Abraham Galloway

Abraham H. Galloway
An etching of an 1857 photograph of Galloway[1]
Member of the North Carolina Senate from the 13th district
In office November 16, 1868 – April 12, 1869
Preceded by	Mathias E. Manly
Succeeded by	George W. Price
Personal details
Born	(1837-02-08)February 8, 1837 Smithville, Brunswick County, North Carolina, US
Died	September 1, 1870(1870-09-01) (aged 33) Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Martha Ann Dixon
Profession	Abolitionist, Union Army spy, politician, brick mason

Abraham Harris Galloway (February 8, 1837 – September 1, 1870) was an African American politician who served as a state Senator in North Carolina.^[2]

Born in Smithville (now Southport, North Carolina) in 1837. A former slave who played an important role in supporting the Union Army's success in North Carolina, he served in the North Carolina Senate during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War. His funeral in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1870 was honored by attendance from more than 6,000 people.

Although he was a driving force in shaping local and state political direction during his brief lifetime, Abraham Galloway left no record of his own thoughts and ideas, being unable to read or write. William Still, abolitionist and corresponding secretary for the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, records the escape of Galloway and his friend Richard Eden from Wilmington to Philadelphia, stowed among the cargo of a schooner carrying naval stores: pine tar and turpentine. Due to the hazards of this particular journey, Still counts Galloway and Eden as "classed among the bravest of the brave".^[3] The Vigilance Committee provided passage to Canada for the two men.

Within the 20th century, historians and writers have uncovered Galloway's story, and continue to strengthen knowledge of this Civil War personality through two books, The Watermans Song, published in October 2001,^[4] and The Fire of Freedom, published in February 2015.^[5] These books bring the story of Abraham Galloway to life. An article by Philip Gerard, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, in Our State magazine also highlights his place in the history of North Carolina.^[6] Galloway was known as the Scarlet Pimpernel^[7] (The Scarlet Pimpernel).

Abraham Harris Galloway^[8] was born on February 8, 1837 in the small town of Smithville, North Carolina, United States.^[9] He was born to an enslaved black woman, Hester Hankins, who was owned by the widow of a Methodist minister. His father was John Wesley Galloway, a white ship's pilot. How the two met is unclear.^[10] The Galloways were a locally prominent family and included several wealthy planters.^[8][11] Abraham was owned by the widow's son, Marsden Milton Hankins.^[12][13] Historian David Cecelski suggests a "family bond may have brought" the parents into contact, as John was Marsden's second cousin.^[14] In his adult life, Abraham recounted that his father "recognized me as his son and protected me as far as he was allowed to do so."^[14] John Galloway married a white woman in 1839 and had eight children with her. The extent of Abraham's contact with these relations is not clear, though his eventual widow later recalled that Abraham had familiarity with the eldest of Galloway's white wedlock-born sons, Alexander Swift Galloway, and indicated that the two were playmates in childhood.^[15] Abraham had no formal education in his youth^[16] and could not read or write.^[13]

Hankins eventually moved to Wilmington to work as a mechanic and engineer. Galloway apprenticed as a brick mason until he became a master of the trade. Once achieving this status, he moved in with Hankins and his wife in their home off of North Fourth Street.^[17] He later recalled Hankins as a "man of very good disposition" who "always said he would sell before he would use the whip" but described his wife as a "mean woman".^[18] Hankins permitted Galloway to find brick masonry work at his preference as long he could pay Hankins $180 a year from his earnings.^[18]

Galloway decided to escape when it became impossible for him to continue bringing his owner the money in light of tightening economic conditions in Wilmington.^[19] In 1857, at the age of 20, Galloway was able to escape from slavery alongside a fellow slave, Richard Eden. A sympathetic ship captain agreed to hide Galloway and Eden below the deck of his schooner, among barrels of turpentine, tar, and rosin. Northbound ships were fumigated by burning turpentine, to flush out runaway slaves. Galloway and Eden planned to use oilcloth and wet towels to ward off smoke, but the fires were never lit. Galloway and Eden arrived successfully in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sickened by exposure to the ship's cargo.^[20] The two sought assistance at the offices of the Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia, the city's oldest abolitionist organization, and met one of the group's leaders, Underground Railroad operative William Still.^[21] Though Pennsylvania was a free state, Galloway and Eden faced the risk of capture by bounty hunters under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.^[22] To ensure their safety, Still supplied Galloway, Eden, and a third fugitive slave, John Henry Pettifoot, train tickets and a list of contacts to assist them on a journey to Kingston, Ontario, Canada. At a Vigilance Committee member's request, Galloway left in their care two souvenirs: a photograph of himself and one of the oilcloths he and Eden had used on their voyage.^[1] An etching of the photograph was later created, and it remains the only confirmed image of Galloway.^[23]

Galloway, Eden, and Pettifoot left Philadelphia in late June 1857.^[22] In Kingston they met George Mink, a black stagecoach operator and ally of the Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia.^[22] On 20 July, Eden wrote Still a letter confirming the party's safe arrival in Kingston and connecting with Mink. He also mentioned that Galloway had found work as a brick mason.^[24] In subsequent years, Galloway travelled frequently both within Canada and back into the United States, namely the states of Ohio and Massachusetts, where he made contacts with abolitionists and sometimes delivered speeches denouncing slavery.^[25] In December 1860 he went to Boston to prepare to sail to the Republic of Haiti to support abolitionist James Redpath's black settler colony.^[26] He arrived in Haiti in January 1861.^[27] He stayed for 15 weeks, visiting a black American exile community in Saint-Marc, and returning to the United States on April 1.^[28]

Shortly after Galloway returned to the United States, the American Civil War broke out. At the recommendation of abolitionist George Luther Stearns, federal military leaders in Massachusetts recruited Galloway to serve as a spy in Confederate territory. Within several weeks he was reporting to Major General Benjamin Butler, who commanded the federal garrison at Fort Monroe, Virginia.^[29] Galloway traveled widely throughout the Confederacy during the war, though the full extent and nature of his activities is not fully known. He rarely spoke of his service as a spy later in his life.^[30] He investigated potential landing sites for federal forces in advance of Burnside's North Carolina Expedition in 1861 and 1862.^[31]

In 1862, Butler was reassigned to command the newly-formed Department of the Gulf. Galloway was transferred along with the commander to federally-held land in Louisiana.^[32] Shortly thereafter he was attached to federal forces operating near Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[33] He later disappeared in Mississippi under unknown circumstances.^[34] The Anglo-African wrote that he had been seized by Confederate forces "on distant Southern strand" but did not elaborate further. He later resurfaced in Union-occupied New Bern, North Carolina.^[35] Mary Ann Starkey, a former slave and local leader in the black community, later said of his arrival in the city that he was in dire need of her help.^[35] The two later became close allies, with Galloway supporting her efforts to assist freedmen and women and sometimes joining meetings among black activists at her home.^[36][a]

Galloway made frequent appearances in New Bern.^[38] In May 1863, Edward Kinsley, an abolitionist and an emissary of Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew, traveled to New Bern to investigate the possibility of recruiting blacks to serve in the Union Army. Kinsley managed to secure a meeting with local black leaders one night in Starkey's home, among whom was Galloway.^[39] Galloway initially opposed black enlistment.^[40] The black leaders demanded, among other things, that blacks would be recruited on the condition that they would be serving in a struggle to end slavery, not only preserve the territorial integrity of the United States. The negotiations proved contentious and lasted into the morning, but Kinsley eventually ceded to their demands. Galloway departed, and several days later he and some of the other black leaders led a procession of thousands of slaves into New Bern.^[41][42] Those that enlisted with the federal army were organized as the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers.^[43]

With a system of black recruitment set up under Brigadier General Edward A. Wild, Galloway served as an emissary between the general's recruiters and fugitive slave bands, easing contraband enlistment into the army.^[44] Over the summer of 1863, he frequently addressed black gatherings, arguing that armed black participation in the federal war effort would help secure full citizenship for freedpeople after the war.^[45] Although illiterate, Galloway proved an able orator. In his speeches to black audiences, he employed sarcasm and irony when ridiculing whites.^[46] He also help Starkey's efforts to provide aid to black soldiers and their families, soliciting donations on her behalf when he travelled to New York and Boston, and on one occasion bringing her funds for disbursement to wounded and ill black soldiers in Portsmouth, Virginia.^[47] Later in 1863, Butler was brought back from the Gulf and assumed command of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina, Galloway joined with other black leaders in asking that he urge the Department of War to ensure better treatment of black soldiers.^[48] Galloway also succeeded in helping his mother escape Confederate-held Wilmington and bringing her to New Bern. With General Wild's assistance, he was able to send her to Boston and arrange for her to stay with an abolitionist businessman.^[49]

Meanwhile, Butler had received reports of some of the captured Confederates held at the federal prisoner of war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, of holding Unionist sympathies. In what proved to be his last official act as a Union spy, Galloway agreed to go on behalf of the general to the prison to ascertain the inmates' sympathies.^[50] At Butler's recommendation, some of the soldiers were given the opportunity to switch allegiances and enlist in federal military service.^[51] In December 1863, he met with Robert Hamilton, publisher of The Anglo-African, in Norfolk, Virginia and agreed to guide him on a tour of Union-occupied ports in the South.^[52] The two quickly became friends, and together saw Norfolk and visited Portsmouth, Hamilton, and Fortress Monroe.^[53] From there, the two sailed to New Bern, took a train to Morehead City, and sailed again to Beaufort. ^[54] In Beaufort, Galloway took Hamilton to the home of two freedpeople, Napoleon and Massie Dixon, and their daughter with whom he was romantically involved, Martha Ann Dixon.^[55] Galloway married Dixon on December 29 at her parents' home. Dixon advocated for abolition and later worked as a seamstress.^[56] In the time intervening their arrival in Beaufort and his marriage, Galloway also facilitated meetings between Hamilton and black leaders in New Bern.^[57] Hamilton's resulting dispatches to The Anglo-African carried a positive impression of Galloway.^[58]

On April 29, 1864,^[59] Galloway was part of a delegation of six black leaders—the others being Edward H. Hill, Clinton D. Pierson, John R. Good, and Isaac K. Felton of New Bern and Jarvis M. Williams of Washington, North Carolina—who met with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at the White House in Washington, D.C..^[60] According to Cecelski, while Lincoln had met with black leaders from the North earlier in the war, "This seems to have been his first meeting with African American leaders from the South."^[59] The delegation entered the White House through the front door—a courtesy the men were unfamiliar with—and had a polite and frank discussion with the president about the political future of black freedmen. They then presented a petition on behalf of black North Carolinians, asking that blacks be guaranteed full political equality at the conclusion of the war.^[61] Afterwards, the men walked to the U.S. Capitol and distributed copies of their petition to U.S. Congressmen.^[62]

Following the visit to Washington, Galloway, Pierson, Hill, and Good went on a tour of Northern states to promote support for black suffrage. On May 4, they addressed the congregation of Zion Church in New York City.^[63] Galloway appealed for the congregants to provide aid for Southern blacks.^[64] Afterwards, Galloway briefly left New York, visiting at least Boston, before coming back to the city by May 11, where he spoke at Sullivan Street AME Zion Church and visited the offices of The Anglo-African.^[65] Galloway and the other delegates to Washington returned to New Bern in early June and held a meeting at Andrew Chapel to report on their meeting with the president.^[66] In his remarks he emphasized the importance of self-reliance among the former slaves and denounced the accusation that enfranchised blacks would be easily corrupted, saying he had witnessed vote buying practices among Northern whites.^[67] The Anglo-African reported that while Galloway was willing "to wait a little longer" for social equality with whites, "he wanted his political rights now."^[68]

Meanwhile, preparations were made in Syracuse, New York to host a "National Convention of Colored Men" in October. Mass meetings were held in New Bern's black community to assemble a delegation. Pierson, Good, and John Randolph Jr., all associates of Galloway, were chosen to represent the city, though the mass meetings exposed a rift between local black leaders and James Walker Hood, an AME Zion missionary who had been dispatched from the North to aid the city.^[69] Over the course of the summer the city was battered by a regional yellow fever epidemic—which eventually killed Galloway's father off the coast of Bermuda—and heavy federal conscription of black labor caused unrest and community divisions.^[70] Feeling it prudent to provide the black community with a sense of reconciliation, Pierson, Good, and Randolph resigned their mandate and joined with others in a mass meeting in electing Galloway to serve as the city's delegate.^[71]

The National Convention of Colored Men opened in Syracuse on October 4. Galloway one of 144 delegates, one of only 16 from the South, and one of only two from North Carolina.^[72] During it first meeting, the convention named Frederick Douglass its presiding officer. Each state was entitled to have a delegate serve as a vice president of the convention and have a seat on the Committee for Permanent Organization; both spots were granted to Galloway. Furthermore, Douglass appointed to Galloway to the convention's four-man executive board and to its Business Committee.^[73] Galloway spoke little on the convention floor, though he did become a firm supporter of the body's unanimously-passed resolution, a "Declaration of Wrongs and Rights", which detailed the abuses blacks had suffered under slavery and demanded political equality in the United States.^[74] On the third and fourth days of the convention, the body organized the National Equal Rights League and elected its officers. Galloway favored Henry Highland Garnet for the league presidency, though John Mercer Langston ultimately secured the post. Despite this, Galloway was elected to serve as one of the nascent organization's 16 vice presidents and one of the four members of its executive board.^[75]

With the convention adjourned on October 7, Galloway embarked on a speaking tour across the North states to promote the National Equal Rights League and abolition.^[76] He addressed meetings and congregations in Baltimore, Newark, Boston, and New York City^[77] before returning to New Bern. A state chapter and several local auxiliaries of the league were organized. The New Bern division elected Galloway its president, while a chapter in Morehead City named itself the "Abraham H. Galloway Equal Rights League".^[78] Galloway served as the "president" of ceremonies for a celebration of the second anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 2, 1865 in New Bern organized by several regional Equal Rights Leagues.^[79]

Shortly thereafter, Fort Fisher, which defended the mouth of the Cape Fear River, fell to Union forces. At the end of the month the U.S. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which declared slavery abolished, and forwarded it to state legislatures for ratification. Galloway presided over a celebration by blacks in New Bern of abolition and the coming end of the war on February 16.^[80] Over the course of March, large portions of North Carolina were captured by federal forces advancing from South Carolina. In early April, the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia fell to Union forces. As federal forces continued to secure control over the South, President Lincoln was assassinated on April 14.^[81] Galloway observed the public procession of Lincoln's coffin to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. five days later. He subsequently served on the executive board of the National Lincoln Monument Association.^[82]

With the conclusion of the American Civil War, Galloway and his colleagues continued to promote the Equal Rights League and demands for African American suffrage.^[82] Freedmen began organizing in Wilmington, though the nexus of black political activity in North Carolina remained in New Bern and Beaufort.^[83] Galloway emerged as the leading figure in New Bern's nascent freedmen's politics.^[84] At a 1865 Fourth of July celebration organized by the Salmon P. Chase Equal Rights League in Beaufort, he addressed the crowd of over 2,000 freedmen and demanded "all equal rights before the law, and nothing more."^[85]

On August 22, a New Bern assembly issued a public call for the holding of statewide freedmen's convention in Raleigh.^[86] Six days later, Galloway dominated a following assembly in New Bern. Delivering the keynote address, he called for the provision of schools for blacks to ameliorate illiteracy and renewed his demands for black suffrage, though he conceded he was willing to compromise on enfranchisement by allowing for some restrictions on all prospective voters without regard to race, such as the use of literacy tests.^[87] The crowd ultimately elected him, Randolph, and George W. Price to advertise the convention.^[88] Galloway, Good, Randolph, and AME missionary George A. Rue were later selected by an assembly of local Equal Rights Leagues to be New Bern's delegates.^[89]

The freedmen's convention convened at Loyal African Methodist Episcopal Church in Raleigh on September 29, three days before the start of the state's official constitutional convention.^[90] Galloway called the delegates to order and named Good as the body's temporary president.^[91] Unlike many of the eastern delegates who had been elected by assemblies to represent the interests of blacks in their home regions, many delegates from North Carolina's interior had chosen to attend the convention on their own initiative. At the urging of James Harris of Raleigh, the congress declared itself a "mass convention" open to all delegates who arrived in good faith.^[92] The interior delegates and the convention as a whole tended to seek a conciliatory posture towards white society.^[93] Galloway frequently participated in the debates and by contrast forcefully demanded black suffrage, civil liberties, workers rights, racial equality in the judicial system, and the creation of a public school system for blacks.^[94]

Among various resolutions adopted by the body was one to establish a committee led by Harris to draft a letter to the state constitutional convention representing the freedmen's views on equality.^[95] The letter assumed a conservative and deferential tone and focused on appeals for economic relief, making only a vague appeal for the undoing of discriminatory legislation and omitting mentions of suffrage or full legal equality.^[96][97] The convention designated Harris, Good, and Galloway as messengers to deliver the letter to the constitutional convention and invite Governor William Woods Holden to speak before them. Holden declined the invitation.^[98] The delegates' final act was to declare themselves a new North Carolina Equal Rights League headquartered in Raleigh, supplanting the original one created a year prior in New Bern.^[99]

The convention ultimately had little immediate political impact in North Carolina, as Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson left the political role of blacks to the discretion of the governments of the Southern states, and consequently they ignored the demands of freedmen.^[100] In 1866, Conservatives in the North Carolina General Assembly voted against ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—which would have guaranteed full citizenship and due process to former slaves—and passed a series of Black Codes which restricted the legal and economic rights of freedmen.^[101]

Galloway, his wife, and their young son moved to Wilmington sometime after the freedmen's convention in Raleigh.^[102] His mother had returned from Boston and formally married Amos Galloway—Abraham's stepfather—and together with their son John—Abraham's half brother—moved into a house on North Fourth Street across from the home of Hankins, Abraham's former owner. Abraham Galloway and his family moved into the house. How he supported his family is unknown, and they lived with little money. Galloway family legend says that local black churches supplied his family with means to live so that he would not have to rely on the employment or patronage of whites.^[103]

Galloway had little involvement in public affairs for over a year after moving to Wilmington, not appearing involved in Equal Rights League activities or participating in a second state freedmen's convention held in Raleigh in October 1866.^[104] He joined a Masonic lodge and attended St. Paul's Episcopal Church with his wife.^[104] Politically, Wilmington was dominated by white conservatives and the wealthy and while there was significant black political activity, the black community did not display the same capacity for organization as blacks in New Bern had developed during the war.^[105]

He did not follow racial customs, refusing to set aside to let white men pass him on the street or to allow white customers to make purchases ahead of him in shops. He openly carried a pistol. Although illiterate, Galloway was a naturally gifted orator. In his speeches to black audiences, he employed sarcasm and irony when ridiculing whites.^[46]

Meanwhile, Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress grew dissatisfied with the passage of Black Codes and white-instigated racial violence in the South and the inaction of President Johnson on these developments. In 1867, they passed a series of Reconstruction Acts which placed the Southern states under military authority, stripped former Confederate officials of political rights, and required states of the former Confederacy to ratify new constitutions which guaranteed universal male suffrage.^[106]

With the opportunity for a new constitution and black political participation imminent, Galloway began organizing Wilmington's blacks in support of North Carolina's nascent Republican Party. On July 20, 1867, he delivered an hour-long address at Thalian Hall imploring blacks to become Republicans and declaring himself fully committed to the party.^[106] Over subsequent weeks, he delivered speeches at local Republican clubs and black civic organizations, traveling to Brunswick County and Whiteville to spread his message. The August 27 edition of the Wilmington Daily Post printed a letter from Galloway exhorting Republicans to organize "campaign clubs" for each city ward which would meet weekly to discuss political issues and send delegates to a citywide convention to nominate candidates for local office.^[107]

Galloway served as a delegate at North Carolina's first State Republican Convention in 1867.^[109] He delivered the opening speech at the assembly, urging the other delegates to "go everywhere there is a black man or a poor white man and tell him the true condition of the Republican Party."^[110] Though the body did not nominate a black candidates for statewide office, Galloway told a gathering in Wilmington after the convention that he was ready to "bury all our difficulties now and commence afresh."^[111] The Wilmington Daily Post paraphrased him, writing, "The half Negro that was in him loved liberty and he believed that it could be obtained only through the Republican Party."^[111] Galloway's political activities continued in anticipation of a new constitution. Addressing a procession from atop the city market house, he predicted that blacks would be able to vote for a legal framework that would give them a new opportunity for political equality, declaring, "In this it will be left to them whether or not they will voluntarily remain where they are."^[111]

On October 17, the New Hanover County Republican convention nominated him as one of three candidates—the others, Joseph Carter Abbott and Samuel S. Ashley, being white northerners—for the delegation to the constitutional convention.^[111] Voters in the county overwhelmingly voted in favor of calling a new constitutional convention and selected Galloway, Abbott, and Ashley as their delegates. Afterwards, Galloway joined meetings with local and state Republicans to discuss issues that they intended to cover at the convention and traveled with a delegation of Southern Unionists to Washington D.C. to meet with Republican congressional leader Thaddeus Stevens.^[108]

The state constitutional convention lasted from January to March 1868. The convention was organized into 13 committees to study various issues.^[112] He served on the Committee on Counties, Cities, etc. and the Committee on the Judicial Department.^[113] He presented the Committee on Counties, Cities' report on the city of Wilmington to the convention.^[112] He also proposed a measure to prohibit racial discrimination in businesses and methods of transportation open to the public.^[114] During the convention's debates, he suggested the election of an official reporter for the body,^[113] opposed considering the issue of Prohibition,^[115] and denounced an attempt constitutionally-require racial segregation in public schools.^[116] He opposed an amendment providing for the election of judges by the state legislature and vocalized his support for their popular election, but ultimately did not vote on the motion making them so.^[117] He also declared that he was opposed to any repudiation of private debts, except those incurred to support the Confederate war effort or to purchase slaves after the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation.^[118] He also opposed attempts to repudiate the state debt but did introduce a successful motion to absolve counties of any debts incurred to assist the war effort.^[119]

Galloway's prominent role at the convention horrified North Carolina newspapers. The February 4 issue of the Wilmington Daily Post published a story in which black delegates were referred to as "niggers." Galloway demanded that the insult be addressed at the convention. The convention debated whether the term was actually an insult, and when the white reporter confirmed that he had indeed meant it to be an insult he was expelled from the convention. Another convention debate addressed whether black citizens were too easily swayed to vote responsibly. Galloway responded by stating that though his white father's blood was "the best blood in Brunswick County," if he could he would "lance myself and let it out." In March, the front page of multiple Wilmington newspapers reported in dismay that Galloway had met with the white president of the convention in a restaurant and they had shared a public meal together.^[120]

The new constitution did nullify the Black Codes and also enabled black candidates for office, but had to be ratified by popular vote. In the same election Galloway ran for the state senate. The Ku Klux Klan mobilized to keep black men away from the polls, and in response Galloway led an informal black militia. The militia patrolled the streets of Wilmington, armed, and confronted white men suspected of Klan membership. On the night of the election, Galloway led several hundred black men "hooting and yelling" through the streets. The Klan did not appear, and both white and black men were able to vote unimpeded. The new constitution was approved, and Galloway elected to the state senate. White politicians claimed voter fraud.^[121]

Galloway was elected to the North Carolina Senate for the term beginning 1868, representing Halifax County.^[122] He was one of 13 colored men to serve that legislative term in the North Carolina General Assembly.^[123] The 1868 legislature met in two sessions. During the first session, Galloway served on the Committee on Propositions and Grievances, the Committee on Military Affairs, and State Prison and Penitentiary Committee, as well as a special committee tasked with choosing the site of a new penitentiary. He continued to serve on the Committee on Propositions and Grievances and the Committee on Military Affairs in the second session.^[124]

Galloway was the most active of the colored senators during his term, speaking frequently in the Senate and introducing significant amounts of legislation.^[125] He heavily involved himself in the recreation of the state school system, supporting a bill which provided for a four-month school term. Galloway and James Harris—who had been elected to the House of Representatives—pushed for communities to be given a local option to raise property taxes to fund for additional schooling, though the measure was eventually defeated by the Conservatives and several white Republicans who feared over-taxation of property owners.^[126]

In 1868 he spoke and voted in favor of a bill establishing a state militia, citing the need to protect the political rights of all citizens under possible threat.^[127] The issue arose again in January 1870 and Galloway renewed his support for a militia, citing the presentation of two assaulted colored men before the legislature. A militia bill was ultimately passed into law.^[128]

On July 6, 1868, he amended a proposal to desegregate the senate galleries by offering an optional middle section that could be occupied by both races. Galloway was able to vote for ratification of the 14th and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution during his tenure. He was also a strong supporter of women's rights.^[129] In February 1869, he proposed a bill to protect wives from abandonment by their husbands.^[130] In March, he proposed amending the state constitution to give women the right to vote.^[131]

In 1870 Galloway introduced a bill which lowered the standard of evidence for property owners seeking to demonstrate that real estate belonged to them. The measure was designed to provide relief to blacks who had been bequeathed homes or land while they had been enslaved even without titles. The bill was ultimately passed into law.^[132]

Galloway was reelected to the Senate in the 1870 elections but died before he could resume his seat. George W. Price was subsequently elected to fill the vacancy.^[133]

Galloway died unexpectedly of fever and jaundice on September 1, 1870, in Wilmington.^[134] A funeral was held for him two days later.^[135] An estimated 6,000 mourners gathered at his funeral.^[136] He was buried in Pine Forest Cemetery, Wilmington's burial grounds for blacks, but the location of his actual grave is uncertain due to conflicting cemetery records and haphazard boundary keeping practices.^[137] Frederick Douglass's newspaper, New National Era, stated that Galloway died very poor due to his dedication to philanthropy.^[138] His widow later returned to Beaufort with their two sons and remarried.^[139]

Several letters Galloway wrote to Governor Holden are preserved in the State Archives of North Carolina.^[125] In the 2010s, activists in Wilmington formed the Friends of Abraham Galloway organization and lobbied the North Carolina Office of Archives and History to erect a historical marker honoring Galloway in the city.^[140] On October 3, 2014, a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker dedicated to Abraham Galloway was unveiled at Third Street and Brunswick Street in Wilmington.^[141] Howard Craft later wrote a one-man play, The Fire of Freedom, about Galloway based upon David Cecelski's biography of him.^[142]

• African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900

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• Balanoff, Elizabeth (January 1972). "Negro Legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly, July, 1868-February, 1872". The North Carolina Historical Review. 49 (1): 22–55. JSTOR 23529002.
• Beckel, Deborah (2010). Radical Reform: Interracial Politics in Post-Emancipation North Carolina. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813930527.
• Bernstein, Leonard (October 1949). "The Participation of Negro Delegates in the Constitutional Convention of 1868 in North Carolina". The Journal of Negro History. 34 (4): 391–409. doi:10.2307/2715607. JSTOR 2715607.
• Bishir, Catherine W. (2013). Crafting Lives : African American Artisans in New Bern, North Carolina, 1770-1900. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469608761.
• Cecelski, David (2012). The Fire of Freedom: Abraham Galloway and the Slaves' Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4696-2190-6.
• Cheney, John L., Jr., ed. (1975). North Carolina Government, 1585-1974 : a Narrative and Statistical History. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Evans, William McKee (1995). Ballots and Fence Rails: Reconstruction on the Lower Cape Fear (reprint ed.). Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-1731-4.
• Gould IV, William B. (2002). Diary of a Contraband: The Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor (paperback ed.). Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4708-3.
• Still, William (1872). The underground rail road (The underground rail road. ed.). Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. OCLC 2082902. OL 7081318M.
• Watson, Alan D. (1987). A History of New Bern and Craven County. New Bern: Tryon Palace Commission. OCLC 17398679.
• Zucchino, David (2021). Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-4865-0.