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William Henry Singleton (August 10, 1843 – September 7, 1938〔) was an American slave from North Carolina who became a Union soldier during the American Civil War. As a freedman, he moved to New England, where he became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion Church) in Portland, Maine. He wrote and published his autobiography in 1922, an account of his rise from slavery of the genre known as slave narratives. During the American Civil War, Singleton escaped to Union forces and gained his freedom. In the summer of 1863, he recruited and helped lead the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers, which became part of the 35th United States Colored Troops. After being wounded in the Battle of Olustee, Florida, in February 1864, he was assigned to garrison duty. Following the war and his honorable discharge, in 1866 Singleton moved to Connecticut, where he worked and taught himself to read and write. He joined the AME Zion Church, an independent black denomination, and became a missionary and minister, serving in Portland, Maine. Later he lived and worked in Peekskill, New York. Always proud of his military service, at the age of 95, Singleton marched in a parade of Civil War veterans in Des Moines, Iowa, shortly before his death. ==Early life and education== In his memoir, Singleton said he was born on August 10, 1835 in Craven County, North Carolina, near New Bern. (Historians have estimated his birth as 1843.〔) The mixed-race boy's mother Lettis Singleton was a slave, and his father was the younger brother of his white master John Singleton. The senior Singleton had one of the largest plantations and the most slaves of any planter in the county. (Singleton, descended from English colonists in Virginia, acquired his wealth by marrying the widow Mrs. Nelson.) The memoir noted that all the slaves were referred to by the Singleton surname.(Singleton, pp. 1–2) As Singleton later wrote in his memoir, "()y presence on the plantation was continually reminding them of something they wanted to forget." It caused a quarrel between the brothers. (Singleton, pp. 1–2). Because John Singleton was embarrassed by his mixed-race nephew, he sold the boy at age four to a trader, who took him to a widow in Atlanta, Georgia. She had a "slave farm", training slaves for domestic service and selling them at a profit. Determined to be with his mother, at the age of seven William ran away and made his way back to New Bern. His mother hid him for three years, as he would go under the floorboards to escape notice.〔 After the overseer Nelson discovered him, he sold the boy again. Singleton was held for a time by a Mrs. Wheeler, who he said was kindly. But, hearing that she intended to sell him, he escaped to New Bern and found work for a time as a bellhop at the Moore Hotel. Finally the boy returned to the Singleton plantation, where his master agreed to keep him and have him work in the fields.〔 His determination and inventiveness in order to be with his mother were characteristics he used all his life. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Henry Singleton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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