A Voice for Freedom

Susie King Taylor, 15, was anxious. She stared at the path leading into camp. She could hear rifle fire in the distance. It had kept her up all night in her tent. Now it was morning. She still smelled gunpowder on the breeze.

Where were they?

It was July 1864 on Morris Island in South Carolina. Days earlier, Susie had watched hundreds of Union Army troops march out of camp. A group of Southern states known as the Confederacy had broken away from the United States in 1861. The Confederacy was opposed to ideas of ending slavery. The Union Army was fighting to keep the nation together.

Susie knew some troops from her camp would never return. Like Susie, most of them had escaped slavery. The troops were among the first Black men to fight in the Civil War (1861-1865). A win for the Union Army would help secure freedom for millions of Black Americans. Susie felt proud to be part of the effort.

Her official job was washing uniforms. But Susie did much more. She taught the soldiers to read and write. And she cared for the wounded as one of the first Black Army nurses.

Suddenly, Susie heard cries of pain. She saw a few soldiers staggering toward the camp. Their uniforms were stained with mud and blood. She knew even more wounded men would follow.

Susie took a deep breath. Then she ran to get bandages.

When Susie was 13, her life turned upside down. It was in the spring of 1862. Police arrested Dolly. They accused her of plotting to become free. Susie was sent back to Grest Farm at once.

The Civil War had started the year before. Georgia was a Confederate state—and a key battleground. War supplies could be shipped in along its Atlantic coast. The Union wanted to block those supplies.

Then Union troops began a siege on nearby Fort Pulaski. That was just days after Susie was sent back to Grest Farm. She could hear the roar of cannons from the plantation. Like other enslaved people in the South, the teen faced a tough decision. She could stay put and hope to be freed after the war. Or she could flee to territory controlled by the Union for a chance at freedom now. If she got caught, she would likely be brutally whipped—or worse.

Susie decided to run.

On April 13, she fled Grest Farm with her uncle and several cousins. They followed the smell of the Atlantic Ocean’s salty sea air. They traveled 25 miles east to the Georgia coast. There, they were taken in by Union forces (nicknamed “Yankees” by Southerners). Susie later recalled the joy she felt.

“I wanted to see these wonderful ‘Yankees’ so much, as I heard my parents say the Yankee was going to set all the slaves free,” she wrote.

She would soon learn that was not quite the case.

A Union boat took Susie and the others to nearby St. Simons Island. About 600 other formerly enslaved men, women, and children had also taken refuge there. But escaping slavery had not made them completely free. The Union Army treated them as contraband, or property that had been taken from the Confederacy. They were not treated as people.

Even worse, Susie and the others were not safe. Confederates sometimes snuck onto the island to kidnap Black people and return them to their enslavers.

But there was a bright spot. A Union officer learned that Susie was educated. So he gave her books to set up a school. She held class for 40 children every day. She taught their parents at night.

Even as a teen, Susie understood that knowing how to read and write could help Black Americans succeed after the war. That is according to historian Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Dunbar co-wrote a biography titled Susie King Taylor: Nurse, Teacher & Freedom Fighter.

“Susie believed in the power of literacy and knew that, without it, freedom was limited,” says Dunbar.

On January 1, 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. That order formally freed the 3.5 million enslaved people in states that had withdrawn from the Union.

It was official: Susie and the other escapees on St. Simons Island were no longer “contraband.” They held a barbecue to celebrate. “It was a glorious day for us all,” she wrote.

Black men could now officially enlist in the Union Army (see sidebar, above). But even before the proclamation, the men of St. Simons had organized into the 33rd United States Colored* Infantry Regiment. It was one of the war’s first Black units.

^{*The term “colored” was once used to describe Black people. It is now considered outdated and offensive.}

Susie, now 15, traveled with the 33rd through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. She washed laundry. She cleaned weapons. She packed ammunition into boxes. She filled canteens and portioned out meals of salted beef. Plus, she taught reading and writing to off-duty troops. 

Like many Black women working for the Union, Susie was paid nothing. As she later wrote, “I gave my services willingly for four years and three months without receiving a dollar.”

Susie was now 15. She traveled with the 33rd through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. She washed laundry. She cleaned weapons. She packed ammunition into boxes. She filled canteens and portioned out meals of salted beef. She even taught reading and writing to off-duty troops.

Like many Black women working for the Union, Susie was paid nothing. As she later wrote, “I gave my services willingly for four years and three months without receiving a dollar.”

As the war dragged on, the number of sick and wounded soldiers grew. There simply weren’t enough medical personnel to care for everyone. So volunteers like Susie took on yet another role, as nurses. The teen bandaged wounds, held damp cloths to fevered foreheads, and cobbled together ingredients for soup. 

“Anything that needed to be done was often done by a nurse,” says Terry Reimer of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. 

Susie now felt much older than her 15 years. She had seen sickening injuries and watched people die. One day, she came upon several skulls in the road. She calmly moved them out of her path.

“I had become accustomed to worse things,” she later wrote. 

As the war dragged on, the number of sick and wounded soldiers grew. There simply were not enough medical workers to care for everyone. So volunteers like Susie took on yet another role, as nurses. The teen bandaged wounds. She held damp cloths to fevered foreheads. She managed to find ingredients for soup.

“Anything that needed to be done was often done by a nurse,” says Terry Reimer of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

Susie now felt much older than her 15 years. She had seen sickening injuries. She had watched people die. One day, she came upon several skulls in the road. She calmly moved them out of her path.

“I had become accustomed to worse things,” she later wrote.

After four long years and about 620,000 deaths, the Civil War ended. That was the spring of 1865. The Union had won. Yet some Confederates refused to stop fighting. As a result, Susie’s unit battled on for nearly a year after the Confederacy surrendered.

Formerly enslaved people began new free lives. Susie returned to Savannah. She started her own school. She charged $1 a month per student to cover the costs. But a free school opened about a year later. That put her school out of business.

In 1866, Susie’s husband died. His name was Edward King and she had married him during the war. Susie raised their son alone. She could not find a steady teaching job. So she worked as a cook and house cleaner.

When Susie remarried in 1879, she gained some financial security. She devoted herself to advocating for Civil War veterans. Susie worried that people had forgotten about the war and the people who had served.

So Susie wrote about her wartime memories. The soldiers she had once worked with encouraged her to do so. Her book was published in 1902. It is called Reminiscences of My Life in Camp. Historians believe it is the only Civil War memoir about Army life written by a Black woman.

In her book, Susie questioned how much life had really improved for Black Americans after the Civil War. Yet she remained optimistic. “We hope for better conditions in the future, and feel sure they will come in time, surely if slowly,” she wrote.

Susie King Taylor died at age 64 in 1912. But she is still inspiring change. Early this year, she became the first woman and person of color to have a public square named in their honor in Savannah—Taylor Square.

Susie’s extraordinary life serves as an example of what young people can accomplish, Dunbar the historian says.

“I’m hoping that her story provides a legacy of activism,” Dunbar adds. “And for young people to see that their words and actions matter—and can change society.”