NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Aug 24 @ 10:00UTC-08:00 : PST/AKDT
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Civil War Governor Explains Officer Selection for Black Troops! </b>
<b>WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. Civil War Governor of Connecticut and close Lincoln ally.</b>
Printed Letter Signed, accomplished in manuscript and bearing a 3-line autograph, as Governor, on State of Connecticut Executive Department letterhead with a vignette of the State Seal, Norwich, December 28, 1863; docketed on integral address leaf “H.H. Clark, Southington, Conn.” Choice Very Fine. In full: “In answer to your favor of the 25th relative to the appointment of officers for the Regiment of colored Infantry, I would state that no men will be commissioned unless they shall first be examined and approved by a Board of Examiners in Washington, appointed by the Secretary of War, of which Major General Silas Casey is President. In order to appear before the Board it will be necessary to obtain permission from Maj. C. W. Foster, Assistant Adjutant General and Superintendent of the colored Bureau, Washington, to whom applications should be made. If men now in the service desire examination, I would suggest that they make application through their officers and obtain recommendations from them, as it would assist them in securing their object. If when men shall have been examined, they will advise me of the position for which they are approved, I will consider their application for a commission as favorably as the number and character of the applicants will justify.” At the bottom of the page, Buckingham has added an autograph postscript signed with his initials, to the effect that he cannot see how he could force a commission “except upon an examination.”
How the United States came to use Black troops is well known: by 1863, the North was losing, enlistments had slowed, the draft caused riots and England was posed to back the South - the Union needed more men and the only men not yet fighting, were Black. In May, then, the Bureau of Colored Troops was established in Washington to administer the creation of the United States Colored Troops. Prejudice decreed that officers in the Colored Regiments would be white, but appointment to them, open only to an elite. Each applicant had first to provide written proof of his good character ; only then could he sit for an exam before an board of four examiners. Applicants would be called to Washington (or, for the eastern armies, other cities), ordered to report to the Bureau, and tested not just on military science, but in math, geography, and history as well. Exams could last between thirty minutes and several hours, depending on the rank sought, and the examiners. Less than 50% of applicants ever went before the board, and only about 60% of those passed and obtained an officer's commission. This document is testimony to the extreme strenuousness of that selection process - which of course explains its rarity.
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<p>1. This is a Mail Bid, Phone & Fax Auction, Closing Date:
August 23, 2003. Mail, Phone & Fax Bids accepted, these absentee bids will be executed over eBay Live Auctions on Sunday, August 24th, beginning at 10 AM Pacific Time. The sale is conducted in accordance with the regulations of the State of California and the City of San Diego.
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