Spotswood rice biography of william hill

American AME minister (1819–1907)

Spottswood Rice (November 1819 – October 31, 1907) was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church and a private in the Union Army during the US Civil War.

Rice is most famous for a pair of forcefully written letters to the owner of his wife and children during the war while he was stationed in St. Louis and they were enslaved in Howard County, Missouri. The letters expressed his desire to be reunited with his family and his anger at his wife's owners.

Later, he was ordained a minister in the AME church and served congregations in Missouri, New Mexico, and Colorado.

Spotswood rice biography of william hill

In 1882, he founded the first AME church in New Mexico.

Early life

Spottswood Rice was born a slave in Madison County, Virginia^[1] in November 1819.^[2] At a very early age his owner moved with his parents to Howard County, Missouri.^[1]

In Missouri, Rice married Arry or Orry Ferguson.

As it was a slave marriage, the