Biography
Louden Shubael Langley was born into a large, extend family of Langleys and Clarks amongst the hills of Huntington and Hinesburg, Vermont. Educated in local schools, Langley made a name for himself writing extensive letters to local newspapers regarding abolition, colonization, and southern secession.
In 1863, he and two of his brothers enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an all black unit in the segregated Union Army. Vermont, due to population size, did not field any all-black units, so many black volunteers from Vermont were sent to Massachusetts to enlist. His service in this unit eventually brought him to the Sea Islands of South Carolina where he accepted a promotion and transfer to the 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry Regiment, made up almost exclusively of members of the Black 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. His rank of Sergeant-Major was the highest afforded to black soldiers at the time.
The 33rd mustered out of service in January of 1866. Langley decided to stay in South Carolina, settling down in Beaufort with his wife and young daughter. They later had a son.
Louden Langley quickly took on leadership roles in the mostly black local government of Reconstruction-era South Carolina. He served as a teacher for the Freedman's Bureau, tax auditor and school commissioner in his home town. His role as tax auditor perhaps led him to invest in a number of properties sold at tax sales.
Langley was a member of the five-person delegation from Beaufort County to South Carolina's Constitutional Convention in Charleston. Secondary sources state that he fought hard for an equal and desegregated education clause in the new state constitution, something he would have been familiar with growing up in Vermont. This clause ultimately did not find its way into the constitution and by 1880, Reconstruction came to an end with African-Americans losing all their elected positions and power as the Jim Crow era dawned.
Louden Langley's last job was that of an assistant lighthouse keeper, perhaps at Hunting Island. He was only there for about one year as he died of unknown causes at the age of 42 in 1881. He's buried with other Civil War veterans in the Beaufort National Cemetery.Occupation
Farmer
Soldier
Teacher
Tax Auditor
School Commissioner
Lighthouse Keeper