SUN: Havre de Grace order aims to restore neglected U.S. Colored Troops graves

HARFORD COUNTY, Md. (WBFF) — Havre de Grace Mayor William Martin signed an executive order to help a local foundation clean, preserve and maintain a historic, neglected cemetery where members of the U.S. Colored Troops were laid to rest.

U.S. Colored Troops soldiers fought for the Union during the Civil War.

For over a year, representatives from the Bel Air-based Sgt. Alfred B. Hilton Foundation have been working to identify and honor soldiers with county ties who fought with the U.S. Colored Troops and are buried throughout the state. As they investigated, they discovered the headstone of Cpl. Louis H. Hill at the Johnson-Hill Cemetery, which sits along Chapel Road and is covered in tree limbs, deer bones and other debris.

The executive order establishes a partnership between the foundation and the city, so volunteers can use personnel and equipment to help restore, preserve and maintain abandoned and neglected African American cemeteries where U.S. Colored Troops veterans are buried within or near Havre de Grace.

Read the full story on The Baltimore Sun.