On Sunday, February 28, 1864, thirty-one-year-old Smith Ball had made his way from one end of St. Charles County to the other, a distance of about 25 miles, to reach freedom. His enslaver was John Ball who had passed away in 1850, leaving fifteen enslaved people living in three small cabins on his widow, Ann Hitch Ball’s large tobacco plantation.[ii] The Ball Plantation was located at Flint Hill,near the Boyd plantation, also in Cuivre Township, a community just over seven miles east of Snow Hill.
Smith Ball had been born May 26, 1833[iii], in Virginia, and had been brought to Missouri during the 1830s. According to his enlistment papers, he was a light-colored black [man], 5 foot 10 inches tall, with brown eyes and black hair. He left behind a wife Minerva Pringle, and four children, William, Lucy, John H., and Ada. When mustered in at Benton Barracks, he was examined by John Bruere, MD. of Benton Barracks in St. Louis like hundreds of other troops. He served in Company B of the 68th US. Colored Troops. [iv] The remarks on the Descriptive list stated “Recruit presented himself” meaning that he had fled his enslaver, Ann Hitch Ball(1804-1870), the widow of John P. Ball (1805-1858)[v].
The 68th U.S. Colored Troops were Infantry, and Ball would advance to Sergeant before mustering out. He had fought at Fort Blakely in Alabama, The Battle of Blakeley was the final major battle of the Civil War, with surrender just hours after Grant had accepted the surrender of Lee at Appomatox in the afternoon of April 9, 1865. Mobile, Alabama, was the last major Confederate port to be captured by Union forces, on April 12, 1865.
He and Minerva would raise a large family, William, Lou, John, Lina, Ada, Julia, Minnie, Birdie, and Mary. By 1900, she had passed away and was buried at Smith Chapel but her father Austin Pringle, who had been born in 1811 in Kentucky was still living with his son in law and grandchildren. When he died in 1912, at age 78, he was living alone at Foristell. He was buried at Smith Chapel Cemetery, where he had served as one of the nine original Trustees in 1871
Notes
[ii] 1850 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules Record, United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850/i. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1850. M432
[iii] MO Secretary of State, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Death Certificate of Smith Ball, Sept. 13, 1912.
[iv]Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served the United States Colored Troops: 56th-138th USCT Infantry, 1864-1866; NARA; 300398; Carded Records Showing Military Service of Soldiers Who Fought in Volunteer Organizations During the American Civil War, compiled 1890 – 1912, documenting the period 1861 – 1866
[v] The 1860 U.S. Federal Slave Schedule for Ann Ball, Cuivre Township, St. Charles County.
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ST. CHARLES COUNTY HISTORY 