John Jeffreys: Slave, Educator and Business Owner

By Ryan Reed

Over the next two weeks, Rolla Preservation Alliance will be posting about the life of Rolla resident, John O. Jeffreys.  As a former slave from Boone County, Missouri, Jeffreys became a soldier, educator and small business owner.  We hope you enjoy this story about Jeffreys' life and his impact on the greater Rolla community.

Part I: Slave and Soldier

John Jeffreys

Lincoln University in Jefferson City will commemorate 148 years in education during Founders Day this Saturday, February 8th.  This annual celebration honors the soldiers of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored Infantry, composed primarily of former slaves from Missouri, who took steps to establish an educational institution for African Americans.  One of the founding members, John O. Jeffreys, moved to Rolla less than a decade after the Civil War concluded and lived in an unassuming house at 200 North Elm Street.

Very little is known about the early life of Jeffreys.  According to his death certificate, he was born March 31, 1844 in Virginia.  His parents are listed as "unknown" as he was likely born into slavery and separated from his family.  The first known documentation of Jeffreys occurred in 1863 when he enlisted with the 1st Missouri Colored Infantry on December 1, 1863.  Jeffreys was listed as 18 years old, from Columbia, Missouri and the slave of Arthur Price.

Jeffreys was able to enlist in the army after provocative steps were taken by the Federal Government in 1863.  On January 1st, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  This act freed enslaved Americans within the Confederacy not yet under federal control.  The proclamation also permitted African Americans to enlist in the military.  However, this law did not pertain to Missouri.  During the Civil War, Missouri technically had dual Union and Confederate legislatures.  During June of 1861, the Union Army ousted the southern sympathizing governor, Claiborne Jackson.  His deposed government reassembled in Neosho, Missouri and voted to secede from the Union.  However, his government did not have official power, yet they did have votes in the Confederate Congress.  Even though Missouri was in the Union, the state sill practiced the institution of slavery.  Lincoln's proclamation only applied to rebelling states, of which Missouri was technically not one.  Slavery would not be legally abolished in Missouri until January 11, 1865.

Missourians remained hesitant about the recruitment of African Americans. Finally on November 14, 1863, General John Schofield, Union Commander of the Department of Missouri, issued General Order Number 135.  The order allowed all provost marshals to recruit "all Negroes, free or slave."  If slave owners could prove their loyalty, they would receive $300 for each slave recruited.  Ultimately, Missouri furnished 8,344 African American troops in five regiments.

After enlisting in the 1st Missouri Colored Infantry, Jeffreys traveled to St. Louis and was

mustered in at Benton Barracks.  The designation of the 1st Missouri was changed on March 11, 1864, as part of a nationwide reclassification of black troops as United States troops, rather than as volunteer units allocated to individual states.  Now known as the 62nd United States Colored Infantry, the regiment was composed of soldiers from Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Moniteau and Randolph counties.  A majority of the enlisted men, like Jeffreys, were slaves.

Palmito Ranch Battlefield

Shortly after their redesignation, the 62nd was ordered from St. Louis to the Department of the Gulf in Louisiana.  From here, the regiment maneuvered northward along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to Morganza and subsequently Bayou Sara.  At the end of the Summer of 1864, the 62nd was ordered to Brazos Santiago Island, Texas.  Brazos Santiago is the southernmost barrier island on Texas, south of San Padre.  The island became a strategic point during the Civil War and was occupied by the Union Army the previous year.  After several months of blockade duty on the island, Commanding Officer Col. Theodore Barrett instructed the 62nd and the 2nd Texas Calvary to attack mainland Texas.  On May 11, 1865, nearly a month after General Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces at Appomattox Courthouse, the 62nd with 2nd Texas Calvary marched west along the Rio Grande to Brownsville.  The troops successfully attacked Confederate camps at White and Palmito Ranches 12 miles east of Brownsville.  Within hours, the Confederates counterattacked driving Union forces east.  During the night of May 12th, both side sent for reinforcements.  The next morning, Union troops started advancing westward.  The Confederates engaged the advancing army in a skirmish along the Rio Grande.  After some confusion and a fierce fire fight, the Union army retreated on May 13th.  The battle, which involved Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, was the last land battle of any size or significance of the Civil War.  It is recorded as a Confederate victory.

During the the Battle of Palmito Ranch, Confederate authority began to collapse in Texas.  After the news of Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, the desertion of Confederate soldiers became rampant.  Those soldiers who vowed to fight, found a populace that was dissolving into general mayhem.  The end of hostilities in Texas occurred on June 2, 1865 with the surrender of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi.  Union troops, which included Jeffreys and the 62nd, did not restore order in Texas until June 19, 1865.  Jeffreys was on duty at various points in Texas until he was mustered out of service on March 31st, 1866, his 22nd birthday.  During his nearly three years of service, Jeffreys had attained the rank of Sergeant Major.

John Jeffreys' military career was over and he was now a free man.  He left Brownsville, Texas en route for Jefferson City, where he had enlisted for the army.  Upon his return he gained employment as a church sexton and was boarding with the Franklin Rose family.  His purpose for returning to Jefferson City was not to toil at the maintenance of a local church, but to nurture an educational institution for African Americans he helped create during his tenure in the army.