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Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta writes to Senator Henry Wilson regarding his low pay as a Black soldier despite holding the rank of major
Dr. Alexander T. Augusta to Sec. of War--Surgeon Alexander T. Augusta was in the army nearly one year until he was transferred to Baltimore, MD. At his new post the paymaster insisted that he was to get $7 month, just as all Black troops do. He wrote…
Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta writes about the discrimination his wife endured on the train from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.
A.T. Augusta (surgeon, 7th USCT) to Maj. Gen. Lewis Wallace (cmdg Middle Department & 8th Army Corps) alleging that the Baltimore & Ohio R.R. charges Black passengers the same fare yet forces them into the front car of the train, which is filled with…
Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta reports on his ejection from a segregated streetcar in Washington D.C.
Surgeon Alexander Augusta describes his ejection from a streetcar for being Black. "I attempted to enter the car, and he pulled me out and ejected me from the platform. The consequence was I had to walk the whole distance through rain and mud, and…
Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta passes the Army medical exam against the wishes of white board members
Series of letters regarding Alexander Augusta's desire to serve as a Surgeon in what would become the 7th USCI. Augusta initially writes Lincoln and Stanton requesting an appointment from Toronto and eventually travels to D.C. to sit for the…
Black residents of Baltimore petition for redress after they are prevented from renting a concert hall to host a lecture by Frederick Douglass
B.R. Hawley to Edwin M. Stanton (sec of war) writing that Black residents of Baltimore have been unable to rent either the Maryland Institute Hall or the Templers Hall for a lecture meeting at which the announced speaker was Frederick Douglass. The…
Black pastors petition the Secretary of War to partner with the A.M.E. Church
A.W. Wayman, D.A. Payne, John M. Brown, M.F. Stuby, & James Lynch to Edwin Stanton responding to Stanton's order authorizing the Methodist Episcopal Church to oversee all Southern Methodist Churches. Wayman et al. inform Stanton of the existence of…
Black nuns in Baltimore petition Black Superintendent of Schools William Howard Day for support for their school and orphanage
Oblate Sisters of Providence to William H. Day (supt of F Schools) gives a history of the school, which the Black sisters established for the education of Black children. Opened a free school and orphan asylum since the war. Petition for financial…
Black Marylander reveals the location of hidden rebel arms on the property of a future Maryland state senator
Brig. Gen. H.H. Lockwood to Lt. Col. Lawrence (AAG) reporting that in the summer of 1861 he obtained information from a Black Marylander that Mr. [William B.] Stevenson had a quantity of guns stored in his barn. Mr. Stevenson is now the senator-elect…
Black drummer boy Reason Brown petitions for furlough to visit his family in Maryland
Reason Brown to the Sec. of War Brown is a 14 yr old drummer boy. He has been in the army for 14 months, has applied 3 times for a furlough and cannot get one. He wants to visit family in MD-officers tell him he is too young to want to visit his…
Army officials levy a tax on rebel sympathizers to raise money to rebuild Black churches burned down by arsonists
Lt. J.E. Mobray to Brig. Gen. Lockwood recommending taxation of rebel property in order to raise money to rebuild Black churches that were burned in Somerset County. Subsequent order implements recommendation, taxing disloyal and "disaffected"…