Just like the majority, John was born into slavery, but that did not stop him from showing compassion to the fallen soldiers who were fighting to keep people like him enslaved.
Upstate’s forgotten abolitionists: Elmira’s John W. Jones buried Confederate prisoners with compassion
Updated Feb 23, 2021;
Posted Feb 19, 2021
- Former slave John W. Jones buried thousands of Confederate soldiers from Elmira s Civil War prison camp, treating them with such compassion that years later Southern families kept their men buried there rather than bringing them home. Courtesy of WikipediaCourtesy of Wikipedia
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Upstate New York was a hotbed in the 19th century for the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad. Names like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith are familiar. But there were also valiant figures from the region, white and Black, who fought for the end of slavery whose names have faded into history.