[Rarebooks] FA: Civil War- Mass. 54th Regiment- 1868 Life of the Man who Raised It

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

We are pleased to offer an 1868 book on the man who raised and defended the 
famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Offered without reserve, because we 
took our Terrible, Swift Sword and trampled those reserves right into the 
ground in the Vineyard where the Grapes of Wrath were stored-

<http://tinyurl.com/nlnlx>

SKETCH OF THE OFFICIAL LIFE OF JOHN A. ANDREW, AS GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS,
By Albert G. Browne, Jr. Published by Hurd and Houghton in 1868.

Although Robert Gould Shaw is the name most frequently linked with the 
famous 54th Massachusetts “colored” Regiment of the Civil War, the regiment 
really owed its existence to the perseverance of John A. Andrew, the 
abolitionist Governor of Massachusetts. It was Governor Andrew who 
organized the regiment and was responsible for obtaining official sanction 
of the 54th and 55th “colored” regiments from the Federal Government. He 
fought the war department for their equal rights with white troops in pay 
and rank, and finally appealed to Abraham Lincoln himself.

The Lincoln administration permitted him to commission only whites as 
officers, but Andrew sought out those men who possessed military 
experience, opposed slavery, and embraced this idea of black military 
service. Andrew worked closely with black leaders like Lewis Hayden to win 
the confidence of the African American community and promised eventually to 
commission black men as officers. Andrew declared his commitment to the 
regiment, announcing that his honor "as a man and a magistrate" would "rise 
or fall" with the Fifty-fourth.

The book is based on an article by Browne, who served as the governor’s 
Military Secretary during the war, that appeared in the “North American 
Review” in January, 1868 and an article written by James Freeman Clarke 
that appeared in the “February number of Harper’s Magazine”. Also included 
is the Governor's correspondence with Lincoln and others, along with his 
address to the General Court of Massachusetts, upon retiring from office, 
in which he promoted “the maintenance of equality between free citizens 
concerning civil rights, and the distribution of privileges according to 
capacity and desert and not according to the accidents of birth.”

 From the table of contents:

Chapter II - Testimony as a witness before the Congressional Committee of 
Investigation into John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry. - Theory of duty 
towards unpopular causes... - Devotion to the Anti-Slavery cause. - His 
share in the Chicago Convention of 1860...

Chapter III - Confidential understanding established with General Scott... 
Speech of Fletcher Webster on Bunker Hill...

Chapter IV - Sir Frederick Bruce finds him surrounded by colored people...

Chapter VI – His antagonism with opponents of emancipation and the use of 
colored troops
 - His influence on the President for Emancipation. - The 
Altoona Convention
 Opposition to secret societies
 - Correspondence with 
General McClellan concerning proper relations of our military forces to 
servile insurrection in Maryland in April, 1861.

Chapter VII – He obtains official sanction of the Federal Government to the 
enlistment of colored troop. – He raises the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth 
Massachusetts (colored) regiments – Contest for their equal rights with 
white troops in pay and rank. – Antagonism with the War Department on these 
questions
 The Attorney General overrules the legal position of the 
Secretary of war
 - He finally triumphs and secures the rights of his 
colored soldier. – His aid of enlistment of colored soldiers everywhere. – 
He procures organization of Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission. – Services in 
behalf of the freedmen. – Opposition to system of arbitrary arrests in 
Loyal States. – He declines to take part in the Surrat trial.

Chapter V – The Governor’s habits of diet. – Liking of tea


O.k., so it’s not all Civil War and freedom, but there is a great deal of 
interesting Civil War content in the book. This volume is also notable for 
the well-preserved pasted-in albumen portrait photograph of the Governor by 
Geo. K. Warren of Cambridgeport, MA that appears as the frontispiece.

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We also have other books for auction on literature, history, the theatre, 
sporting art, and much more, all offered without reserves-
<http://tinyurl.com/nlnlx>

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JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

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telephone (413) 247-5080

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