A Black Woman's Civil War Memiors by Susie King Taylor

Catherine’s Sound and the Atlantic Ocean when they were rescued by Union forces and transported to St.

One year after the opening salvo of the Civil War in 1861, thirteen year old Susie along with an uncle’s family escaped via boat at Jones River sailing into St. (One of her teachers during this dangerous time was Mother Mathilda Beasley of Savannah, Georgia’s first African American Catholic nun.) She was secretly taught to read by her plantation mistress and by the age of seven she moved with her quasi-free grandmother Dolly Reid to Savannah where she attended a series of underground secret schools at a time in Georgia’s history when it was illegal. Her father was enslaved on a neighboring plantation in Riceboro, Georgia. Among nearly thirty others, she was enslaved with her mother, grandmother, and five younger siblings on the Valentine Grest Plantation in Midway. She was born Susannah “Susie” Baker in Midway, Liberty County Georgia on August 6, 1848.

Susie Baker King Taylor is a woman of great significance to Georgia and the nation’s history.

1855-1862: Demonstrated courage by attending four undergrund secret school in Savannah when it was illegal under the Georgia slave lawsġ862: Escaped plantation slavery via boat with several other family membersġ962-1965: Educated hundreds of other runaway slaves on St Simon's Island Appointed teacher by Union Army Became the first federally funded teacher in the state of Georgia Among the first acknowledged African American nurses in the US to administer battlefield care to the wounded and dying soldiersġ866-1868: Opened three schools for African American children and adults in Georgiaġ870's: Fought for African American women's wage labor and economic independence in Savannahġ874: Served as a member of Woman's Relief Corps (WRC) in Boston, MA caring for Civil War veteransġ886: Organized a black women's Woman's Relief Corps in Boston to circumvent racial discrimination in the main WRC organizationġ898: Created care packages for the American soldiers of the Spanish-American Warġ892: Championed the cause of the Army Nurse Pension Act although she was denied a pension based on her initial enlistment titleġ902: Wrote and self-published her memoir, 'Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops'

A Black Woman's Civil War Memiors by Susie King Taylor