Spend a bit of time looking at the 1850 Census record that captured Private Isaac Buckmaster, 8th USCT, and his parents and siblings. What do you see? Anything unusual or curious? What do you not see?

Like most, you probably saw names and ages. You may have noted who was in school and who wasn’t. You may have seen that one of his brothers is listed as “Dumb,” which in that age meant, unable to speak. Frequently, dumbness was accompanied by hearing loss.

Look a bit closer. Have you seen it yet?

Note that Isaac’s father Charles is listed as black. His mother Catherine is not given a racial designation while all the children are “M” or mulatto. Indexers have done a racial math problem and recorded Catherine as white. When we look to the 1860 Census, indexers now have Catherine and her sons William and Jonathan as white, but the actual image again shows no designation. If Catherine was truly white, the Buckmaster family is one of the most unusual of the era: while it was common for white masters to father children with their enslaved women, black men partnering with and marrying white women was nearly unheard of.

It is almost certain that Catherine was fair-skinned, or her children likely would not have been labeled mulatto with a black father. It is more probable that she was the offspring or descendant of a black mother and white father.

Whatever the case, Isaac’s family was at least somewhat unusual for the time period and area. All the Buckmaster kids were born free and in the Gettysburg area, which was not true of even most of the Gettysburg black population. We know little about their growing up years, but the appearance of Charles in a couple of news articles reveals intriguing details.

The first came in 1833 when he and likely his brother declared “insolvency” or bankruptcy. The second came in 1852 in what can only be described as a tragedy and disaster for the Buckmaster family. Charles and a young man named Henry Hollinger had been contracted to raze the Catholic Church on Washington Street; they were working when a wall fell prematurely on both men, killing them instantly.

At age 9, Isaac was fatherless. We have no record of the next few years, and Isaac cannot be found in the 1860 Census. It is possible that he was working and living on his own, possibly on another resident’s farm.

In September 1863, he and his brother Jonathan enlisted in the 8th USCT. Not only did the army offer a chance to fight for nationwide emancipation, it was steady work at reasonable pay.

The 8th USCT saw sharp action at the Battle of Olustee in Florida in which Union commanders badly underestimated the number and position of a 5000-man Confederate division. Ultimately, the federals ceded the field, but the Confederates failed to clinch a total victory when they slowed their pursuit in order to execute wounded and captured members of the USCT.

Isaac was fortunate not to be among those—he had, in fact, been severely wounded, but he was able to get off the field and was hospitalized in South Carolina. He returned to duty briefly before the end of the war then headed back home.

At home he married local girl Mary Jones. Their time together was short—Mary died in 1875 and was buried in Lincoln Cemetery. The wounded veteran did not last much longer. In 1880 he lived with his mother in law, Sarah Jones. Two years later, the world-weary 5’5” veteran passed away of unknown causes at age 38 and was buried near his wife.