Edward Curtis 
c. 1819–July 6, 1893 Civil War
Edward Curtis (c. 1819–July 6, 1893) 
By Emily Hemann 

Edward Curtis was born enslaved in Marion County, Kentucky around 1819. At the age  of forty-three, in 1862, he enlisted in the Union army in Wyandotte, Kansas, for a period of three  years.1 He mustered in at Fort Scott, Kansas, on January 13, 1863, as a private into Company C  of the 79th United States Colored Infantry.2 He was engaged in the Battle of Island Mound,  during which he was shot through the mouth and neck.3 During his service, Curtis also fractured  his left thigh, which shortened his leg two inches and rendered him unfit for duty; he received a  discharge for disability on September 25, 1865.4 

After the war, Curtis lived in St. Joseph, Missouri, for some time.5 He later moved to Fort  Scott and married Amanda Curtis. By 1880, they lived on Hickory Street and had six children,  Dennis, Mary Jane, Lafayette, Ewing, Charles, and William.6 The 1865 Kansas state census lists  another son, Jim, but he may have moved or passed away since then.7 In 1890, Curtis filed for an  invalid’s pension, though it is unclear how much he received.8 On July 6, 1893, he passed away  from dropsy at the age of seventy-five.9

This biography was completed as part of the Veterans Legacy Grant Program by Emily Hemann for the Veteran Voices from the Heartland 2023-2024 grant cycle under the direction of Dr. Jon Taylor, University of Central Missouri.

1 Company Descriptive Book, “US, Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Union – Colored Troops 56th-138th Infantry, 1864-1866,” Fold3.com, https://www.fold3.com/image/290975955/curtis-edward-page-3-us-civil-war service-records-cmsr-union-colored-troops-56th-138th-infantry-1864; Company Muster-out Roll, “US, Civil War  Service Records (CMSR) – Union – Colored Troops 56th-138th Infantry, 1864-1866,” Fold3.com,  https://www.fold3.com/image/290976145/curtis-edward-page-30-us-civil-war-service-records-cmsr-union-colored troops-56th-138th-infantry-186. 

2 Company Muster-in Roll, “US, Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Union – Colored Troops 56th-138th Infantry,  1864-1866,” Fold3.com, https://www.fold3.com/image/290975976/curtis-edward-page-6-us-civil-war-service records-cmsr-union-colored-troops-56th-138th-infantry-1864. 

3 Edward Curtis, “U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878,” image 404,  
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2604529:62309?tid=&pid=&queryId=a1451063-5ca4-4542- 9cb3-9d917de20d1a&_phsrc=WWd390&_phstart=successSource. 

4 Certificate of Disability for Discharge, “US, Civil War Service Records (CMSR) – Union – Colored Troops 56th 138th Infantry, 1864-1866,” Fold3.com, https://www.fold3.com/image/290976162/curtis-edward-page-35-us-civil war-service-records-cmsr-union-colored-troops-56th-138th-infantry-186. 

5 Edward Curtis, “U.S., Freedmen’s Bureau Records, 1865-1878,” image 400, https://www.ancestry.com/  discoveryui-content/view/2604529:62309?tid=&pid=&queryId=a1451063-5ca4-4542-9cb3-9d917de20d1a&_  phsrc=WWd390&_phstart=successSource.

6 Edmund Curtis, 1880 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui content/view/48936082:6742. 

7 Edward Curtis, 1865 Kansas state census, “Kansas, U.S., State Census Collection, 1855-1925,” Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1869333:1088?tid=&pid=&queryId=1551b9b8-0bfc-44f2- 892c-4a529b9245bd&_phsrc=WWd375&_phstart=successSource.
 
8 Edward Curtis, “U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1924,” Ancestry.com,  https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/417830:4654?tid=&pid=&queryId=9bcad86d-8fe3-4d2e-88dd 718cb65ffce5&_phsrc=WWd371&_phstart=successSource.
 
9 “Died,” Fort Scott Daily Monitor, July 7, 1893, p. 5, https://www.newspapers.com/image/59663704/?clipping_id=  141027489&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjU5NjYzNzA0LC JpYXQiOjE3MTQ2OTI4MjIsImV4cCI6MTcxNDc3OTIyMn0.xtRq1JzFp9UGasP8if0IPlvirVPaAIZa36qiDeGvSK 8.


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