Former slave joined others in search of freedom and then eventually came to Pomona - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

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There were a couple of good reasons that John B. Baugh was welcomed into membership in the Vicksburg Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Pomona more than a century ago.

Two years’ service during the Civil War certainly gave him the credentials to join the GAR, an organization of former Union Army soldiers.

But Baugh had another bit of kinship with the organization — he was a former slave whose freedom was made permanent by those members of the Union army who had defeated the Confederacy.

He was born into slavery in 1845 in Tennessee.

It was after the bloody battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, not far from where he was enslaved, that the 18-year-old Baugh ran away from captivity. It was not long afterward that Union officers realized that Baugh and the large number of other escaped slaves in the area could be recruited to aid the Union.

Early in 1863, at Corinth in northern Mississippi, Baugh and other former slaves, many from Alabama, were enlisted in the newly created 55th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, which served the Union cause during fighting in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Baugh, his freedom secured by the Union victory, became a teacher and minister in Martin, Tennessee.  In late November 1915, the 70-year-old, with wife Lottie and three sons and a daughter, moved to Pomona.

He joined the GAR there and was an active member for the last 25 years of his life, undoubtedly the only African American member of the local post. The Baughs were one of the few Black families in Pomona in those days — the 1920 census showed only 46 African Americans in the city. But they made an impact in their adopted hometown.

On July 30, 1916, the first service of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church was held with Baugh as the pastor and its organizer. Rev. J.A.V. Pieters, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Pomona, conducted the recognition service, reported the Pomona Progress the following day. The church held its services at Thomas and Tenth streets.

On his 84th birthday, the now-retired Baugh and the Vickburg post held an open house at his home on Main Street, just across the street from what today is the county courthouse, reported the Pomona Progress-Bulletin, April 23, 1929.

His church later became the Bethel African Methodist Church, which honored him in 1933 with the creation of the John B. Baugh Civic Club. It held meetings during local elections that year to inform voters about various election issues and political candidates, who were invited to speak.

The Baugh family was recognized in other ways as sons John and Robert (Bobby) were star athletes for Pomona High School.

In his first game as a freshman, Johnny Baugh really opened everyone’s eyes when he pitched a two-hit shutout of Fullerton High on April 28, 1917, wrote the Pomona Bulletin the following day. In that nine-inning 6-0 game, he struck out 18 batters and hit a triple.

Johnny would be a mainstay for the high school baseball team during his four years. In March 1920, he struck out 19 batters in a nine-inning, 10-3 win over Whittier High. The then-undefeated Pomona team saw Baugh record 84 strikeouts in his first 42 innings for the team that eventually lost in the playoffs to San Diego High. He was named to the all-Southern California baseball team.

After his high school exploits, he joined the semi-pro African American Colored Giants in 1920. During the winter of 1920-21, he played for the Lincoln Giants, an Eastern team that played an independent schedule against both White and Black teams at Carroll Park in Los Angeles.

Baugh, who acquired the nickname of “Wizard,” had a 3-0 record pitching for the Giants, which won 20 of its 22 games that year. In the winter of 1921-22, Baugh played briefly for the Giants, but inexplicably, his baseball career came to an abrupt end. Local papers later detailed numerous run-ins with the law, and he spent some time in jail. He died in 1987.

During the 1920 season at Pomona High, John’s catcher was younger brother Bobby, who two years later led the team in hitting. He also played quarterback for Pomona’s football team.

In his late 30s, Bobby later entered the Army during World War II and served with the 238th Port Company in Europe, being discharged at war’s end as a corporal.

The elder Baugh died at age 94 on Feb. 6, 1939, leaving only four surviving members of the GAR’s Vicksburg Post.

Lottie Baugh died Aug. 14, 1946, and is buried with her husband at Pomona Cemetery. After son Robert died April 27, 1958, he was buried a few feet away from his parents near the cemetery’s Veterans Memorial.

Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached at joe.blackstock@gmail.com or Twitter @JoeBlackstock

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