Found 10 collections related to African American soldiers

Correspondence, reports, rosters listing names of troops, ledgers, performance evaluations, and discharge papers, relating to Rudd's command of I Company, 48th Infantry, an all African-American unit fighting in the Spanish-American War, and the administration of Benguet Province in the Philippines. Includes a map of the province and notes on its agriculture. less

The Corps d'Afrique was officially known as the Louisiana Native Guards. The First Louisiana Native Guards was raised in August 1862 by Union general Benjamin Butler and mustered in on September 27, 1862. It was the first Black regiment in the United States. The Second Louisiana Native Guards was mustered in on October 1862, and the Third in November 1862. This collection includes a muster and payroll for the First Regiment of Engineers under Colonel Justin Hodge. The roll contains the names and ranks of officers, a musician, and individual soldiers in the regiment, and date and place of enrollment. less

The Middleton "Spike" Harris Civil War and Reconstruction collection consists of documents pertaining to the Civil War from both the Union Army and the Confederate states. Among other items, there is a pay claim issued by the Confederate Army, U.S. Army discharge papers, and an amendment to the Negro Soldier Bill investing Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee with full power to call slaves into service. Included is a letter from William Lloyd Garrison in which he declares that the U.S. government should be held responsible for abolishing slavery. The Reconstruction era is represented by three documents including a signed loyalty oath, 1865, and a letter to President Andrew Johnson from someone seeking to be appointed an agent to sell cotton brought to market by freedmen in Texas, 1867. less

James Reese Europe was an accomplished musician, composer, conductor, organizer, and recording artist. The collection primarily consists of photocopied secondary sources, newspaper clippings, and programs collected by James R. Europe, Jr. to document his father's accomplishments. less

The Berry family collection consists of seven pieces of correspondence, apparently written by members of the Berry family, dating from 1863 to 1918, and spanning three states and Europe. There is also one typescript entitled "My Bit in the World War or the Story of 2921486." The correspondence begins with James Tate in West Point Georgia, although his wife and children appear to be in Mobile, Georgia, or Alabama. The other writers appear to be his wife, son, and nephew, although their relationship to Tate is not indicated. The documents cover important periods and topics in African-American history. James Tate's letter, written in 1863, expresses the anguish and difficulties African Americans faced with trying to establish and maintain a family while enslaved. A letter dated June 20, 1868 documents the role of a Black church as "post office;" the writer indicates mail for him and news for other people in town can be sent care of the church pastor. The letter from Olivia Tate dated July 28, 1887 describes her excitement at the possibility of a "Great Colored National Fair" in Georgia to exhibit the "arts, mechanics and productions of colored people throughout the union." Both of the letters written by Henry S. Berry during World War I, in 1918, tell of his experience in the Army's Medical Unit, 331st Labor Bureau. He expresses his pride in being a soldier and tells how the army built character. The autobiographical typescript, "My Bit in the World War, or the Story of 2921486," is twenty-five pages long and follows Berry, a member of the American Expeditionary Forces, from the receipt of the telegram calling him to duty to being one of fifty men chosen for the Army Medical Department, through war torn France. The typescript seems not to have been finished. Throughout this piece as well, is the theme of pride in being a good soldier. less

Born in Columbia, Tennessee, in 1867, Melvin McCaw was a veteran of the Spanish-American wars in Cuba and the Philippines, and a non-commissioned officer in the 9th Regiment of U.S. Cavalry, the first detachment of African American troops assigned to West Point in 1907. Military records documenting Melvin McCaw's career as a non-commissioned officer in the 9th Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry from 1896 to 1917, and the activities of this segregated African American regiment at West Point after 1907. The collection consists of McCaw's certificates of discharge and reenlistment, including his 1917 memorandum regarding his retirement; letters from military and civilian authorities commenting favorably on the behavior of troops at West Point and on their efficiency and good spirit; military reports; McCaw's certificates of marksmanship (1896) and of proficiency in Cavalry and Drill, Outpost Duty and Army Regulations (1905); and newspaper articles relating to activities of the Lincoln League of Colored Citizens in Newburgh, New York, in 1908. The collection includes both original and photocopies. less

The Jean Blackwell Hutson photographs, dated 1890s to 1990s, were compiled by Jean Blackwell Hutson (1914-1998), a librarian who served as curator of the Schomburg Collection from 1948 to 1972, then chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from 1972 to 1980. The photographs document her family life, travels, and professional career. The collection holds mostly photographs and to a lesser extent some negatives, telegrams and notes. less