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Creator
Payne, John
Call number
Sc MG 199
Physical description
0.01 linear feet (1 folder)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
[Item], John Payne Civil War collection, Sc MG 199, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
Home to Harlem Project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

John Payne was a veteran of the Civil War and agent of the Freedmen's Bureau. The John Payne Civil War collection consists of correspondence and military certificates documenting the Civil War service of Payne, a volunteer of African descent who rose to the post of second lieutenant in the Union army and became an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau after the war. The collection includes letters exchanged between Payne and his uncles, Samuel and William Rees from 1862 to 1868, four military orders (1865), Payne's letter of appointment as second lieutenant in the Lousiana Volunteers of African Descent (1864) and a pension certificate (1923). Payne's letters provide substantive details on the participation of African Americans in the Civil War and their enfranchisement during the Reconstruction period. (15 originals and 7 duplicates).

Biographical/historical information

John Payne was a veteran of the Civil War and agent of the Freedmen's Bureau. Payne lived in Harrisburg, Indiana, before the Civil War and was raised as an orphan by his uncles Samuel and William Rees and by the family of William Thomas. Payne joined the Union army as a private in the 15th Regiment Iowa Infantry. Appointed second lieutenant to the 10th Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers of African Descent, he served as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General John Parker Hawkins of the 3rd Brigade, First Division, of U.S. Colored Troops. He took part in numerous military campaigns throughout the South, in Mississippi and Alabama, including the victorious Battle of Blakely which led to the evacuation of Mobile, Alabama, by the Confederate army. After the war, he worked as an agent of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in Mississippi.

Scope and arrangement

The John Payne Civil War collection consists of correspondence and military certificates documenting the Civil War service of John Payne, a volunteer of African descent who rose to the post of second lieutenant in the Union army and became an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau after the war. The collection includes letters exchanged between Payne and his uncles, Samuel and William Rees from 1862 to 1868, four military orders (1865), Payne's letter of appointment as second lieutenant in the Lousiana Volunteers of African Descent (1864) and a pension certificate (1923). Payne's letters provide substantive details on the participation of African Americans in the Civil War and their enfranchisement during the Reconstruction period. (15 originals and 7 duplicates).

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift, Mount, Ellis, 1978

Gift, Mount, Ellis, 1990

Revision History

This finding aid was updated by Allison Hughes. (2022 September 21)

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Second Floor