The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 1, Issue 1, April 2015 | Page 53

Union trooper sold into slavery. The threat did not have to be carried out.” 4 The
Army established Camp William Penn, under the command of Louis Wagner, in
Pennsylvania as the first U.S. black soldier recruiting and training center.
Recruiting for the 8th USCT began in September 1863. 5
Charles Wesley Fribley was an experienced soldier, who became
commander of the 8th USCT.
Fribley grew up on a farm in
Pennsylvania and attended
Dickinson
Seminary
in
Williamsport. He moved to
the West in 1857 to seek his
fortune as a ferry boatman,
schoolteacher, Overland Mail
conductor,
and
fighter
between “bleeding Kansas”
and border ruffians. Fribley
returned to Pennsylvania and
became a teacher. A few
days after the attack on Fort
Sumter, Fribley answered
Lincoln’s call for volunteers
and joined a three-month
regiment – the Woodward
Guards (Company A of the
11th Pennsylvania infantry). Figure 1 Charles and Kate Fribley, 1861. From the
In
mid-October
1861, author’s personal collection.
Fribley enlisted in Company
F of the 84th Pennsylvania Infantry. “Felt that I could not be satisfied at the old
and harassing business of today and furthermore that it was my duty to be with
those of my countrymen who were in arms in defence [sic] of our flag.” 6 On
December 10, 1861, Fribley married Katherine “Kate” Ault. Colonel Samuel M.
Bowman commended Fribley for his assistance as staff officer during the
Chancellorsville Campaign in 1863: “The following staff officers of this command
–Capt. Charles W. Fribley, Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, acting assistant
adjutant-general; . . . rendered me the most valuable assistance on more than one
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