Story by Francis S. Carl and Denice Evens Sheppard

Interview by Archie Snowden

The 26th USCT Regiment in formation at Camp William Penn 1865

​Footsteps of a Forgotten Soldier

The Life and Times of David Carll

​​At a time in American history when slavery was still practiced in many Southern states during the Civil War, thousands of free hard working black men from the state of New York and surrounding areas answered the call of duty once a colored regiment had been authorized in the state of New York.  One such young man who answered the call was David Carll, from the village of Oyster Bay, New York. At the age of eighteen he would set out on a Journey that would take him from the small village where he lived, into the deep south behind Confederate enemy lines in South Carolina. While assigned to the 26th United States Colored Troop Regiment he would find himself engaged in many battles.  150 years after the Civil War ended, the story of this one soldier is being told by his descendants. Records compiled from the National Archives in Washington DC as well as records from many other reliable sources including oral history from David Carll's grandchildren  makes this story possible.  What was uncovered in the research was a remarkable story that seemed to rise up from the very soil David Carll stood on. So please, come take a remarkable journey, in the Footsteps of a Forgotten Soldier.                              
                  Book Released February 2015