A Chinese soldier in the American Civil War?

Even Richard Hoover, a Civil War buff whose great-grandfather and two great-great-grandfathers fought in the conflict, was surprised to learn that there was a Chinese veteran who lived and died in his town of Indiana, Pa.

Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette Thanks to members of an organization dedicated to remembering and honoring those who fought in the Civil War, the only Chinese soldier of that war to receive a pension now has a new grave marker. Thomas Sylvanus, also known as Ching Lee, was highly decorated for serving with the 81st Pennsylvania Regiment. After the war he settled in Indiana and died in 1891. Click photo for larger image.

The name on the tombstone was Thomas Sylvanus, but by the time Hoover found it -- in Indiana's Oakland Cemetery -- it was barely readable. Hoover and others in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War have remedied that with a new headstone that will be rededicated -- along with three others -- in a ceremony at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

"He deserves more recognition from people," Hoover said of Sylvanus, who was born Ching Lee on July 4, 1845 in Hong Kong. He was brought at age 7 to Philadelphia by a Mrs. McClintok, who wanted to educate the little boy and then send him back to China as a missionary.

But he didn't like the idea, Hoover said, "and tried to get out of this arrangement." He wound up in the care of a Dr. Sylvanus in California who brought him to his sister in Baltimore. The boy took his American last name from them and his new first name from a sailor who had treated him kindly.

Thomas Sylvanus was 16 when the war between the North and the South broke out.

"When General Benjamin Butler marched his Massachusetts troops through Baltimore, Thomas was in the city and eyewitnessed the fighting between the troops and mob," said Hoover's colleague, Will Radell, the secretary of the Sons of Union Veterans' John T. Crawford Camp 43, based in Kittanning.

Nobody knows why -- perhaps war seemed thrilling to the teenager -- but Sylvanus enlisted on Aug. 31, 1861 in the 81st Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment, Company D, in Philadelphia. He was at the Seven Days battles near Richmond, Va.

He was discharged Dec. 10, 1862, because of a disability that made him "incapable of performing the duties of a soldier" -- cataracts. But 11 months later, he re-enlisted in Company D of the 42nd New York Volunteer Regiment and was sent to the front.

Sylvanus fought at Mine Run, the Wilderness Campaign, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, where he was wounded. He was captured at Petersburg, Va., on June 22, 1864, and sent to Andersonville Prison in Georgia. When he was finally released at the close of the war, he was nearly blind.

According to the multivolume "Indiana County 175th Anniversary History" by Clarence Stephenson, Sylvanus was living in Indiana, Pa., by 1870. By 1880 he had obtained his veteran's pension and was operating a laundry business.

Hoover said, "According to our knowledge, he is the only Chinese veteran of the Civil War listed on the U.S. pension rolls." He also looks to be the first to be naturalized, in a Pittsburgh court, shortly after the war.

Some researchers claim that there were as many as 50 Chinese soldiers in the American Civil War, on both sides. But it is not easy to know how many were Chinese because they often took American names and records are incomplete. Many actually were denied pensions.

The last pension payment Sylvanus received was $12 on June 4, 1891, before it was "dropped because of death," according to an 1893 U.S. Pension Agency document. As Hoover noted, it's not clear whether that was $12 a month or $12 a year.

Overall, Hoover said, the Chinese veteran's life in Indiana consisted of "tragedy after tragedy." In 1874, Sylvanus married a Woolweaver girl, who, about one year later, left him. Later he lived with a Tillie Askins, with whom he had four or five children, though the couple was not married until February 1891. That same month, he came down with a severe cold that left him bedridden and his family was placed in the care of Overseers of the Poor.

Sylvanus became very irate and, according to Stephenson, insisted "there was no necessity for doing this." Rumor has it that a physician refused to see him because he could not pay. Four months later, Sylvanus died. In 1895, his widow was arrested for stealing and jailed because she couldn't obtain bail.

Even so, Sylvanus was considered a war hero, especially for his bravery at Spotsylvania, said Richard Essenwein, the Sons of Union Veteran's post commander. Standing 5 feet 4 inches tall, Sylvanus had risen to the rank of corporal of the color guard, which bears the flags, "a very high honor position," Essenwein said.

As chronicled in Stephenson's history: "After all the Color Guard, except himself, had been disabled [Sylvanus] kept the colors of his regiment flying on the breastworks."

In 1885, Sylvanus became a member of the Indiana post of the Grand Army of the Republic in a ceremony attended by the organization's state commander -- a sign of respect, Essenwein said.

Almost forgotten, Sylvanus will be remembered again at 2 p.m. tomorrow by the Sons of Union Veterans, an organization similar to the Grand Army. Led by their state commander, Eric Schmincke, they will rededicate new headstones they had made for Sylvanus and three Civil War veterans buried near him in Oakland Cemetery: John Harvey, of the 6th U.S. Colored Troops; Frank Donahue, of the 61st Pennsylvania Volunteers; and William Woolweaver, of the 61st Pennsylvania Volunteers.

Sons of Union members will be in uniform, and the women members of its auxiliary also will be in period dress. Other Civil War re-enactors are to be on hand for the event, which will feature presentations of flowers and flags, a firing squad salute and the playing of taps. After the free event, the public is invited for refreshments at the Indiana County Historical Society.

Hoover is glad people will get a chance to know about the heroism of Sylvanus, who he considers a great American. "He was a really local tiger!"