Description
Dewitt Embry enlisted at Leavenworth, Kansas, on August 3, 1863, and was mustered as a Private into the 83rd USCT Infantry, Company F. On November 9, 1866, Benjamin F. Willis of Plattsburg, Clinton County, Missouri, signed claim for compensation #497 for enlisted slave Dewitt Embry and swore an oath of allegiance before Clinton County Circuit Court Clerk William Birney.
Willis claimed he had acquired title to Dewitt Embry by “…that he acquired said Dewitt Willis through his wife Ann J. whom he married in Green County, Kentucky, in December 1848; the father of said Ann J., wife of claimant, having died in Green County, Kentucky, in the year 1846 leaving as his Executrix with will annexed Martha A. Embry, his wife, will recorded in the said County of Green, State of Kentucky."
Joseph Daffron and Moses Jennings of near Plattsburg, Platte County, swore under oath that Willis had owned Alfred Embry for “10 years" and also swore oath that Willis was loyal to the U.S. Government and had defended it against the Confederate States of America. Clinton County Circuit Court Clerk William Birney certified that Willis, Daffron, and Jennings had personally appeared before him and swore an oath to the truth of the claim. (Benjamin Willis and Moses Jennings were Platte County enslavers.)Date(s) of Creation
11/9/1866
