Black War of 1812 Soldier Finally Honored as Veteran, 152 Years After Passing

While the War of 1812 was going on, Samuel A. Neale was in the Maryland State Militia.

A black man named Samuel A. Neale fought in the Maryland State Militia during the War of 1812. After his death, he was officially recognized as a veteran of the US Armed Forces. This ended a campaign started by a local historian to get Neale the headstone he was entitled to because of his service.

In line with the

In 2022, Louis Giles, a former NSA worker and hobby War of 1812 historian, began to work on Neale’s case with the Veterans Affairs office. Giles’ study shows that the Maryland militia’s rules say that all black soldiers should get military titles, no matter what their jobs were. He said that not giving this was the same as making the racism of the time when Neale served even worse.

Giles told the

his reason for wanting to make the change. “Is someone in the VA being unfair to Black people?” That’s not true. But it doesn’t matter if they know it or not—if their practices are what they said they were, that is discrimination.

Even though Giles said and study showed that Neale was given a military pension by the Maryland legislature in 1870, the VA kept turning down his requests to give Neale what was rightfully his. At the very end, Giles asked to see the VA’s court of appeals and was given an appointment. In June, Anthony Scire Jr., one of the VA’s appeals court judges, heard his case. Then, on July 25, Scire said that Neale was a good-standing American hero and should get a free headstone because of this.

Scire’s decision was based on the idea that state military units were similar to the National Guard today. Because of this, Neale was working for the US Armed Forces when he joined the fight.

In his ruling, Scire said, “Mr. Neale was a member of a federalized unit that was being led by a lawfully appointed officer; he wore a military uniform; he carried arms openly; and he operated within the laws and customs of war at the time.”

“Also, excerpts from official Maryland state files show that the Maryland State Legislature recognized Mr. Neale as a Veteran for pension purposes based on his military service,” Scire said. Because Mr. Neale served honorably in the US Army during the War of 1812, the VA considers him a Veteran.

Giles had already gotten the free headstone from a stonemason in Frederick, Maryland, and it was placed in a private ceremony at St. John’s Cemetery on July 26. So, even though he was now eligible for the free headstone, it was too late. Giles, however, never really had a problem with the headstone. He told the Baltimore Sun, “I always believed that if I had the chance to appear before an impartial judge, the decision would support my views.”

“To me, this should have been a slam dunk from the start,” Giles said. We had the muster roll and a lot more proof to back it up than I usually see in cases from the 1812 era. I thought the judge’s ruling was right because of the law.