Freed Union soldier gets proper honor guard ceremony 150 years later

JAMES ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - One family uniquely honored Veterans Day by paying tribute to an ancestor who escaped slavery and joined up with Union forces.

The Honor Guard Ceremony for Isaac Goss took place deep in the James Island woods at one of the Dill Sanctuary’s unmarked African American cemeteries.

Several generations of Goss’ descendants gathered to unveil the new headstone. Goss was enslaved in North Carolina when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Six months later, he enlisted in the Union military, getting promoted several times before leaving the Navy after the war.

He settled down on Wadmalaw Island and raised a family. Barbara Goss-Brown says the ceremony cemented to her that her great, great grandfather’s sacrifice was valued.

“When I received this flag from my great, great grandfather who was a slave, who was in the civil war, it made me feel like I am just as important as anyone else,” Goss-Brown said.

Goss-Brown says Isaac started a long tradition of military service with her family. She serves in a variety of posts around the Lowcountry.

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