Description
Got the Pension. - - In the United States court this morning in the pension case of the United States vs. James H. Mayo alias Phillips, the jury unanimously returned a verdict in favor of Mayo, thus giving him over $800 that has been tied up in a Leavenworth bank for several years.
It was proven in court that Mayo was the son of “Little Bill” Hunt, who was a slave in Platte County, Missouri, who enlisted in the first negro Kansas regiment in 1862 and afterwards died at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The question was raised that Mayo was not the legal heir of Hunt, but the jury was unanimous in his favor and awarded him the pension money.
(Researcher's note: See 1865-1919 Civil War Pension Index Cards, 06/24/1888: Pension Index Card for U. S. Colored Troop soldier Phillips, William a/k/a Hunt, Spratt
"William Phillips alias Spratt Hunt: 79th U. S. C. T. Infantry, Company F.
✦ Minor Pension: #366461, Certificate #297,030
William Phillips a/k/a Spratt Hunt enlisted at Leavenworth, Kansas on August 17, 1862, and was mustered as a Private into the 79th USCT Infantry, Company F.
Joseph Carreas, Sergeant in Company A, 79th USCT Infantry, appeared before Leavenworth County notary public W. A. Burnheen on November 12, 1866, and executed an affidavit that ""Spratt Hunt went by the name of William Phillips"" and Carreas ""knew him to be the same person.""
On November 13, 1866, Benjamin R. Morton, Administrator of the Estate of David Hunt, deceased, of Platte County, Missouri, signed claim for compensation #163 for enlisted slave William Phillips and swore an oath of allegiance before Platte County Circuit Court Clerk George W. Belt.
Benjamin R. Morton claimed David Hunt had acquired title to William by “…the mother of said William Phillips was the property of said David Hunt, deceased, and the said William Phillips, for whom compensation is claimed for the benefit of the heirs of said David Hunt, deceased, was born the property of said David Hunt, all of which appears by a certified copy of Letters of Administration hereto attached.”
Letters of Administration filed by Benjamin R. Morton identify Mr. S. P. Morton, Mrs. Ann Likins, John G. Sutton, Elizabeth Merryman, David Hunt, Jr., Mrs. H. E. Queen, William H. Hunt, Mrs. Mary F. McClure, and Robert F. Hunt as being heirs to David Hunt's estate.
As of July 1, 2026, Civil War U. S. C. T. Pension Record case files are not currently available on the Internet and would need to be ordered from the National Archives, https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/pre-ww-1-records.)"Date(s) of Creation
6/13/1894
