BASIL BIGGS
Basil Biggs was born in Carroll County, Maryland in 1819. His mother passed away when he was four years old, leaving Basil to spent the remainder of his childhood laboring for various employers. He married Mary Jackson in the 1840s and they moved to Pennsylvania soon after so their children could receive an education. The Biggs family arrived in Gettysburg in 1858 and Basil became an active member of the local black community. Reportedly, Basil concealed runaway slaves in his home and would help transport them to the Quaker Valley at night on their way to Canada.
At the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania, Biggs was working as a veterinarian and tenant farmer. As Confederate troops approached Gettysburg, the Biggs family temporarily relocated east to Wrightsville. Records show that when the Biggs family returned they found that a Confederate field hospital had been erected on a part of their farm, leading to Basil filing a claim for the loss of a large number of farm animals, ninety-two acres of destroyed crops, household furniture and goods, and food items.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg local civilians labored to quickly bury the thousands of soldiers lying dead in towns and surrounding areas, resulting in most of the deceased being buried in mass shallow graves. Soon after, local attorney, David Wills, purchased 17 acres of the battlefield for use as a Union Cemetery and the task of exhuming over 3,500 deceased Union soldiers for reburial was begun. Basil Biggs was one of a number of African American laborers hired to do the work, for which they were reportedly paid $1.25 per each body buried.
Biggs used the money he earned to purchase land for a farm in Gettysburg. Soon after the Battle of Gettysburg, Biggs joined with a number of African American men to form the Sons of Goodwill, who sought land for a cemetery to serve Gettysburg’s black community, particularly the veterans of the United States Colored Troops who were denied burial at the Gettysburg National Cemetery due to military segregation. Along with Nelson Mathews and Thomas Griegsby, Biggs sought out and purchased the land for the Goodwill Cemetery. Biggs died in 1906 and lies buried in the cemetery he helped to create.
Sources consulted:
African American Bios. The National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/gett/forteachers/upload/1%20African%20American%20Bios.pdf. Accessed 11/17/2013.
“Obituary-Basil Biggs,” Gettysburg Compiler, June 13, 1906: Biggs Family File, file number 1000, Adams County Historical Society.
Trail Tails: Basil Biggs. Pennsylvania Civil War Trails, PA Tourism Office. http://www.pacivilwartrails.com/stories/tales/basil-biggs. Accessed 11/17/13.
At the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania, Biggs was working as a veterinarian and tenant farmer. As Confederate troops approached Gettysburg, the Biggs family temporarily relocated east to Wrightsville. Records show that when the Biggs family returned they found that a Confederate field hospital had been erected on a part of their farm, leading to Basil filing a claim for the loss of a large number of farm animals, ninety-two acres of destroyed crops, household furniture and goods, and food items.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg local civilians labored to quickly bury the thousands of soldiers lying dead in towns and surrounding areas, resulting in most of the deceased being buried in mass shallow graves. Soon after, local attorney, David Wills, purchased 17 acres of the battlefield for use as a Union Cemetery and the task of exhuming over 3,500 deceased Union soldiers for reburial was begun. Basil Biggs was one of a number of African American laborers hired to do the work, for which they were reportedly paid $1.25 per each body buried.
Biggs used the money he earned to purchase land for a farm in Gettysburg. Soon after the Battle of Gettysburg, Biggs joined with a number of African American men to form the Sons of Goodwill, who sought land for a cemetery to serve Gettysburg’s black community, particularly the veterans of the United States Colored Troops who were denied burial at the Gettysburg National Cemetery due to military segregation. Along with Nelson Mathews and Thomas Griegsby, Biggs sought out and purchased the land for the Goodwill Cemetery. Biggs died in 1906 and lies buried in the cemetery he helped to create.
Sources consulted:
African American Bios. The National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/gett/forteachers/upload/1%20African%20American%20Bios.pdf. Accessed 11/17/2013.
“Obituary-Basil Biggs,” Gettysburg Compiler, June 13, 1906: Biggs Family File, file number 1000, Adams County Historical Society.
Trail Tails: Basil Biggs. Pennsylvania Civil War Trails, PA Tourism Office. http://www.pacivilwartrails.com/stories/tales/basil-biggs. Accessed 11/17/13.