Saluting a slave turned soldier in Granville

After flowers and a wreath were laid at his great-grandparent’s grave, Toby Reddick Sr. abruptly rose from his seat and stood over the marker for America Reddick. Toby Jr. then rose and put an arm around his dad.

Neither of them knew America Reddick, a Civil War veteran who died in 1912. Nevertheless, Toby Sr. wiped away a few tears as he turned from America’s newly placed marker. Not many years ago he knew next to nothing about America, a former slave who fought for the Union.

“For me it’s all about the family,” Toby Sr. said, recalling the recent death of his father, Harold. “There is more to be uncovered. There is more to be learned.”

But the Reddicks learned a great deal about America Reddick from historians in Putnam County, who held a ceremony Saturday at Granville Cemetery. About two dozen, including Civil War reenactors and local veterans, assembled to pay tribute to a man with a remarkable, if still incomplete, life story.

It’s an honor to be one of his many living descendants

—  Toby Reddick Jr.

America Reddick was born into slavery in 1840 in North Carolina and served with the Company F 39th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He survived combat, but illness resulted in a long convalescence in Chicago that prevented him from rejoining his unit, depriving him of a pension.

He farmed, married and raised family in rural Putnam County, where he died in 1912. His grave remained unmarked for more than a century until Sue Campbell, a member of the Putnam County Historical Society board, launched an initiative to place a marker.

It was no one-woman effort. Armed with Campbell’s research and the documentation of Reddick’s Civil War service, Barbara Kessler, secretary-treasurer of the Granville Cemetery Association, successfully applied for a government military marker. Robert Cofoid placed America’s marker on Sept. 20.

Toby Reddick Sr. and Jr. caught a flight from Los Angeles to be at the Saturday dedication. Toby Jr. said that the timing was auspicious. He had cultivated an interest in genealogy and begun piecing together his family tree in 2017 when the welcome news arrived that America Reddick would receive his overdue honors.

“It’s an honor to be one of his many living descendants,” Toby Jr. said. “I know without a shadow of a doubt his faith to endure was strong. He did it for us, his family and those alongside him. I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for him.”

America Reddick received his posthumous recognition more than a century after his death. On hand to commemorate the slave turned soldier was the Rev. Dr. Ronald McNeill of the United Church of Christ Congregational, who described America’s heroic life, and members of Granville American Legion Post 180 and Putnam County VFW Memorial Post 8324, who performed military rites.

“It was very moving,” said Heidi Sobkowiak of the Granville Cemetery Association. “I think everybody there was emotional.”