John G. Foster, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

John G. Foster

Union army general

Date of Birth: 27-May-1823

Place of Birth: Whitefield, New Hampshire, United States

Date of Death: 02-Sep-1874

Profession: military officer

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About John G. Foster

  • John Gray Foster (May 27, 1823 – September 2, 1874) was a career military officer in the United States Army and a Union general during the American Civil War whose most distinguished services were in North and South Carolina.
  • A postbellum expert in underwater demolition, he wrote the definitive treatise on the subject in 1869.
  • He continued with the Army after the war, using his expertise as assistant to the Chief Engineer in Washington, DC and at a post on Lake Erie. From 1862 to December 1863 Foster commanded the Department of North Carolina.
  • After the Emancipation Proclamation, he appointed Horace James, a Congregational minister, to help freedmen prepare for independent life, and directed a former contraband camp to be developed as the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island.
  • By 1864, 2200 freedmen were settled on household plots.
  • Many worked for pay for the Army, which held the forts.
  • Under President Andrew Johnson, after the war, the Army abandoned the colony.
  • Most of the freedmen chose to return to the mainland for work.

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