I have only begun to explore your site. I cannot thank you enough for creating and maintaining it. Sincerely, Peter Silverman, Philadelphia, PA

Subj: American Experience on Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Date: 2/21/01 12:23:07 PM Eastern Standard Time
I was watching the American Experience program on Abraham and Mary Lincoln last night on PBS. Toward the last third or last quarter of the show, they showed pictures of the wounded who had been brought to Washington DC to recuperate. The film lingered on the face of one man, and I could have sworn that he was Chinese, or Asian. If you get a chance to see it, take a look. The scene is right after they talk about bringing the wounded by ambulance to Washington. Sincerely, Marie Bartlett-Sloan

(Webmaster's reply:
Ms. Sorrells, Thanks for writing. I know Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender to the Union. I believe he is a Cherokee. I have visted a Cherokee tribe in Georgia, at the southern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountain. It is important to preserve History and let the younger generation to learn the true history. Thanks. Gordon Kwok)

Subj: your website
Date: 2/21/01 9:45:01 AM Eastern Standard Time
Hi, I have enjoyed reading through your website. I saw it listed on one of the China adoption egroups. We are going to be going to China to adopt our son or daughter in about a year. It is important to us that our future child has a positive understanding of where he/she came from. Knowing the wonderful contributions people with a Chinese culture made, will definitely help him/her. I can say, on a personal level, how important your website is. My Great Grandfather was a Cherokee. There is very little information in history books that carries any truth about these people. Many people, even today, believe they were little more than savages. It just was and is not true. In our area, many of them owned plantations. Gunter (Founded Guntersville, AL) mansion still stands. Many were quite well off. At least, until they were forced to march off in The Trail of Tears. (Gunter died in this march.) If the above information was not documented by the Cherokee people, it would of been lost. Thank-you for taking the time to do this website. I feel it will be a valuable resource for many people. Michelle Sorrells

Subj: Re: Chinese - American Civil War web site
Date: 2/20/01 11:38:52 PM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Mr. Kwok, I have posted your kind message onto several of the adoptive web sites where I am a member. I gave them your web address again and also your e mail address in case some of them wanted to contact you personally. You may hear from some of them. The number of people that your post could reach is about 6,000. But, not everyone will read it and some people will just not be interested in the subject. Anyway, your research has been called to the attention of the future and present parents of children adopted from China. Good luck with the results! Mary Maxwell

Subj: Your web site
Date: 2/20/01 11:04:04 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hello, I saw information about your web site on the China4ourchildren email list. My husband and I are in the process of adopting a child from China and we are very interested in learning about the history of Chinese Americans. Thank you for such a fascinating site --I look forward to exploring it further. I will add a link to your site on my little personal homepage. Jane

Subj: China adoption website
Date: 2/20/01 8:58:46 PM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Mr. Kwok, I am the one who posted your website to the international China adoption list. I found your website quite by accident while doing searches on Gen. Sherman using Google. We live near Kennesaw Mountain in North Georgia, so that particular campaign has become an interest of mine. Your website was quite a surprise as I had never thought that any Chinese had participated in the Civil War. My mother in law is a guide at the Carter House, Franklin, TN (Battle of Franklin where Gen. John Bell Hood lost so badly). Both my family and my husband's family had members who fought in that war. We have three daughters adopted from China. Your website will give them a bit more of a feeling of connection to that terrible time in our history, I hope. I want them to be proud they are Chinese, and proud they are American. You can find out more about adopting from China at the Families with Children from China website at www.fwcc.org Sincerely, Marie Bartlett-Sloan

(Webmaster's reply:
Subj: Re: Chinese - American Civil War web site
Date: 2/20/01 8:25:24 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hello Ms. Maxwells, Would you please kindly forward this message to your group?
I am deeply honored for your group to link my web site, Chinese serving in the American Civil War. The goal of my site is to share this "not very well-known" facts on Chinese serving in the American Civil War. They fought for Freedom, for State Rights, and assisted to save the Union. I want these contribution be known. Very often, one may not learn these deeds in High School, College and even University. 99% of the Civil War books also neglected to give credit to the Chinese, and I feel honored that I am in the position I could share and spread this knowledge, and historical facts. Thank you for spreading the news, and I really appreciate it.
Gordon Kwok
Webmaster of the site.)

Subj: Re: Chinese - American Civil War web site
Date: 2/20/01 9:57:07 AM Eastern Standard Time
Ni Hao Gordon Kwok, One of the parents seems to have stumbled across your site and posted the information for the rest of us. I thought that you might be interested to know how interested we all were in your site. Thank you for your work! If you are interested in addressing the group, you can send an e mail to me and I can post it to the group for you.
"The post: Date: Sun Feb 18, 2001 4:22pm Subject: OT -- Chinese in the American Civil War I stumbled across this website: http://hometown.aol.com/gordonkwok/accsacw.html
It is the Association to Commemorate Chinese serving in the American CivWar. I have not yet looked at all the links, but am quite surprised, especially considering how badly Chinese were treated here in the US at that time. Should be very interesting!
I was a history major in college, grew up in the South (coastal NC), and am fortunate to say that my family actually owns a Civil War fort (the only privately owned one in the South) - Fort Branch along the Roanoke River. Here is their web site. http://www.fortbranchcivilwarsite.com I have passed your web site on to my family and to the Fort Brand webmaster. Now, when I go to the re-enactments with my child-to-be, I will have historical facts that Asians fought (on both sides of) the war. Thank you!"
Mary Winslow Maxwell, adopting from China this summer

Subj: Chinese who fought in the American Civil War web site
Date: 2/19/01 5:52:11 PM Eastern Standard Time
Mr. Kwok, The address for your site on Chinese who fought in the American Civil War was recently posted onto a national Chinese adoption newsgroup. We are all parents preparing to adopt children from China. We wish to pass on to our children positive role models from Chinese and American history. Your web site, and those that you link us to, fit that bill. Thank you! Mary Maxwell

Subj: Re: Question on Hong Neok Woo
Date: 2/20/01 4:52:24 PM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Mr. Kwok, Sorry for replying late. I am very busy with my website for which I have to write a lot of articles. My information about Woo was from Mr. Gao Zonglu's book in Chinese about the Chinese young students. I will try to contact people in Shanghai (newspaper reporters), they will be interested in this story ( and help to find Hong Neok Woo's picture.) My website is www.acwang.com Please feel free to provide comments. Thanks. Dr. Qingsong Zhang

Subj: chinese american soldiers
Date: 2/19/01 5:21:32 PM Eastern Standard Time
Fascinating. I didn't realize that the Chinese were soldiers during the civil war! Thanks! judy

Subj: RE: Abraham and Mary Lincoln
Date: 2/19/01 9:35:46 AM Eastern Standard Time
Gordon: Thank you for remembering my interest in Lincoln. I look forward to seeing how they will present the story of the Lincolns' in the context of the Civil War. I am in the midst of purchasing equipment and uniform. I wish that I could have lived in Pierce's time to enlist so that I could receive them right away and cheaper than what it costs now to reproduce them! I sent Monty my research papers last Monday and will make myself available to him. I sent you some pictures I wanted you to have on Joseph Pierce and a copy of a letter I wrote Don Troiani a couple of years ago asking him to do something on the CT 14th and Joseph Pierce. He never responded, but how ironic it is that he will be doing something for Monty related to what I had requested. My best to you my friend. Irving

Subj: aloha
Date: 2/15/01 12:34:18 PM Eastern Standard Time
hi gordon.. thought i'd commend you for the effort you're doing. i was looking for information on sandalwood in hawaii and stumbled upon your site. i'll mark it and check in from time to time.. cyrus siu

Date: 2/12/01 11:55:13 AM Eastern Standard Time
Gordon: I just mailed Monty a copy of my research. I will certainly provide whatever assistance I can to Monty on his production...an important story that needs to be told as you are doing through your work. Irving

Date: 2/9/01 12:09:22 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hello Irving (copy Gordon) It's nice for you to get in touch with me. I had you hand scribbled note from Mariest College that I could not very well decipher. I enjoyed meeting you and your wife. I am so pleased working with Gordon Kwok as you had seen his work, he truly, is over dedicated!!! He is a wonderful person. He is in my upcoming program, Men without a country...Chinese in the Civil War. I'd like to include some of the work that you have done on J. Pierce etc. Especially, on his descendants that are still living. I'd love to see your thesis. Would you be interested in having your work presented on this program? You'd get full credit of course on all your findings, materials etc. If you are OK with this, I need to have materials from you ASAP! I look forward to hear from you. Thanks and take care. Montgomery Hom

Date: 2/9/01 8:01:54 AM Eastern Standard Time Hi Gordon: I met Monty last Spring at Marist College when we attended a meeting of the Chinese-American Association sponsored by the student chapter in which my daughter is the treasurer. He is very well spoken and reminds me much of Ken Burns! Thank you, Gordon, for forwarding his e-mail address to me, but also, for your thoughtfulness in not giving out e-mail addresses without permission. Again, thank you for everything and the opportunity of knowing you. Irving

Subj: Pierce
Date: 2/8/01 9:02:18 PM Eastern Standard Time
G'day Gents ! Seems Irving Moy has a good touch. It is nice that he lets it be posted. Troini is good. He is also a member of the Company of Military Historians (hint). Be a sport and put yer uncle and the Wasp on the cover. That does get to most of the people who would have an interest. Keep well. Uncle Ed

Subj: Re: new info on joseph pierce
Date: 2/8/01 8:56:36 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi Gordon: It was certainly nice to hear you voice. Thanks for helping me to contact Irving Moy, I really appreciate it! So much for Cape Anne, such a shame! I look forward to getting more info on your site! Thanks, Monty

Subj: Re: new info.
Date: 2/8/01 4:45:39 PM Eastern Standard Time
Gordon, I am glad that you are collecting these pages and placing them online. I think Irving Moy has done a commendable job on Pierce. I am sure that archives and historical societies around the eastern states could yield a lot more such histories of these forgotten servicemen. I was able to gain access to your pages 15 and 16. I also look forwards to other researchers contacting you with additional information on many of the other Asians, too. I would be most interested in finding additional data on those who served in the US Colored Troops. Keep up the good work. Regards, Terry.

Subj: Re: new info on joseph pierce
Date: 2/8/01 1:55:07 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi All: Gordon, I met Irving Moy at one of my screenings! I will call him and ask him to get material to us for our program!!! This is going to be great. And don't forget that we have artist Don Troiani on board with us for our program. Any ideas on who the soldier should be on the front of our video box?? Mr. Troiani will do the art work. Any suggestions? Monty

Subj: Re: new info on joseph pierce
Date: 2/8/01 1:47:30 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi Gordon: Wow!! exciting news, may be we can interview them?? Have you resent the Cape Anne photos yet? Also, very exciting new...CW artist, Don Troiani, is going to be lending his excellent work for our program and will also do the video box art!!!! Wow!! Let's talk soon about the Pierce descendants!! Monty

Date: 2/8/01 12:46:33 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Gordon, Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I'm impressed by the details on Pierce's working life, location of his descendants and info on their lives, and the picture of the gravesite. Ruthanne

Subj: Civil War Article for CHSA Journal
Date: 2/3/01 4:44:44 PM Eastern Standard Time To: Terry and Gordon, Thank you both for what you have sent me. Thank you, Gordon, for instructing me in the glorious possibilities of internet editing. What I see is still missing is this: Gordon, could you please write up something similar to what Terry has done as to how you got into this Civil War research, what are some of the problems and exciting finds you've encountered along the way. Both of you, could you do a brief write-up of what a person can expect to find on your website. I realize this may already BE on your website, but you need to entice people to GO on site. After I receive the above from you, this is what will happen. I will forward what you have sent me to the person on our committee who makes the photocopies and sends them out to the five members of the committee to read and comment on when we meet in March. I will get back to you both with their comments at that time. Does this make sense? I know you are both very busy with your own work, and I really appreciate your taking the time to do this. Thanks, and all best, Ruthanne

Date: 1/31/01 9:05:48 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi, Gordon, By the way, I have found Union soldiers from the New Orleans area who were born in China. I am in the process of verifying the potential Chinese Confederate soldiers from Louisiana by going through the archives laboriously. I should have the stuff done in the next month or two, or so I hope. I have established a foundation fund, Louisiana Asian American heritage Fund a year and half ago and plan to approach the Civil War Museum in New Orleans to see about funding them to set up a special spot featuring Chinese Civil War soldiers. It will be doubly meaningful if I indeed manage to turn up some Chinese Civil War soldiers from Louisiana. I am very excited with my research. It is like going on a treasure hunt. :) I would like to keep it under the lid for a while since I am such an amateur and maybe totally off base. I am doing it as part of my research on the Louisiana Chinese Heritage, a video and book project. Shaie-Mei Temple

Subj: Picture of a Union Soldier
Date: 1/30/01 10:15:41 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi, Gordon, Happy New Year. I came upon this picture of an unnamed Chinese Union soldier. Maybe you can posted the picture for me on your site and ask readers to help identify the soldier for all of us? It could be fun. My research is coming along fine and I am quite excited with my findings. I am going to check them against what have been posted in your site tonight. Shaie-Mei Temple

Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 20:49:24
Because they deserted, there were no pension records for Juan Lodigo of the 31st U.S. Colored Troops (born in Nanking, China) and Ab Dola, 31st U.S. Colored Troops (born China). Of the other four, who may have been Chinese (as the East Indies at that period encompassed a vast area of Asia, one deserted, one drowned, and the other two I did apply some years ago with a negative result. Here are all the details for your information: Juan Lodigo, 31st U.S.C.T. - born Nanking, China - age 38, laborer, enlisted December 8, 1864 in New Hampshire, deserted July 10, 1865. Ab Dola, 31st U.S.C.T. - born China - aged 26, sailor, enlisted January 1864 in Gloucester, Connecticut, deserted at White Ranch, Texas, July, 1865. John Bank, 31st U.S.C.T. - born East Indies - age 21, laborer, enlisted February 4, 1864 in Bridgeport, Connecticut - wounded at Petersburg, at the Crater, July 30, 1864. Andrew Brown, 26th U.S.C.T. - born East Indies, age 34, coachman, enlisted October 3, 1864 in Jamaica, New York for $100 bounty. Joseph Fernandez (Fannades), 19th U.S.C.T. - born East Indies - age 28, cook enlisted in Baltimore, Maryland September 11, 1864 - drowned in the Rio Grande River February 19, 1866, buried in the Brownsville National Cemetery, Texas, Seciont 'G,' Grave 67. Joshua Dennis, 102nd U.S.C.T. - born Slalom, Asia? - age 35, laborer, enlisted in Detroit on July 15, 1864, July 15, 1864, deserted At Orangeburg, South Carolina, July 1, 1865. I assume there may have been others born in Asia. There are also Sandwich Islanders also on my list of those who served in the Colored Units. I once did a scan on the Internet site listing the names of colored personnel (it is actually a search by name site), for those with either Chinese or Asian sounding surnames (such as Tan, Wong, Mohammed, Ali, etc.), and did come up with some (not all) of those names. But then again, it is no guarantee that a Lee or Tan would most definitely be Chinese. I placed these names on a list and have it somewhere amongst the mess I have here at home!! Sometimes one comes up with surprising results by searching the Internet. A year or two ago I came across a name of an officer listed at one of the U.S.C.T. roster sites on the net, who was shown as being born in India. I thought it may have been a transcription error for Indiana, and queried the webmaster by sending an e-mail, but he confirmed that the actual roster did indeed show India. The name of the officer was a Caucasian name, so I am of the opinion that his parents may have been missionaries in India, or some other similar reason for his being born in India. I have not yet come across a native of Asia who was appointed an officer in the Army or Navy. Regards, Terry.

Date: 1/20/01 4:28:09 PM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Terry and Gordon, A friend who's reading Yong Chen's CHINESE IN SF just published by Stanford U. press sent me note about the reference to "a Chinese named Chen, who had come from Boston in 1847 at the age of eleven, also joined the Union army during the Civil War" (Chung Sai Yat Po, Nove 5, 1920, City News section). Do either of you know of this person? I can get the article from the Asian American Studies Library for you to translate, Gordon, if you want. Let me know. Best, Ruthanne

Subj: Asians in Western Units and Navy.
Date: 1/19/01 4:18:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
Dear Ruthanne and Gordon, You both may be correct in your assumptions about why there were fewer Asians in the Western units. One way to find out is to check out each and every muster roll for the western units, to locate birthplaces. Some years ago I got the company muster roll of an Oregon infantry unit during the war, and found the name of a soldier who was born in Colombo, Ceylon, and that was one of the unusual ones. He may have been a native of the island as his hair was black, and complexion dark, but I am sure that he was not an isolated case, and there were probably others from Asia in those western regiments. Another neglected source are the colored regiments, especially since we have those three or four names of Chinese born soldiers in a couple of the colored units. I assume that there are probably others in the colored regiments that we have not located yet. Anyway, as time goes on, I am sure we will continue to locate more names and details. Regards, Terry.

Subj: Re: Civil War Update
Date: 1/19/01 3:45:19 PM Eastern Standard Time
To: Gordon, CC: Terry, Re your theory: In essence I agree. On WEst coast, there were so many Chinese that whites felt threatened, so Chinese were not as integrated into mainstream as in the East. That--along with the fact that people in Calif felt less involved in the CW in general probably accounts for the low numbers. Unless we find someone who actually tried to join up and was rejected though, we can't say that happened. The way the two of you keep turning up stuff though, I feel confident we will know more and more about this story. Ruthanne

{From the webmaster:
Subj: Re: CHINESE IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Date: 1/18/01 5:33:14 PM Eastern Standard Time
Hi Terry and Ruthanne, I have already started looking at the California regiments. At first, I assumed that there would be quite a few Chinese serving, since there were many Chinese living in CA in 1860s (from my memory, about 50,000+) To my surprise, I could only fine one, up to this point so far. Plus I still could not confirm he was born in China. But he ie highly likely a Chinese.
William Wong / -- / -- / Priv / CA / -- / 02-20-65 / Sacramento, CA / Y / -- / 4th CA Infantry. He was mustered out on 11/30/1865 at Presidio, San Francisco, CA. The 4th CA Infantry was organized in Sacramento, Placerville & Auburn on 9/1/1861. The 1,681 soldiers were mustered out in 4/18/1866.
I have a theory on why there are less Chinese people participating in the ACW in the West Coast. In the East, where Chinese were rare, people thought they are "cute" and accept them to the Volunteer Army. In the West, they were many, "too common" and "not cute" anymore, and so they were not readily acceptable. Most Chinese wanted to dig gold in Gold Mountain, and might not be interested in joining. Thirdly, California was not in immediate danger with the Confederates, and therefore, no need to recruit more soldiers, and so very little number of Chinese serve in the West. There were little military conflicts in California and no military draft was placed there in effect. So there were not much chance for the Chinese to enlist. Terry, I will continue to look into the matter, and hopefully I could find a few more (Chinese in the West Coast). Talk to you later. Regards, Gordon}

Subj: CHINESE IN THE CIVIL WAR.
Date: 1/18/01 3:35:01 PM Eastern Standard Time
To Ruthanne and Gordon, I also have a theory I have had in mind for sometime now, and I would like your individual opinions on this, please. Because there were vast numbers of Chinese in California for the gold rush, I have been of the opinion that there would also have been many of them who served in some of the Western units during the war, and perhaps previously as well. I think it would pay to have someone check the rosters of units from California, Oregon, Washington, and other states out there. As well, I did collect a list of Union Navy vessels that operated out of California and the west some time ago, intending to purchase the rosters of those vessels some time in the future, but I placed this on hold about two or three years ago, so I haven't done anything further on this. I feel that there would most certainly have been Asians, and in particular Chinese from the California gold rush, who may have signed on aboard some of these western vessels. What do you think? I may have mentioned this theory to Gordon some time back, but I don't recall at present. I have found my references to unnamed Chinese and there are four such references, plus the latest from the Watson diary. One of the references was in fact confirmed to be actually a Persian in the 43rd New York, but back in 1995, someone had written to the CW Times Illustrated assuming that it was a Chinese. About six or seven years ago I obtained, from the Library of Congress I think, a xerox copy of a chapter from a book written in the late 1800's relating to the nativities of American soldiers in the war, and there was some mention of non Caucasians. I still have the copy of this somewhere, and it does include some other interesting details. Regards, Terry.

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