Logan Goodpasture (December 1846 - January 16, 1927) served as an under cook in Company F, 13th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry. He is one of twenty-three black men known to have served with the regiment, all of whom served as company cooks.
Personal life[]
Goodpasture was born December 1846 in Overton County, Tennessee.
Civil War service[]
Logan Goodpasture enlisted in Company F on February 1, 1864 at Livingston, Tennessee for a period of three years. He mustered in September 1, 1864 in Knoxville.
At enlistment he was 18 years old, 5' 6" tall, black complexion, black eyes, black hair, and by occupation a farmer.
According to the muster rolls Goodpasture was present every month throughout his service. He mustered out with the regiment on September 5, 1865 at Knoxville. Records state that he was last paid to February 1, 1864 and owed $87.36 to the government for his clothing and was due a bounty of $100.
Regular Army service[]
Goodpasture enlisted as a private in Company A, 38th U.S. Colored Infantry on May 20, 1867 in Nashville. He was transferred October 27, 1869 to Company A, 24th U.S. Infantry[1]--one of the Buffalo Soldier regiments--and discharged October 12, 1875 at Fort Bliss, Texas on the expiration of his term of service.
Courts martial[]
Goodpasture was brought before a General Court Martial at Fort Selden, New Mexico on December 2, 1867. He was charged with "Sleeping on post." The specification was: "[T]hat Private Logan Goodpasture, Co. A, 38th Infantry, having been duly posted as a sentinel, was found asleep on his post, with gun laying across his lap, between the hours of 10 and 11 o'clock P. M., when visited by the Sergeant of the guard. This near Fort Dodge, Kansas, on or about the 29th of July, 1867." Goodpasture plead not guilty to the specification and not guilty to the charge. He was found guilty on both. The sentence was: "To be confined in charge of the guard for the period of four (4) months, and to forfeit to the United States twelve dollars ($12) per month of his monthly pay for the same period."[2]
Goodpasture was brought before a second court martial in 1873 at Ringgold Barracks, Texas. During an approved dance in a company barracks building, Appolenos Romero--a servant to the 9th U.S. Cavalry's colonel--was looking through a window at the dance. Goodpasture saw Romero and because he could speak Spanish, he invited Romero inside to join them. Romero replied in Spanish that "he did not dance with n*****s". It was at this point that Goodpasture ordered him--in English-- to "clear out". An argument ensued and the two had a fight that sent Romero to the post hospital and Goodpasture to the guardhouse. The court found that Goodpasture had "just cause and provocation" and only fined him $5.[3]
Later life[]
According to the 1880 U.S. Census, Goodpasture[4] was farming in Harwood, Texas with his wife Rachel (b. abt 1846 in Mississippi), three step children, and their daughter Aurinda (b. abt January 1880 in Texas). The 1900 U.S. Census has Goodpasture living in San Antonio, Texas and employed as a day laborer; he is listed as a widower.[5] In the 1920 U.S. Census, Goodpasture was living in Los Angeles, California with his wife Mary (b. abt 1871 in Texas) and daughter Katherine (b. abt 1891 in Texas); he was employed as a janitor.
He applied for an invalid's pension on July 9, 1892.
Goodpasture died January 16, 1927 in San Antonio, Texas and is buried in San Antonio National Cemetery.[6]
Notes[]
- ↑ The regiment was formed on November 1, 1869 by the consolidation of the 38th U.S. Colored Infantry and 41st U.S. Colored Infantry.
- ↑ General Court Martial Orders from the Headquarters, of the Department of the Missouri, 1868.
- ↑ William A. Dobak & Thomas D. Phillips, The Black Regulars, 1866-1898 (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press), 2001. See p. 151-152, 314.
- ↑ He is described as mulatto in this census.
- ↑ The earliest evidence of his residence in San Antonio is an 1899 city directory.
- ↑ Five government records give his date of death as January 14, 1927.