Black History Month - February 14, 2021

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of the death of Maj. Wesley J. Furlong of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. He died at his home at 47 Sanford Street (image 1). Furlong is the Black Melrose historical figure of whom we know the most, and we will be devoting a few installments to his life over the course of the next two weeks.

Furlong was born in Martinsville, West Virginia in 1835. We can piece together the sad story of his early life through widely scattered documents.

Image 2 is from Furlong’s 1910 pension application, in which he reveals that he had a brother in Gettysburg, PA. This brother was named Eldridge. Eldridge had been freed from slavery before the war. Unlike his brothers, he was of mixed race (“mulatto”), and he was likely the result of a forced sexual relationship between his mother and his master, which would explain why he alone was set free.

Image 3 is an advertisement placed in a Black newspaper in Mississippi in 1882, in which Furlong’s brother Hamilton, who had been sold to a slave trader in New Orleans before the war, is searching for his family. From this document we learn the names of all of Furlong’s brothers. Hamilton and Wesley never found one another.

Image 4 is an advertisement placed in a Black newspaper in Toronto in 1854, in which Furlong is searching for his brother, Charles, who had earlier escaped to Canada. They never found one another.

Images 5 & 6 are passenger manifests for slave ships departing Baltimore for New Orleans. Image 5 records the transit of Furlong’s parents, Thomas and Urseley, in 1847, when Furlong was 12 years old. Image 6 records the transit of Furlong’s younger brother Singleton, just 14 years old, in 1850. They never saw each other again.

This is the tragedy of just one family. By 1860, there were almost 4 million other enslaved people in America. Multiply the tragedy accordingly.

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