Joseph C. Ford: Michigan's Resident Black Confederate Veteran

Here in "The Great Lakes State," we don't have any grand monuments to Confederate veterans adorning the grounds of our courthouses or capitol building, no flags flying on public lands to honor the memory of the many Confederate veterans who gave their lives in the defense of Southern independence, and no large cemeteries filled with rows of headstones under which the dead men in gray lie. We're located in a state that was solidly pro-Union during the War Between the States, and such displays certainly reflect that fact. That doesn't mean, however, that there aren't any Confederate veterans buried within the borders of Michigan.

Given the large number of Southerners who moved to this state for work after the Yankees decimated the Southland, there are likely untold dozens of Confederate veterans who lie under Michigan soil. While only a handful have been located, one Confederate veteran buried in Michigan started his life as a slave in the land of "The Old Dominion State."

Born a slave to the Bill Alsop family near Fredericksburg, VA in around 1852, Joseph C. Ford was just a young boy of about 8 or 9 years when war broke out among the states. Almost right from the start of the conflict and practically up through to the bitter end, Ford served the Confederacy faithfully. His service began as a personal attendant to several different men in the 30th Virginia Infantry. Ford also said that he served in the Confederate commissary, and recalled later in life of having had the honor to hold the horse of Lt.Gen. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. Ford told a Fredericksburg newspaper in 1932 that his service had been such as to entitle him membership in Confederate Veteran camps.

About five years after the close of the war, Mr. Ford left Virginia and headed north for work. He would come under the employ of the railroad, and would quickly become the chief porter for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, a position he would hold for more than 45 years. It was through working for the railroad that Mr. Ford would come to settle down in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1872.

In 1881, Mr. Ford began supplementing his railroad income by taking a job as an attendant in the cloak room for the Michigan state senate in Lansing, MI. He arranged his schedule with the railroad so that he could be present at each session of that legislative body, and eventually became appointed in charge of the cloak room. So appreciated was the work he provided to the Senate that he was called upon every four years by the Michigan Republican Party to attend that party's national convention with the Michigan delegation as their "majordomo." For more than 55 years he would hold these positions, personally meeting and developing relationships with many of Michigan's leading statesmen and big names in the Republican party from the late-19th and early-20th centuries, affectionately obtaining the unofficial title of "Senator Joe." In 1937, Mr. Ford would be honored by the Michigan State Senate in an official resolution "for the ardent and genuine service rendered by this loyal and patriotic citizen."

As a citizen of Grand Rapids, MI, Joseph Ford was a well respected man, and was a leader among that area's African-American community in the effort of obtaining "equal rights" (an issue usually attributed only to the South by those who would have us believe racism didn't exist among folks in the north...), even being elected mayor for the African-American resort community of Idlewild in the northwestern area of the state's lower peninsula in 1916.

Joseph C. Ford died in January of 1939 at about the age of 86. He had been preceded in death by his wife of more than 50 years, Emma Warren Ford (in 1937); his only son, Chandler (in 1916); and his only daughter, Theola Ford Lewis (in 1938). He was survived by only one grandchild. Burial for "Senator Joe" took place in Grand Rapids at the Oakhill Cemetery, beside his wife and very near both of his children.

In commemorating Black History Month, we here in the Michigan Camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans honor Mr. Ford for his faithful service throughout the War for Southern Independence, and also for his years of service to this state in the decades immediately following the war.

If you would like to join us in honoring Mr. Ford's Confederate service, feel free to visit his Find a Grave Memorial at the following link and leave a message of your appreciation and gratitude. [FindAGrave.com - Joseph C. Ford]

MAY GOD ETERNALLY BLESS THE MEMORY OF JOSEPH C. FORD!

DEO VINDICE!

- Jonathan McCleese

Sergeant-at-Arms, SCV Camp #1321