Sylvester Ray gravestone
*Sylvester Ray was born on this date in 1844. He was a Black soldier and military equality advocate. He was from Washington County, New York, a slave state.
He joined the Union Army on December 18, 1863, and was a private in the Second US Colored Cavalry. In 1864, he refused to accept less pay than white soldiers and threatened the officer who ordered him to do so. Injured during the American Civil War, he was in the hospital at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and died on June 2, 1867.
Sylvester Ray is buried in the Minneapolis Cemetery.
