Frank Roberts
(Pasquotank County)
Featured Character – 1863
Frank
Roberts
Sketchbook of Sgt. Fred W. Smith, Tryon
Palace, New Bern, NC
Frank Roberts was born in 1842. The 1860 Census lists Robert
as a mulatto living in Elizabeth
City and working as a
house carpenter. In May of 1863, at the age of 21, Roberts made his way to Beaufort, North
Carolina to enlist in Company A, 1st North Carolina
Colored Volunteers for a term of 3 years. He later received a
promotion to sergeant. During the fall and winter of 1863, the First
North Carolina Colored Volunteers worked as laborers for the Union army
besieging Charleston, South Carolina. Predestinated as the
Thirty-Fifth United States Colored Troops in February 1864, Roberts finally got
his chance to fight at the Battle of Olustee, Florida. Serving alongside the famed
54th Massachusetts Infantry, the 35th United State Colored Troops
prevented a Union retreat from becoming a rout. They later fought with
distinction at the Battle of St. John’s River, Florida. On September 5,
1864, Frank Roberts received a promotion to first sergeant. However, he
fell ill in late November 1864, and spent several months in a Union hospital in
Jacksonville, Florida. After Confederate General
Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the 35th United States Colored Troops maintained
order in Charleston, South Carolina during Reconstruction.
On June 1, 1866, Frank Roberts officially mustered out of the army.