RENO, Nev. — A runaway slave who joined the Union Army during the Civil War and lost a leg after being wounded in battle will finally get recognition Sunday, nearly 100 years after he died in Nevada.
Local historians say they decided to hold a military funeral for Pvt. Scott Carnal of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry because it's highly unlikely he received any recognition after his 1917 death in Dayton, about 40 miles south of Reno.
He was forgotten until discovery of a cryptic inscription on his tombstone in the Dayton Cemetery a year ago led to research that found he belonged to the United States Colored Troops and lost a leg after suffering a gunshot wound in the Battle of Honey Springs in what is now Oklahoma in July 1863.