Private Redder

Jacob Redder, a native of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was a farmer who enlisted in Company I, 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored) later the 11th Regiment of Artillery (Heavy) U. S. Colored Troops. Private Redder contracted small pox in New Orleans, and died at the Corps d'Afrique General Hospital on April 30, 1864. At the time of his death, he is listed on military paperwork as "free" and having no personal effects. His wife Sophia Elizabeth (Mills) Redder who he married in 1830, was a native of Bath, New York, was able, with the help of a widow's pension, to support and take care of their nine children. She passed away in 1886.

Jacob Redder was a little older than Abraham Lincoln when he enlisted in the Union Army in Providence, Rhode Island on November 19, 1863. At fifty-four years old, he stood six feet tall.

He seems to have lied about his age, which is listed on military paperwork as thirty-nine. In fact, Redder was born in Brunswick, New Jersey on January 16, 1809.

Their children listed in order: Mareda (born Nov. 6, 1830), Catharine (born Aug. 27, 1833), Robert (born Sept. 6, 1835), Charlotte M. (born Jan. 9, 1838), David (born March 3, 1842), Christina (born March 23, 1844), Sarah (born Nov. 22, 1847), Sophia E (born May 23, 1849), and Ariana (born Sept. 21, 1851).

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