On April 26, 1946, George Ashby died in Allentown. He was buried in the Hamilton
Street Cemetery. George was 102 years old when he departed this world. George Ashby,
a black free man, was born on January 25, 1844, in Virginia. He volunteered on August 5,
1864, in Trenton, NJ. At the time of his enlistment, he was a farmer and lived in
Crosswicks, NJ.
At age 20 he accepted an installment bounty of $100 for a 3 year
enlistment in the 22nd Regiment, U.S.C.T. He was later assigned to H-CO., 45th
Regiment, U.S.C.T. The 45th was part of the 25th Army Corp., the only all black Army
Corp. in U.S. history. George Ashby’s regiment took part in the following battles:
Chapin’s Farm, New Market Heights, Darby Town, Fair Oaks, Appomatox, Hatcher’s
Run, Petersburg, and in minor skirmishes.
The regiment was entrenched before
Petersburg from June 1864 to April 1865, and took part in the pursuit of General Lee and
his army of northern Virginia in 1865. Ashby’s regiment was then transferred to the
Mexican frontier because of the encroachment of Maximillian’s Mexican and French
troops. There he received a promotion to Sergeant for gallant and meritorious service.
He was discharged in November, 1865, in Brownville, Texas. After the war, he resumed
farming and married Phoebe Cole of Crosswicks. The couple moved to Waker Ave.,
Allentown, where they raised their children. Mrs. Phoebe Ashby died at the Waker Ave.
home.
George spent his last years residing on Pearl Street. George had 9 children, 16
grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and 7 great great grandchildren. One of his
grandchildren, Harold James Ashby, became a member of the Newark Board of Education
and became president of that board. He also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the
state of NJ, and chairman of the NJ State Parole Board.
George Ashby was the last
surviving Civil War veteran from the state of New Jersey.