Nathaniel Hopkins Soldier from Trappe - Trappe MD - Civil Rights Memorials on Waymarking.com

LOCATION: Main Street (Maryland Route 565), Trappe MD 21673

TEXT ON THE HISTORICAL MARKER:

Nathaniel Hopkins Soldier from Trappe

This was the home of Nathaniel Hopkins, known affectionately in Talbot County as "Uncle Nace." He was born a slave near here in 1831. After leaving his owner, Percy McKnett, and serving in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, Hopkins returned here to assist newly freed blacks in southern Talbot County. In 1878, he helped establish the county's first school for black children.

Hopkins also helped establish an Emancipation Day celebration in Talbot County to commemorate the adoption by popular vote of the new state constitution on November 1, 1864. The new constitution abolished slavery in Maryland, making it the first slave state to voluntarily free its slaves by popular vote. This was different from President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which only freed slaves in rebelling states by declaring "... all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thence forward, and forever free..."

Trappe's Emancipation Day celebration began as a parade with local residents but later included participants from Delaware and New Jersey. The festivities came to include church services, speakers, food, games, music, and, of course, the parade led by Hopkins. He dressed in full U. S. Army uniform, complete with gold epaulets, a colorful sash around his waist, and a gleaming sword in his hand. Large numbers of spectators also attended. Bands, singing groups, horseback riders, and decorated wagons and carts followed behind him. Since Hopkins's death on February 22, 1900, Trappe's black citizens have continued the celebration he began now known as Nace Hopkins Day.

(Sidebar, on right): Like much of Maryland's Eastern Shore, the citizens of Talbot County were divided in their loyalties during the Civil War. Some white men from the Eastern Shore served in the Union Army while others joined the Confederate Army. On May 22, 1863, the Union's War Department issued General Orders 143 which stated, "A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops...Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterward consolidated in battalions and regiments. ... They will be designated: --------- Regiment of the U. S. Colored Troops." Throughout the rest of the war, both enslaved African Americans and freedmen from the Eastern Shore joined these regiments and served with honor and distinction.

General Orders, No. 143.
War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, May 22, 1863.

I..A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops. An officer will be assigned to the charge of the Bureau, with such number of clerks as may be designated by the Adjutant General.

II..Three or more field officers will be detailed as Inspectors to supervise the organization of colored troops at such points as may be indicated by the War Department in the Northern and Western States.

III..Boards will be convened at such posts as may be decided upon by the War Department to examine applicants for commissions to command colored troops, who, on application to the Adjutant General, may receive authority to present themselves to the board for examination.

IV. No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board; nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one regiment.

V..The reports of Boards will specify the grade of commission for which each candidate is fit, and authority to recruit will be given in accordance. Commissions will be issued from the Adjutant General's Office when the prescribed number of men is ready for muster into service.

VI..Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterward consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim, in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated: "--------- Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops."

VII..Recruiting stations and depots will be established by the Adjutant General as circumstances shall require, and officers will be detailed to muster and inspect the troops.

General Orders, No. 143,
issued May 22, 1863.

Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/19/2022 Don.Morfe visited it