Black War Of 1812 Soldier Finally Recognized As Veteran, 152 Years After His Death

Samuel A. Neale served in the Maryland State Militia during the War of 1812.

Samuel A. Neale, a Black man who served in the Maryland State Militia during the War of 1812, was posthumously recognized as a veteran of the United States Armed Forces, ending a campaign started by a local historian to get Neale the headstone entitled to him due to his service.

According to the

, Louis Giles, a former NSA official and amateur historian of the War of 1812, started to take up Neale’s case with the Veterans Affairs office in 2022. According to Giles’ research, under the regulations of the Maryland militia, Black soldiers were to receive military titles no matter what their duties were. Withholding this, he argued, was tantamount to further entrenching the racism of the time in which Neale served.

In July, Giles told the

his reasoning for pursuing the change. “Is a person in the VA discriminating against Blacks? I can’t say that. But whether they recognize it or not, if their policies are what they’ve told us, that’s certainly effective discrimination.”

Despite Giles’ claims and research showing that Neale was granted a military pension by the Maryland legislature in 1870, the VA continually denied his appeals to grant Neale his due status. As a last ditch effort, Giles applied for and was granted an audience with the VA’s court of appeals where his case was heard by Anthony Scire Jr., one of the VA’s appeals court judges in June. Scire then ruled on July 25 that Neale was an American soldier in good standing and was thus entitled to a free headstone.

Scire’s ruling applied the understanding that state militia units were essentially akin to today’s National Guard and as such, Neale was effectively acting in service of the United States Armed Forces when he joined the fight.

“Mr. Neale was a member of a federalized unit which was being commanded by a lawfully appointed officer; wore a military uniform; carried arms openly; and operated within the laws and customs of war at the time,” Scire wrote in his ruling.

Scire continued, “Furthermore, extracts from official Maryland state files indicate that the Maryland State Legislature had recognized Mr. Neale as a Veteran for pension purposes based on his military service. Therefore, Mr. Neale is a Veteran, for VA purposes, based on his honorable active-duty wartime service with the United States Army during the War of 1812.”

Although he now qualified for the free headstone, that designation came too late, as Giles had already secured the free headstone from a stone mason in Frederick, Maryland which was installed in a private ceremony at St. John’s Cemetery on July 26. However, Giles’ contention was never actually about the headstone, as he told the Baltimore Sun, “I always believed that if I had the opportunity to appear before an impartial judge, the decision would support my views.”

Giles continued, “To me, this should have been a slam dunk from the beginning. Not only did we have the muster roll, but supporting evidence far beyond what I have normally seen in 1812-era cases. I felt that the law clearly supported the judge’s decision.”