Black drummer boy Reason Brown petitions for furlough to visit his family in Maryland
Dublin Core
Title
Black drummer boy Reason Brown petitions for furlough to visit his family in Maryland
Description
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 family.
Date
2/21/1865
Coverage
Alexandria, VA; St. Mary's County, MD
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Maryland Black Drummer Boy to the Secretary of War
Alexandria V.a. Feb 21st 1865
Sir I have the honor of writing you a few Lines To inform you that i want to apply for a furlough for i enlisted in December the 18th 1863 as a Drummer boy and now i am about 14 months from home and my mother has wrote for me several times for me to come home I have ask for a furlough 3 different times now and they have put me off by saying that i was nothing but a boy and did not need one so i thought i would write to a higher authority and see what they would do for me I has respects for my folks at the Age of 14 as well as those of the age of 20 years i will now be 14 years of age the 25th of December 1865 i think that i have a right to my furlough at the end of 12 months any how a native of M.D bred and born in St marys County Very respectfully Yours
Reason Brown
I belong to the 19th MD Co. D. U S Cold Vol
Reason Brown to the secatry of war, 21 Feb. 1865, B-126 1865, Letters Received, ser. 360, Colored Troops Division, RG 94 [B-119].
Alexandria V.a. Feb 21st 1865
Sir I have the honor of writing you a few Lines To inform you that i want to apply for a furlough for i enlisted in December the 18th 1863 as a Drummer boy and now i am about 14 months from home and my mother has wrote for me several times for me to come home I have ask for a furlough 3 different times now and they have put me off by saying that i was nothing but a boy and did not need one so i thought i would write to a higher authority and see what they would do for me I has respects for my folks at the Age of 14 as well as those of the age of 20 years i will now be 14 years of age the 25th of December 1865 i think that i have a right to my furlough at the end of 12 months any how a native of M.D bred and born in St marys County Very respectfully Yours
Reason Brown
I belong to the 19th MD Co. D. U S Cold Vol
Reason Brown to the secatry of war, 21 Feb. 1865, B-126 1865, Letters Received, ser. 360, Colored Troops Division, RG 94 [B-119].
Collection
Citation
“Black drummer boy Reason Brown petitions for furlough to visit his family in Maryland,” Black Maryland in the Civil War—A Microedition of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, accessed June 8, 2026, https://www.fssp.artinterp2.org/items/show/20.