Letters of Black Soldiers from Ohio Who Served in the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantries during the Civil War

Private correspondence between African Americans from the Civil War era is rare; however, a surprising number of personal letters between family members survive in pension records at the National Archives. In order to receive a widows’ pension, claimants had to prove their status as dependents of a deceased soldier. Some women submitted the correspondence they had received from their husband or sons as evidence of their dependent relationship.

The letters reproduced in this article reside in the pension files of several black soldiers from Ohio who served in the famous 54th and 55th Massachusetts (Colored) Volunteer Infantries. Unlike most of the surviving correspondence from these regiments, which were published in newspapers during the Civil War, these letters offer private perspectives of many of the issues and concerns facing black families during the war, including pay inequality, homesickness, faith, and the threats of illness and death.

Formed in Boston in early 1863, the 54th and 55th were the result of Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew’s determination to raise a black regiment. An abolitionist, Andrew supported the idea of recruiting black soldiers since the beginning of the war as a means of meeting state enlistment quotas; however, not until the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, was his dream realized. Recruitment for the 54th began in mid-February. Though it was initially designed to consist entirely of men from Massachusetts, recruitment efforts soon expanded across the North. Volunteers poured into Boston in overwhelming numbers, filling the ranks of the 54th by May 11. The many men left over were mustered into the newly formed 55th the following day. Many of these soldiers were from the Ohio River valley, an area that supplied roughly 18 percent of the men for the 54th and about 65 percent of those of the 55th.¹

Lieutenant Samuel K. Thompson of Company C, 54^th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment with unidentified soldiers at an earthwork fort (c. 1866).

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Both regiments experienced trouble soon after mustering in. During recruitment, volunteers had been promised $13 per month, the same pay as white soldiers; however, during the summer of 1863, the War Department decided that black soldiers would only be paid $10 and must also pay a clothing allowance, decreasing their monthly pay to $7. Though the state of Massachusetts offered supplemental pay to black soldiers, many refused to accept either this or their reduced pay on the grounds that to do so would acknowledge and accept their inferiority to white soldiers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw of the 54th even advocated mustering out, as the soldiers “were enlisted on the understanding that they were to be on the same footing as other Mass. Vols.” However, both regiments remained in the field and Congress enacted legislation equalizing pay in June 1864. The issue of pay inequality is one of the central themes present in the writings of these black Ohioans.²

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (1837-1863).

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The letters transcribed below have been kept as close to the originals as possible; however, a few of the authors had a tendency to use large letters at the beginning of words. Letters that were clearly capitalized have been retained as capital letters; those that were larger than normal but not clearly capitalized have been rendered as lower case for the sake of readability. Spelling and punctuation have been retained as nearly as possible to how they appear in the original letters.

A Sick Soldier in the 54th Massachusetts Writes Home to His Wife

Amos Hall was a 34-year-old farmer from Oxford, Ohio, who left his wife and four children to join the 54th Massachusetts. He was mustered into Company I as a private on May 13, 1863, and was promoted to sergeant a few months later. Hall fought with the 54th at Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1863, and Olustee, Florida, in February 1864, and...