Firefighter's Badge for Niagara Fire Company No. 8

This small silver badge is a type that is sometimes referred to as a “thumbnail” badge for its size and shape. It was worn by a firefighter belonging to the Niagara Fire Company No. 8 of Charleston, South Carolina. Niagara No. 8 was an independent all-African American volunteer fire company established in late 1861. It would continue until 1881, when the city disbanded the volunteer fire companies and established a paid, municipal department.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, American cities relied on independent volunteer fire companies for fire protection. Like other US cities, Charleston volunteers were white men who elected their own officers and paid to provide their own uniforms and equipment, though they did receive some maintenance funds from the city. Unlike many other US cities, Charleston maintained a municipal auxiliary service of ten companies known as “city engines” or “ward engines.” These were staffed by free Black citizens and directed by white officers, who were appointed by the Board of Fire Masters, the governing body for the volunteer department. These Black firefighters responded to calls alongside the volunteer companies, and were paid for each hour they worked at fire, but they were not allowed to organize their own independent companies like their white counterparts.

This changed in 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War. White firefighters were provided with exemptions from joining the Confederate military, but many enlisted anyway, leaving the fire service in the city depleted. At this point, the Black firefighters of the ward engines took the opportunity to assert their own civic identity and establish independent volunteer companies. While they continued to use the city-owned fire apparatus, they re-established their companies under new names and elected their own officers. Thus, Ward 8 City Engine became Niagara Fire Company No. 8 on November 5, 1861. Other ward engines did the same during this time period – the Comet Star, the Ashley, and the Promptitude, among others.

After the war, these newly independent companies pushed for full recognition by the Charleston volunteer fire department. In 1868 and 1869, many Black volunteer companies petitioned for formal incorporation by the state legislature. Once granted, this removed the last legal barrier to full participation. For over a decade, Charleston had companies of white and Black volunteers fighting fire on an equal basis, and their presidents sat together on the Board of Fire Masters.

In 1881, the city of Charleston disbanded its volunteer fire department to install a paid, municipal system of career firefighters. With this, the brief period of independent African American companies came to an end. The new city-run department would go on to create new fire companies along the lines of post-Reconstruction Jim Crow society, with Black firefighters relegated to lower positions, such as stable hands and “helpers,” while white firefighters served as officers and enginemen. By the early 20th century, this had hardened into segregation across the department, with all Black firefighters limited to service in one of two city ladder companies.

The initials at the bottom of the badge – “W.P.P” – appear to belong to a Niagara member named William P. Perry. He was a bricklayer by trade and joined the company as a young man – he was just 21 when he appears on the first surviving roster for City Engine No. 8, dating from 1866. Perry also appears in newspaper notices, showing him holding a number of positions and committee roles for the company during the 1870s. He would die in 1892 at the age of 48.