“Virginia authorities were unprepared to arm blacks, and Governor Letcher initially rejected offers to supply black labor. Soon, however, Letcher changed his mind and permitted recruiting African Americans to work on the fortifications around Norfolk. . . the public reply of Charles Tinsley, a twenty-nine-year-old bricklayer and spokesmen for the black volunteers, cemented the incongruous analogy. ‘We are willing to aid . . . ‘

See Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War, A. Wilson, Greene, pp. 35/6

https://books.google.com/books?id=C-ie-ioW0s8C&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=%22Charles+Tinsley%22+in+the+Civil+War&source=bl&ots=gyETaMXC18&sig=aOy89D9OKl7nhbuXDymJY0l2R4Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SYLjVOqdLYmoogT2_4DgAQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Charles%20Tinsley%22%20in%20the%20Civil%20War&f=false

……

See also:

https://books.google.com/books?id=SDXqWHT4ufsC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=%22Charles+Tinsley%22+in+the+Civil+War&source=bl&ots=m4uwQ9BXU5&sig=7Jr-4AhSsRqhoBj9geoTmBJJ1js&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9IbjVI_eJdCboQT24YL4Dg&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22Charles%20Tinsley%22%20in%20the%20Civil%20War&f=false

……..

I Freed Myself: African American Self-Emancipation in the Civil War Era
By David Williams

https://books.google.com/books?id=qZ1cAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=%22Charles+Tinsley%22+in+the+Civil+War&source=bl&ots=gzwEZLy5ka&sig=_S9VQJSKnhL-62doSdEKuo5kGao&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9IbjVI_eJdCboQT24YL4Dg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=%22Charles%20Tinsley%22%20in%20the%20Civil%20War&f=false

………

Black Southerners In Confederate Armies: A Collection of Historical Accounts
By Charles Kelly Barrow, J.H. Segars
https://books.google.com/books?id=mteZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221&lpg=PT221&dq=%22Charles+Tinsley%22+in+the+Civil+War&source=bl&ots=HY4wWcek62&sig=OAeclx9F2wcQogmKlT0-KTGhovs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9IbjVI_eJdCboQT24YL4Dg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=%22Charles%20Tinsley%22%20in%20the%20Civil%20War&f=false

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29 year old free black
Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War (University of Virginia Press, 2006)
http://cwmemory.com/2009/12/07/will-greenes-civil-war-petersburg/

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1860 Federal Census, Free Inhabitants Centre Ward, Petersburg, Virginia, August 1, 1860

Name: Charles Tinsley
Age in 1860: 28
Birth Year: abt 1832
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1860: Petersburg Centre Ward, Petersburg (Independent City), Virginia
Race: Mulatto
Gender: Male
Post Office: Petersburg
Household Members:*
Name Age
Charles Tinsley 28 Bricklayer

* Appears to be a boarding house of Black Bricklayers

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Among the outstanding mechanics of the city were Charles Tinsley, Thomas Garnes, and Christopher B. Stevens. Tinsley was a bricklayer and a " corner workman. " He possessed considerable native ability and was a leader among his people.

Free Negroes of Petersburg, Virginia
Author(s): Luther P. Jackson
Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jul., 1927),
pp. 380 & 387

http://www.africanafrican.com/folder11/world%20history4/harlem%20renaissance/FreeNegroesofVA.pdf