Born into slavery, one extraordinary man escaped bondage at the start of the Civil War and began a distinguished record of service to his country that ended in controversy, racism, and dishonor. A campaign is under way to restore his reputation, taken away unjustly more than a century ago.
Henry Vinton Plummer, although slave-born, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and saw combat in the Civil War, enrolled in the seminary after the war, became an Army chaplain to the famed Buffalo Soldiers, was drummed out of the Army and humiliated, and served his community as a minister until his death in 1905 at age 60.
Born at Three Sisters plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1845, little Henry and his mother were sold to residents of the District of Columbia in 1851. Family records show he lived in Meridian Hill in the District and later at Ellicott's Mills. In 1862, Plummer escaped and made his way to Riverdale, where he hid until he could get to his aunt's house in the District.
Soon thereafter (the family says in 1862, Navy records say 1864) he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. The Navy assigned Plummer to the USS Coeur de Lion, a paddlewheel steamer of 110 tons. The ship was a converted lighthouse tender that the Navy pressed into service as a warship. Since the Coeur de Lion operated from the Washington Navy Yard, Plummer probably reported on board ship immediately after his enlistment to learn his craft as a sailor.
The Coeur de Lion was about 100 feet long and had a very shallow draft of about four-and-a-half feet. Constructed of wood with a steam boiler, she could probably navigate rivers at up to six to ten knots. When converted for naval use, she was armed with a 30-pound Dahlgren rifle, a 12-pound rifle, and one light 12-pound smoothbore. Her entire conversion cost $2,211.34.
During Plummer's service, the Coeur de Lion burned the schooners Charity, Gazelle, and Flight in the Appomattox River on 27 May 1862. Navy records also show she burned the schooners Sarah Margaret and Odd Fellow on the Coan River on 1 June 1862. Enforcing the blockade, the Coeur de Lion captured the schooner Emily Murray off Machodoc Creek, Virginia, on 9 February 1863. She also destroyed the schooners Robert Knowles on 16 September 1863 and Malinda in the Potomac on 3 June 1864.
During a reconaissance up the Nansemond River, the Coeur de Lion exchanged fire with enemy batteries on 17 and 18 April 1863. One of the commanders surrendered his battery to the Union ship's commander, Acting Master W. G. Morris.
Plummer received an honorable discharge from the Navy just after the end of the war. The next year, his family dispatched Henry to New Orleans to find his sister, Sarah, who had been sold in 1860. He found and returned with her, and Sarah later started St. Paul Baptist Church in Bladensburg, Maryland.
In 1872, Henry enrolled in Wayland Seminary and graduated as a minister four years later. He became the third pastor of his sister's beloved St. Paul's and served there until applying to become an Army chaplain in 1884.
With his war record, service to his congregation, and letters of recommendation from dignitaries such as Frederick Douglass, Plummer easily won appointment in the U.S. Army's Chaplain Corps. The Army assigned the minister to the famed 9th U.S. Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers, who were deployed to Kansas, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
Plummer reported for duty to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he immediately made a positive impression as a spiritual man of God and an excellent minister to the men. His commanding officer attended services and encouraged the troops to reach "a higher state of morality and education."
The post's correspondent to the Army-Navy Journal complimented Chaplain Plummer on his fine sermons and prayers and for "doing a good work among the soldiers." The writer also noted that Plummer could "discount any of the white Chaplains in the Service."
Plummer's post commander at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, reported that he had never seen such large church attendance at a military post. He said the "efficient manner" in which Plummer carried out his work was the reason for the devotion of the men.
In 1894, Mary Garrard, an officer's wife and the chapel organist, wrote that Plummer was "energetic, faithful & devoted to his duties." She noted that his influence on the troops was "decidedly good," and that she never saw a chaplain with "such large congregations." She believed Plummer's "own untiring efforts" led to his success. She made reference, however, to possible racism at the post when she wrote that Plummer succeeded "almost entirely without help or encouragement from the officers" (all of whom were white).
Plummer took a stand against the hard drinking at the lonely and remote Army outposts by convincing the Adjutant General of the Army to halt beer sales at Fort Robinson. Naturally, this action brought him enemies. Some of the officers began to call Plummer a "disturbing element."
As editor for the Fort Robinson Weekly Bulletin and resident manager of the Fort Robinson department of the Omaha Progress, Plummer made sure news of interest to the black troops appeared prominently. Suspicious of Plummer's newspaper activities, the post commander wrote a confidential letter to the commanding general of the Department of the Platte.
Plummer also attempted to persuade the adjutant general of the Army and the Secretary of War to send him to central Africa with some black troops on an "exploring and missionary tour." He wanted to introduce "American civilization and Christianization among some of the tribes" and "form a nucleus for a colony of black Americans." Plummer spoke of an opportunity to "secure a slice of the African turkey, before it is gobbled up by foreign nations." The Secretary of War declined Plummer's offer, saying there was "no law authorizing him to detail any officers of the Army for such an expedition."
Unfortunately, after espousing temperance for so many years, Chaplain Plummer made himself vulnerable to his enemies by drinking at a sergeant's promotion party. One enemy was a black sergeant who had worked under Plummer's supervision at the Fort Riley bakery. On at least one occasion, Plummer had disciplined the sergeant for failing to have the bread ready by mealtime. The disgruntled sergeant made an official complaint against Plummer, which must have pleased the officers who already believed Plummer "did not know his place."
Plummer was accused of "conduct unbecoming of an officer." After an 11-day general court-martial, Plummer was found guilt as charged and sentenced to be separated from the service.
Two days after his discharge, Plummer began the process of attempting to overturn the court's decision or to receive a pardon. He wrote a letter to President Grover Cleveland. Through the last years of his life, Plummer and others wrote letters seeking a reversal of the court-martial, but they never achieved their goal.
After the court-martial and discharge, Plummer returned to Kansas City, where he again led a congregation of his own and held office in the Kansas State Baptist Convention.
Today, Plummer's descendants and the Committee to Clear Chaplain Plummer are again petitioning to have his record corrected. A review of the historical records indicates that the Army has an opportunity here to right a wrong.
Henry Plummer lived the lives of slave, good sailor, family protector, minister, and military chaplain. Today, perhaps the injustice of his discharge can be overturned, restoring his good name and family pride.
Commander Carey is a historian in Arlington, Virginia, who has done extensive research on the chaplains and nuns of the Civil War and Old West.