George S. Lakey may be long gone, but he’s definitely not been forgotten, thanks in part to the recent efforts of one dogged historian.
The Bedford native died 140 years ago and was buried in the pauper’s section of Oakwood Cemetery in Mount Kisco.
As far as Ross Porter of the Mount Kisco Historical Society can tell, Lakey is the only African American Civil War veteran interred there.
Porter discovered Lakey’s white marble, government-issued headstone about 15 years ago while he was researching Civil War graves at Oakwood.
He was unable to unearth very much about Lakey other than he had served in Co. F of the 26th United States Colored Infantry, had been born around 1837, worked as a laborer and farmer, and had died at the age of 49 of natural causes in New Castle.
Then one day, when Porter was conducting a cemetery tour, one of the participants, William Stump — noticing the stone’s terribly deteriorated condition — pointed out that the government would replace it for free, as long as certain conditions were met.
Stump, New York Department commander of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, led the charge, filling out the paperwork and contacting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The new granite stone was unveiled and rededicated in October in a ceremony attended by local, state, and county dignitaries, veterans, history buffs, and members of the faith community.
In his address, Porter, himself a Marine Corps veteran, spoke movingly of “the certain brotherhood between both men and women who have served our country, not only during war time but in peace time too.”
According to the 1850 U.S. census, Lakey was then 14 years old and living in his birthplace of Bedford with his four siblings and his mother, Eliza, who was unable to read.
By 1863, the Civil War was raging. When President Lincoln called for the recruitment of “colored” soldiers into the Union Army, Lakey enlisted in Tarrytown.
He was sworn in, Porter said, by a “Captain Leonard”—who may have been from the same family that gave its name to Leonard Park.
Lakey trained at the Rikers Island Recruit Depot in New York City and was then sent south.
About eight months later, he was hospitalized in South Carolina — possibly with dysentery, a disease that killed as many soldiers as had died in battle — and medically discharged.
The 1880 census showed Lakey living on Sarles Street in the Bedford/New Castle area and toiling as a farmhand.
He died on Nov. 14, 1886. A coroner’s report said the cause was “congestive chill.”
Other than that, and his Oakwood Cemetery burial card, there were no records about Lakey or any of his family members, which Porter attributes to the times.
Many people of African American descent were, he said, “treated very poorly in that era, whether in the South or in New York."
There are about 200 burials in Oakwood’s so-called pauper’s field, and at least half are unmarked.
Porter noted that if someone hadn’t applied for a stone when Lakey died, no one would have known anything about his final resting place.
“On the day he was buried in 1886, we do not know who attended his burial. We can only hope that he had family members present on that day. George, we want you to know, your family is here today, surrounding your grave. We want you to know that your memory will live on for at least another 140 years, thanks to this new tombstone. And a final word, as it is common in this day and age to say to a soldier or a veteran, we say to you George, ‘Thank you for your service.’”
Before presenting Porter and the Historical Society with a state citation, Assemblyman Chris Burdick spoke about how important it was to remember that African Americans have been “fighting to defend democracy” throughout the country’s history.
“Even when they themselves didn’t have the fruits of democracy. Even when they themselves were denied liberty, the right to vote, to participate as whole members of this country,” he said.
Burdick praised Porter for his "exhaustive" and "amazing" research to honor a fellow veteran.
“That speaks volumes about you, Ross, and also about this community, that you’re here in large numbers,” he said.
County Legislator Erika L. Pierce pointed out that Lakey was one of about 4,000 Black men who had served in three New York regiments during the Civil War.
Despite their “heroic service” during the American Revolution, Black men were denied the right at the beginning of the Civil War to “even participate,” she said.
“Imagine that, having to fight to fight.”
Black leaders had to pressure the Lincoln administration to admit African Americans to the Union Army, she said, quoting a Frederick Douglass newspaper article: "Is he not a man? Can he not wield a sword, fire a gun, march and countermarch, and obey orders like any other?"
It wouldn’t be until the second half of 1862 that Black soldiers would “finally be welcomed,” Pierce said, noting that eventually more than 180,000 would serve in the conflict. More than 40,000 gave their lives, including 30,000 who died from infection or disease.
Pierce also recognized the Black women who “also supported the effort,” including abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman.
Village Trustee Tom Luzio also evoked Douglass, whom he quoted as saying in 1863: “Action and combat must supersede mere words and criticism. Once (we) let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, ‘U.S.,’ let him get an eagle on his button, a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.”
Minister Gloria J. Pinkney of the historic Antioch Baptist Church in Bedford led the gathering in prayer and song. The Rev. Malcolm M. Hudson Jr. of the Bethel Baptist Church in Mount Kisco gave the benediction.
Pastor Luis Escandia Colon from the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection of Mount Kisco was in attendance, as was Josh Gaccione, director of the Westchester County Veterans Service Agency.
Taps were played and the American flag was ceremoniously folded as veterans came forward to stand in solidarity by Lakey’s grave.
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