Edward W. Kinsley correspondence, 1862-1889 | WorldCat.org (original) (raw)

Summary:Correspondence, chiefly incoming, concerns Edward W. Kinsley's efforts supporting emancipated slaves, and lobbying for equal pay to African American troops in the Union Army. Civil War letters, sent from white and African American soldiers, aid workers, and notable political and military men, document the service of the 55th Massachusetts African American regiment during its service in South Carolina and Georgia, with mention of the 45th and 54th Massachusetts, and the 35th and 36th North Carolina black regiments. Letters also document life in New Bern, N.C. during its occupation; and engagements with Confederate troops. Reconstruction letters from a variety of sources comment on efforts to educate and provide for the freed slaves; citizen reaction to having an African American officer in charge of enforcing peace and emancipation in Orangeburg, South Carolina; and politics in the 1870s, especially in Massachusetts. Among the correspondents are Thomas Kinsley (45th Mass.), younger brother of Edward; James Monroe Trotter, African American Union lieutenant; Mary Ann Starkey, African American woman of New Bern; John Albion Andrews, governor of Mass.; Edward Augustus Wild, Union Army Brigadier General; Edward Everett, governor of Mass.; abolitionists Samuel May and Julia Ward Howe; Carl Schurz; William Claflin, and others