Massachusetts Historical Society: MHS Gallery

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Sergeant Henry F. Steward

Hand-colored ambrotype photograph by unknown photographer, 1863
10.5 cm x 8 cm
From the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment photographs

This ambrotype photograph depicts Sgt. Henry F. Steward standing at attention with his sword drawn, hand-colored trousers and buttons highlighting his uniform. A 23 year old farmer from Adrian, Michigan, Steward enlisted on 4 April 1863 and was mustered in on 23 April. Like all black officers in the Civil War, Steward served as a non-commissioned officer in the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment, the first African-American regiment raised in the North. Steward died of disease at the regimental hospital on Morris Island, South Carolina, on 27 September 1863. His estate was paid a $50 state bounty.
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To Colored Men. 54th Regiment! Massachusetts Volunteers, Of African Descent

Broadside; 109.9 cm x 75.2 cm
Boston: J. E. Farwell & Co., [1863]

This advertisement that appeared in the Boston Journal on 16 February 1863 recruited "Good men of African descent." It offered a "$100 bounty at the expiration of the term of service, pay $13 per month, and State aid for families." The Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment was the first military unit consisting of black soldiers to be raised in the North during the Civil War. The passage of the Emancipation Proclamation in December of 1862 provided the impetus for the use of free black men as soldiers and Massachusetts was the first to respond. By the end of the war a total of 167 units, including other state regiments and the United States Colored Troops, were raised, totaling 186,097 men of African descent who served in the Union Army.
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Edward Everett Letter to Abraham Lincoln

Letterbook copy, 20 November 1863
Volume 120, 23 October 1863-28 March 1884, page 27

Renowned orator Edward Everett delivered the address at the consecration of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg on 19 November 1863, four months after the epic Civil War battle that took place there. The next day he composed this letter to Pres. Abraham Lincoln, who gave the opening remarks. Everett wrote, "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself, that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes." The same day Lincoln replied, "I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure." Ironically, Abraham Lincoln's eloquent short remarks, which became known as the Gettysburg Address, have completely eclipsed the crowning occasion of Everett's career.
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Abraham Lincoln Letter to Edward Everett

20 November 1863

Pres. Abraham Lincoln wrote this letter to renowned orator Edward Everett the day after the Gettysburg Address, which he famously delivered on 19 November 1863. Lincoln's remarks at the consecration of the Soldiers'National Cemetery in Gettysburg lasted just two minutes. Everett, by comparison, gave a two-hour oration. Everett wrote to the president praising his speech: "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself, that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours, as you did in two minutes." Lincoln replied in this letter, "I am pleased to know that, in your judgment, the little I did say was not entirely a failure." Lincoln’s address became one of the most famous speeches in American history.
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John Albion Andrew

Marble bust by Thomas Ridgeway Gould, 1864
71.2 cm (height) x 45.8 cm (width) x 31.7 cm (depth)

The sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould created this bust of John Albion Andrew in 1864. Andrew served as governor of Massachusetts from January 1861 through January 1866. After his inauguration, Andrew prepared for war. He began by quietly readying forces, hoping to avoid conflict and panic among the people. Andrew made his preparations public with General Order number four, issued on 16 January 1861, commanding militia officers to replace men who were no longer able to serve in active duty with eligible fighting men and to fill any vacancies. Andrew was an ardent abolitionist and was responsible for raising the first black regiment in the North, the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment.
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Civil War

Sergeant Henry F. Steward

To Colored Men. 54th Regiment! Massachusetts Volunteers, Of African Descent

Edward Everett Letter to Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln Letter to Edward Everett

John Albion Andrew