Profile: Henry W Lockerman, Private, Co. A.

Henry W Lockerman ca. 1889 while serving as the Porter for the Nevada State Senate

Henry W Lockerman enlisted into Co. B of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers on August 10, 1862 at Leavenworth, Kansas. Henry's age was listed as 19 years old and he was described as having a black complexion, black eyes and hair. He stood 5 feet, 10 inches tall. Henry was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was a mason by trade.

Sometime in the late fall of 1862, Henry deserted the regiment. He was either apprehended or returned of his own volition as on December 14, 1862, having been tried and found guilty of this charge, he was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment in the Guard House at Fort Scott with hard labor for 8 hours each day and half-rations during his incarceration. Upon the expiration of his sentence on December 29, 1862, he was released and returned to his regiment. No other disciplinary entries are found in Henry's CMSR.

Author's note: The 1st KCV suffered from a high amount of desertions throughout the fall and early winter of 1862. This was due to conflicting word from the War Department as to whether the regiment would be accepted as soldiers or not. The resulting ambiguity nearly destroyed the regiment before it could be mustered. My research shows that nearly one-half of all those that enlisted in the regiment between August and October 1862, deserted the regiment. Through the grit of the remaining enlisted men and the tenacity of their officers the regiment did not break up.

On January 13, 1863, at Fort Scott, Kansas, Henry W Lockerman was mustered into Co. A. Company Muster Rolls show that Henry was present with his company throughout his enlistment except for  when he was detailed to the 2nd Brigade Band at Little Rock, Arkansas, on March 13, 1865. By July 1865, Henry was back with his company in preparation for the regiment to be mustered out of the service, which occurred on October 1, 1865, at Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Author's note: At time of muster several of the companies were reorganized to ensure that sufficient strength required for muster was attained. As such, Henry was reassigned from Company B to Company A. According to his CMSR, Henry would have been present for every action involving Co. A, 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers - Cabin Creek, Honey Springs, Poison Springs... What instrument Henry played is unknown.

Unlike most of the enlisted men in the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers, Henry was born a free man.

He first appears on the 1850 US Census in Brooklyn Township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio as part of the William Lockerman household. William was then a 66 year illiterate laborer who had been born in the District of Columbia. Henry was 4 years old having been born in Ohio.  Other members of the household include Mary L Lockerman, 2 years old as well as Georgianne Cook, 3 years old, and Amelia Cook, 24 years old. No occupation is listed for Amelia although the census indicates she was born in Virginia and was illiterate.

  
Author's note: From this census I infer that William was Henry's grandfather and that Henry's middle name-sake was his grandfather. Mary was likely his sister. Amelia is possibly an Aunt with Georgianne being a cousin. Through all other records, Henry is clear that he was born in 1840. If that is the case his age on the 1850 census is incorrect.

There is no indication of Henry in the records from the time of discharge in late 1865 until 1878.

Author's note: Some information on the internet speculates that he married a Lottie Glover on October 19, 1867 in Omaha, Nebraska. However, all indications in every other reference to Henry is that he was a life long bachelor.

The next indication of Henry in the records is an article he posted in the October 19, 1878 edition of the Pacific Appeal newspaper (published in San Francisco) giving Grantsville, Nevada as his address.  Henry was looking for information on the whereabouts of a W.H. Johnson whose father, William Johnson, a barber by trade, had died in Carson Valley. Evidently W.H. Johnson had lived in Eureka, Nevada some three years prior.

Author's note: Perhaps Henry also lived at either Carson Valley or Eureka Nevada in the mid 1870s...

In 1878 Grantsville, Nevada was booming mining town with a population of nearly 1,000 inhabitants.

 "By the end of 1878 businesses in Grantsville included the Humphrey Hotel, the Grantsville Drugstore, the Grantsville Laundry, the Bonanza House, the Alexander Market, G.B. Smith Livery, the Cirac French Bakery, and the Howe General Merchandise. Saloons included the Star, the Alexander, the Mexican Union, and the Exchange." Preserving the Glory Days, page 21 Shawn Hall, University of Nevada Press, 1999

On the 1880 census he is enumerated as a boarder in the hotel run by John Truman in Grantsville, Nye County, Nevada. Henry indicates his age as being 39 and he makes his living as a barber - although he had been unemployed for 2 months so far that year. He also indicates that his father was born in Maryland and his mother was born in Pennsylvania.

Author's note: Perhaps the hotel that Henry was boarding at in June of 1880 was the Humphrey Hotel.

 According to data for the State of Nevada on the 1880 census the total population of that state was 62,266 with the following demographics:



(Henry was one of only 488 black residents of the state and one of only 96 in Nye County.)

In January of 1889, Henry W Lockerman was elected unanimously to the position of Porter for the 14h Session of the Nevada State Senate. By this date, Henry had left Grantsville and living in Douglas County, Nevada.

Author's note: The picture at the top of this post was taken as part of Henry holding this position.

On the 1890 Veterans Census, Henry is enumerated as living in Silver City, Lyon County, Nevada with no indication of a disability having been incurred while in the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers.

According to an article in the October 28, 1893 edition of The Mining and Scientific Press (published in San Francisco) there is an indication that Henry has entered the mining business... Under the heading of "Silver City District" (Nevada) it states, "Lockerman and Collier had a rich clean-up from the ore they sent to the Dazet mill. Some of the ore is said to have been worth $1000 per ton. They [Collier and Lockerman] are having trouble over the division, however, and will settle their differences before Justice Walker.

In 1893, Lockerman served as the Junior Vice Commander of G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Custer Post #5. (The Nevada Desert, Jeffrey Vaillant, May 2005, Vol 19, No. 5.)

That same year, Henry W Lockerman applied for an Invalid Pension due to his service with the 1st KCV during the Civil War.

In the May 17, 1897 edition of the San Francisco Call newspaper, H.W. Lockerman of Silver City, Nevada, is listed as a contributor to the Lincoln Monument League.

Author's note: Formed in 1897, the stated goal of the league was to raise enough funds through subscriptions and fundraisers to erect a memorial to Abraham Lincoln in San Francisco. Subsequent references indicate that the league also sought to inaugurate "Lincoln Days" in schools and otherwise ensure the memory of President Lincoln. An article in the San Francisco Call from 1901 states that up to that date only $3,000 had been raised. As of this time I have not found any information if the league was successful in erecting a monument.


According to the 1900 US Census, Henry Lockerman was a resident of Silver City, Nevada. His age was listed at 59 stating he was born in October of 1840. Never having married, Henry lists his occupation as a barber and is living with Alonzo A Smith, his partner in a Quartz mine.

On an affidavit Henry filed with the US Pension Office on January 26, 1901, in support of his application for an Invalid Pension, he indicates his birth date as October 4, 1840.

Author's note: I have not yet obtained a copy of Henry's Pension File... although I intend to.

On March 7, 1900, Henry was appointed by the Governor of Nevada as a member of a committee for the Erection of a Monument to the Memory of Charles Sumner.


Some time later Henry contracted cancer of the jaw and although he went to San Francisco for an operation he succumbed to the cancer on Thursday, October 27, 1904. Forty-two years to the day that the regiment marched to and commandeered the Toothman home as part of the Island Mound fight.

Author's note: It is not known specifically if Henry was at Island Mound, but there is a high likelihood that he was. The commanding officer of Company B in October of 1862 was Richard G Ward. Ward and his company were at Island Mound.

The October 28, 1904 edition of the Daily Territorial Enterprise carried his obituary:

"W.H. [sic] Lockerman (colored), an old resident of Silver City, died there yesterday morning from cancer of the jaw. He returned from San Francisco recently, where he underwent an operation, but the disease was too far advanced to obtain any relief. He was a barber by occupation, and was always in line with the G.A.R. veterans on Memorial Day. He is survived by a sister who was with him when he died. He was a native of Ohio, aged 64 years. Undertaker Kuhn prepared the for burial."

 Two days later on Sunday, October 30, 1904, the Daily Territorial Enterprise provided the following regarding burial arrangements:

"The remains of the late W.H. [sic] Lockerman will be taken from Silver City this morning at 10 o'clock to Carson, where the interment will take place."

 The Morning Appeal of that same date stated:

"The funeral of the late [Henry] William Lockerman, who died in Sliver City Thursday, takes place in this city [Carson] at noon today from the Methodist Church under the auspices of Custer Post No. 5 G.A.R."

 Henry W. Lockerman is buried in the G.A.R Section (Section W-1-G, Row 1, Plot #4) of the Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City, Nevada.

Author's note: Although I do not specifically know the names of Henry's parents. Additional information is available on the William Lockerman (father or grandfather of Henry) shown on the 1850 census. On March 4, 1845, a William Lockerman of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, made an application to marry Jane Dunn of the same county. Although no indication of race is provided on the application, this William Lockerman was also illiterate.

 With regards to Henry's sibling, Mary L Lockerman... She appears on the 1870 census working as a domestic servant for the R.F. Stillman family in Chester Township, Geauga County, Ohio. (Geauga County is immediately to the east of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.)

 
 I was able to next locate Mary on the 1930 US Census where she is enumerated as an 85 year old servant in the employ of  Cora L Blackmore (aged 62) at Painesville, Ohio. On this census Mary is listed as single (like her brother it appears she never married) and states that her father was born in Maryland and her mother was born in Pennsylvania.

The following year, while in the employ of a William A Youman, as a servant, Mary succumbed to the effects of old age and uterine cancer. She passed away on July 31, 1931. On her death certificate her age was estimated at 86 years. Although her birth place was listed as Cleveland (like her brother did when he enlisted in the 1st KCV) neither her date of birth or the names of her parents are listed.  Mary was prepared for burial by F.H. Rogers, undertaker, and she was buried in Mentor, Ohio on August 8, 1931.

 I am hopeful that with the help of people that may read this blog I can revisit this post and fill in some of the missing pieces on this fascinating member of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers.