Episode 6: The Slave, The Soldier, and the Minister

The subject of today’s episode was a former slave who enlisted in the Union Army and who settled in Laurel County after the war.

His name was Green Wilkerson Fish, and I first became aware of him last year, when I was transcribing the 1890 Special Census for Laurel County. 

That census enumerated the surviving Civil War soldiers and sailors, and the surviving widows of Civil War solders and sailors who had died.

When I came across Green Fish’s name in the Special Census, I was immediately interested in him for three reasons.

First was his unique name. Green Fish. I thought it was a wonderful name.

Second was that he was an African American, which I recognized because of the regiment in which he served.

And Third, because his rank was listed as sergeant. 

But then I got interested in other topics of research and basically forgot about him until I began researching subjects for Black History Month, when I came across his name again and thought his story would be a good topic for an episode in February.

So, this is his story.