Funeral for a former slave
APPOMATTOX, Va. — A Civil War cannonball that ripped through Hannah Reynolds' master's cabin made her a footnote of misfortune, the lone civilian death at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. She died a slave at 60, hours before the war to end slavery unofficially came to a close.
A century and a half later, Reynolds' story is being rewritten: Newly discovered records show that she lingered for several days — long enough to have died a free woman.
This new historical narrative has made Reynolds, along with Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union Gen. Ulysses Grant, one of the central figures in commemorative activities marking Lee's surrender at Appomattox Wednesday.
Friday night, a eulogy will be delivered over a wooden coffin representing Reynolds' remains, a 100-member gospel choir will sing spirituals and 4,600 candles will be lit to represent the slaves in Appomattox County who were emancipated by Lee's surrender.
Pastor Alfred Jones III, a retired history teacher, is the genealogist who brought the Reynolds story to life.
Reynolds was left by her masters, Dr. Samuel Coleman and his wife, Amanda Abbitt Coleman, in their home as armies headed to the Battle of Appomattox Court House. It would be the final battle before Lee's army surrendered on April 9, 1865.
During the fighting, a Union cannonball blasted through the Coleman house, striking Reynolds. Two white men, a Union doctor and chaplain from Maine, looked over her.
“Her arm was very large and fleshy and a concave wound was made corresponding to the size and shape of the ball,” wrote J.E.M. Wright, a chaplain with the 8th Maine Infantry. The Mainers tended to Reynolds and her grieving husband, Abram Reynolds.
Jones worked for months seeking out the paper trail left by Reynolds. The breakthrough was finding her listed on a death registry in a Lynchburg library.“That was just like I struck gold,” he said of the document that listed the date of her death as April 12, 1865.In a rare gesture, Reynolds' death was reported by Dr. Coleman, who listed himself as “former owner.”“I think he realized the historical significance of that,” Jones said. “Obviously it meant something to him.”Jones would like to believe Reynolds regained consciousness over those final days to realize she would die a free person.“I just imagine, in my mind, somebody whispering, 'You're free, you're free, you're free.'”
