Stephen Atkins Swails (23 February 1832 – 17 May 1900) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although originally enlisting as a private, he was the first African-American soldier promoted to commissioned rank, as a line officer, in that conflict, as evidenced by the U.S. War Department's initial refusal of that promotion due to his "African descent."
Born |
23 February 1832 Columbia, Pennsylvania
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Died |
17 May 1900 (aged 68)
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Zodiac | Pisces |
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