Black History Month: Columns Museum hosting talk on African American D&H Canal workers

An event marking Black History Month is planned at The Columns Museum in Milford on Sunday, Feb. 4. In addition to the permanent exhibit about a four-generation African American family living in Milford, with distinguished military service, there will be a presentation about the experience of African Americans working on the Delaware & Hudson (D&H) Canal.

The event starts at 3 p.m. at the museum located at 608 Broad St., the home of the Pike County Historical Society. A $5 donation is suggested. Light refreshments will be served.

Bill Merchant of the D&H Canal Museum will make the presentation.

Merchant is a historian who has done extensive research on the marginalized workers on the D&H Canal. The D&H relied completely on low-wage marginalized workers to construct and operate its canal. Immigrants, people of color, women and children comprised most of its workforce.

The 108-mile canal operated from 1828 to 1898, shipping coal from the mines in northeastern Pennsylvania to market. The canal stretched through Wayne and Pike counties, crossing the Delaware River at Lackawaxen and continuing to port on the Hudson River near Kingston, where the coal was transferred to barges and pulled to New York City.

Sgt. Milton W. Bailey

The exhibit about four generations of the Davis-Bailey family, African Americans who lived in Milford, includes a Civil War veteran, Abraham Davis, and his great-grandson, Sgt. Milton Wesley Bailey. Both Davis and Bailey are honored through the "Home Town Heroes" series of banners which line Broad Street between The Columns Museum and the corner of Broad and Harford. Bailey was listed as missing in action in the Korean War, and later declared deceased.

Matriarch Sarah Showers Davis was described in the Pike County Historical Society announcement as a "fearless woman of color" who defied the norm by purchasing her family home in predominantly white Milford in 1900 using her late husband Abraham's Civil War pension.

Milton Wesley Bailey, born April 4, 1931, was the son of Beatrice Bailey and grandson of Phebe Davis Bailey, of Milford. Newspaper accounts from Pike County show a few glimpses into his childhood, and the news of his military service.

When he was in first grade at Milford School, he won third place in a Rexall contest at a local drug store. His parents posted a thank-you note in the Pike County Dispatch for everyone who voted for their son. He was also listed as having parts in school plays through the years.

In 1950, he was in the Army, being trained at Fort Knox. That September, a columnist in the Dispatch commented on seeing young Milton Bailey home on furlough, looking sharp in his Army attire and with a physique showing our fighting forces were finely fed. The Baileys lived at 308 West High St.

March 1951... The columnist related that Sgt. Bailey was in the thick of the fighting at the Korean front.

June 1951... The paper related that Bailey wrote home about feeling homesick and grateful for letters from his friends. He was proud of his promotion and was platoon sergeant with 45 men under him. Milton was believed to be the first Milford man to arrive and see action in Korea.

He was part of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. The 24th Regiment was primarily made up of African American soldiers.

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August 1951... His mother reports receiving word that Milton has been missing in action since July 17. The notice was on top of page one back in his hometown paper.

February 1952... His mother had written the Adjutant General, U.S. Army, for any news of her son. General William E. Bergin replied that Bailey was on combat patrol when they became engaged in a firefight. The patrol was forced to withdraw to re-organize when they realized he was missing.

Milford High School's yearbook in 1952 was dedicated to Milton Bailey, missing in action for almost a year.

Dec. 3, 1953... The Department of the Army declared that Bailey was dead. He was 20 years old.

He was not seen to fall in battle, and he was not reported to be a prisoner of war. The area became part of the Demilitarized Zone following the ceasefire. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody.

Every year, his mother was honored as a Gold Star Mother in Milford's Memorial Day parade.

A memorial service was held Feb. 28, 1954, at the Methodist Church in Milford. It was hosted by Milford's Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts. His photo was on the top of page one of the Dispatch on March 4.

Bailey was the only person from Pike County killed in the Korean War.

In March 2022, the Columns Museum hosted a live reading of the letters Bailey sent home, with actors from the American Readers Theatre.

Sgt. 1st Class Bailey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. His name is also inscribed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance in Washington, D.C.

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Columns Museum in Milford announces Black History Month talk