Jackson Beardsley drawing by Bruce Walters
On June 15, 2002, at 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning, a crowd gathered for “Black Heroes Carved in Stone,” a ceremony held at Chippiannock Cemetery. They had convened to honor nine black soldiers who had volunteered to fight in the Civil War. The men had lain forgotten in unmarked graves until the cemetery’s office manager discovered their story while creating digital records from handwritten ledgers.
Led by Baptist clergy, community leaders, and an army captain, the dedication concluded with an honor guard salute and benediction. Military headstones now identify the graves of Jackson Beardsley, Henderson Bingman, Thomas Clark, Albery Harper, Levi Jackson, George Kelley, Lewis Marton, Lee Rogers, Samuel Thurman, and Napoleon Wood.
The first man listed above, Jackson Beardley, was born in Kentucky in 1831. He married Melissa Ribison “during the year 1860 by the same manner as slaves were married.” Having been brought to Rock Island by Col. Erza Beardsley, he mustered into the 18th Regiment U.S. Colored Infantry in October 15, 1864, having first mustered in at Camp McClellan in Davenport, substituting for a Clinton man.
Jackson Beardsley joined the 48th United States Colored Infantry Regiment at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in early November. He was injured during the siege of Alabama's Fort Blakeley, in the last major battle of the Civil War. Word had not reached the soldiers that Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, hours before the battle was won.
Roger Ruthhart, writing for the Argus, wrote that Beardsley “was fighting rebels out on the skirmish line. At the time that he was drawing his gun up over a log to shoot, a ball from a gun of the enemy struck him in the right hand between the wrist and the forefinger.” According to his military pension application, the injury cut off a nerve, rendering the hand almost entirely useless at times.
He served until Sept 2, 1865, when he was discharged in Baton Rouge. He was 33.
After the war, he returned to Rock Island. According to his obituary, he was a leader in Rock Island’s black community. “He was a man of powerful build. He was at all times quiet and peaceable when not imposed upon.” He drove a small mule drawn cart to deliver mail between Rock Island and Andalusia. “Most of his time, however, has been spent in whitewashing and doing other small jobs around town.”
Jackson died from tuberculosis and edema at the age of 53 after being ill for six months in 1885. His grave, along with the graves of the other eight men, lie in the southeast corner of Chippiannock Cemetery near Calvary Cemetery. His gravestone, installed 22 years ago, has few stark words:
JACKSON BEARDSLEY
PVT CO K
48 US CLD INF
JAN 9 1885
Sam Thurman, one of the other eight men also recognized in the “Black Heroes Carved in Stone” ceremony, served as one of his pallbearers.
Jackson Beardsley was born in Kentucky when a quarter of the state’s population were slaves. He served honorably as a soldier when many black volunteers were treated abysmally, living his later years when many of the promises of Reconstruction were unmet. Through this brief story we can, at least, gain some understanding of his life’s timeline. We need, however, to read between the lines to gain any true appreciation of his life’s resilience.
Bruce Walters is a Professor Emeritus in Art conferred by Western Illinois University.
This is part of an occasional series on famous (or infamous) people buried in cemeteries in the Quad Cities, and their history that is not so well-known today. If there’s a piece of history buried here that you’d like to learn more about, e-mail the location and a brief description to BD-Walters@wiu.edu.
