Invincible Grays
The Invincible Grays were a Black unit in the Pennsylvania Militia. They were organized by T. Morgan Jones, a former slave who escaped Virginia and settled in Monongahela by 1855, where he worked on steamships.
Their Civil War service was first rejected by Governor Andrew Curtin, who said they were not needed or accepted. After the Emancipation Proclamation and the Battle of Gettysburg, they volunteered again and served in Virginia and South Carolina.
Captain Samuel Beecher Hart led the Grays; he later became a state legislator and helped push a monument honoring Pennsylvania’s African American soldiers—the All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors.
In 1870 the Pennsylvania Militia became the Pennsylvania National Guard. The Invincible Grays were followed by the Keystone Guards and Company F, 10th Regiment, Eighth Division.
They served as honor guards at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial and during the railroad strikes of 1877. In 2018 a plaque in Washington County commemorated their service.
Leadership notes: Mark Hilton was the First Lieutenant before resigning. Second Lt. William H. Jones became first lieutenant. Sgt. Joseph R. Griffey, said by a local historian to be an ancestor of Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., was elected second lieutenant. A. Oscar Jones commanded in 1876. Charles A. Hallstock captained in 1889. They were described as independent. Andrew F. Stevens Jr. led the unit in 1896.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:25 (CET).