A Date With History: Shoulder Arms! Marching from Wye House to Freedom

Shoulder Arms! Marching from Wye House to Freedom
Friday, September 12, 2025 @ 1:00pm

Union Army Col. William Birney recruited Charles Kellum Jr. for enlistment in the United States Colored Troops, 19th Regiment, Co. C, on December 17, 1863 in Talbot County, Maryland. Charles, 25, is described as a 5 ft. 6 ¼ inches tall Mulatto with brown eyes and black hair. Born in Talbot, his occupation is farmer. What the military record doesn’t reveal is he was enslaved by Col. Edward Lloyd VII, “Master of Wye House.” Charles Kellum is Robin Michel Caudell’s paternal great-great-grandfather, and she unpacks their family history in “Shoulder Arms! Marching from Wye House to Freedom.”
Born and raised on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Robin Michel Caudell, holds a BS in Journalism, from the University of Maryland at College Park, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. She was educated in Caroline County Schools and is a graduate of Colonel Richardson High School Class of 1977. An award-winning Staff Writer at the Plattsburgh Press-Republican and a U.S. Air Force Veteran, she is the 2023 Veterans Writing Award Winner for Black Heel Strings: A Choptank Memoir, which will be published by Syracuse University Press in Spring 2026. She received the 2022 Women of Distinction Military Service Award from NY State Assemblyman D. Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay). Robin is the director/executive producer/screenwriter for “Witness Tree at Union Road,” a speculative documentary in pre-production about a Dutch-American family and its evolution from enslaver, abolitionist, to Union Army soldier KIA in the Civil War. She is a Founding Board Trustee of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association and an alum of Cave Canem, Gotham Writers Workshop, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
This is presented by the Talbot Historical Society in partnership with the Talbot County Free Library and will take place at the library located at 100 W. Dover St., Easton, MD 21601.
The lecture will be presented on September 12th, 2025 at 1pm and is free to the public, but reservations are requested.
If you have any questions or would like to make a reservation:
 410-822-0773 or email 
Talbot Historical Society office/research/exhibit hours are:
Wednesday through Saturday 10am-3pm