Basil Biggs (c. 1819–1906) was a free African American laborer and veterinarian. He lived near Gettysburg and was reportedly involved with theUnderground Railroad.

Biggs was born inCarroll County, Maryland in about 1819. His mother died when he was four.^[1] During the 1840s, Biggs married Mary Jackson. They had seven children. They moved from Maryland to Gettysburg in 1858.^[2]

Following theBattle of Gettysburg, Biggs was hired to disinter bodies from temporary cemeteries, place them in coffins, and rebury them. The work started in October 1863 and ended in March 1864. He was paid $1.25 per body and worked with a crew of laborers. Gettysburg's Unknown Soldier,Amos Humiston, was among the disinterred.^[3][4]

Biggs used his earnings to purchase a farm in Gettysburg. He started the organization The Sons of Good Will in order to acquire land for black cemeteries.^[4]

Biggs died on June 6, 1906, and was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery in Gettysburg.^[5]

Playwright and actorAnna Deavere Smith is Biggs' great-great-granddaughter.^[6]

• 1917 photograph of the Basil Biggs farmhouse

• 1810s births
• 1906 deaths
• African-American farmers
• 19th-century American farmers
• American veterinarians
• Farmers from Pennsylvania
• People from Carroll County, Maryland
• Underground Railroad people
• People from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania