Tribute to former slave
Re-enactors fire their muskets on the lawn of the Taylor House Museum in Berlin in October 2009 during a tribute to Isaiah Fassett, a former slave and Union solider. Members of the Delaware 2nd Regiment Volunteer Infantry of The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War dedicated a makeshift memorial to Fassett. Born into slavery in Sinepuxent in 1844, Fassett was released by his owner, Sarah Bruff, on Nov. 11, 1863. That same day, he enlisted in the Union Army, which had paid his owner $300 for his freedom. He fought at Wilderness, John’s Island, S.C., and Deep Bottom, Fussel’s Mills, Petersburg and Richmond, Va. After the fall of Richmond, Fassett was promoted to corporal. He was discharged on Nov. 26, 1866 and returned to live in Berlin. The Taylor House Museum displays memorabilia of Fassett and other blacks involved in the Civil War.


