Allegany County Maryland--History

William Colbert, Congressional Gold Medal

As detailed in the article below, on May 15, 2015 Flight Officer William Augustus Colbert, Jr. was awarded the Tuskegee Airmen Congressional Gold Medal. Along with the photograph of the presentation which appeared in the newspaper, we have placed a photograph of Mr. Colbert with his great-grand-daughter, Aynia Dorsey, Miss Black Pennsylvania US Ambassador, who took part in the ceremony.

William Colbert

Though born in Annapolis, William Colbert has resided in Cumberland since 1939. In 1943, during World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Force and went on to receive his basic training in Mississippi.

William Colbert later achieved the rank of Flight Officer at the Tuskegee Army Air Field. This airfield was located on the grounds of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and was the training ground and home of the famous Tuskegee Airmen. Though alerted for overseas duty on two occasions, the war ended prior to his deployment.

Washington Smith Post 152, The American Legion, Keyser, West Virginia

World War II ended in 1945. And like their white counterparts, the black veterans of Mineral County, West Virginia were returning home. As with much of the nation in general, segregation, either by law or custom, existed in West Virginia and impacted just about every segment of society from schools and employment to churches and clubs. Keyser was no different. The black veterans here were unable to join the local American Legion.

In addition to 99 local nurses going off to WWI in 1917, the local Women’s Preparedness Committee noted that women were fast taking their place in all walks of life including working in most of the local industries as well as in the creation of war gardens to increase the flow of food overseas. African-American women organized their own separate clubs and reported 111 war gardens in Cumberland alone by November 1917.

Fulton J. Myers, 1890 - 1918

On May 22, 1918, Private Fulton J. Myers, a Black, the son of Jacob L. Myers, 17 Wallace Street, died at Camp Meade. He was a member of the 351st Field Artillery. He was survived by his parents, four brothers, and three sisters.

Richard C. Edwards, Buffalo Soldier

Confederate Monument
American Civil War, 1861-1865
Rose Hill Cemetery, Cumberland, Maryland

Although erected almost fifty years after the close of the Civil War, Cumberland was still one of the first cities in Maryland to erect a monument in honor of the Confederate dead. This monument to the "Unknown Confederate Dead" was "erected by the Ladies of Cumberland, Maryland in 1912 to the heroes who died fighting for the lost cause." A tablet on the monument reads as follows:

Union Monument
Rose Hill Cemetery, Cumberland, Maryland
American Civil War
1861-1865

The monument depicted in this photograph was "erected with contributions of citizens, to honor the men of our county who fought for the Union 1861-65, by the Cumberland Women's Relief Corps."

The Union Memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1895.

ero Mitchell, according to National Archives and National Park Service records, was born in Baltimore. At the time of his U.S. Navy enlistment in Baltimore on April 23, 1864 he was 25 years of age, stood 5'10", and identified his occupation as a laborer. The 1870 census also shows him identified as a laborer with Cumberland as his home. His initial term of enlistment was for two years with the ranking of Landsman. Mitchell served aboard the USS Stettin, an iron-screw steamship, from September 1864 through March 1865, and the USS Kearsarge, a small sailing warship, from 1865 to 1866.

United States Colored Troops (U.S.C.T.) and Sumner Cemetery