Ask a Curator

I’m Dennis Northcott, Associate Archivist at the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center here in St. Louis. Several years ago I compiled a guide to all our Civil War manuscripts, so I dug through all our archival collections looking for documents that related to the war. I found hundreds, probably thousands actually, of letters, diaries, veterans’ association records, muster rolls, and all kinds of other documents relating to the Civil War. I compiled a guide describing these collections, which you can now find at the Missouri History Museum website. As I was looking for archives relating to the war, I came upon a collection of letter books in our archives from a St. Louis attorney named Lucien Eaton—these letter books are dated from the 1850s to the 1880s, and they contain more than 12,000 letters of personal and professional correspondence that he received during that time period. So I presumed surely during the years 1861-65, the years of the Civil War, there would be letters discussing various aspects of the war. And my hunch turned out to be correct. Within these letter books I ultimately found three dozen letters written by Lucien Eaton’s Harvard University classmate, Alfred S. Hartwell. Alfred S. Hartwell served as an officer in the 54th Massachusetts infantry, and later the 55th Massachusetts. These regiments were comprised of black soldiers, and they were depicted in the 1980s movie titled Glory. So I looked through these letters, they were very fascinating, and I’ll read a little excerpt from one to you now. And here’s an example of one of the letters dated Palatka, Florida, April 9, 1864. And Alfred S. Hartwell writes to his friend, Lucien Eaton: “My regiment is still in three portions and only half of it with me, a great injury of course to its efficiency. The companies here are in good condition, and in spite of little opportunity for drill in the last two months, they are said to march, handle their rifles, and fire better than any regiment here. But the great outrage of withholding their pay continues, and the distress of the men is getting almost too great for endurance. Here is a regiment enlisted by the written promise of the Secretary of War to Governor Andrew that they should have the same pay and rations and treatment as white troops, that promise being repeated to them by us all and to this day not made good. I am sometimes almost in despair and am indignant and sometimes think evil of all mankind when I see and feel this gross injustice. The men are dying by disease and bullets. Their families are often refused admittance to the alms houses because of their color, and in some cases that I have been informed of, their wives have proved unfaithful and been reduced to infamy from destitution. Can flesh and blood stand these things? I do not know how my men have so patiently and nobly performed every task and duty assigned to them so far, but this they cannot continue long unless they are righted.” So a wonderful letter describing the plight of these African American soldiers under Alfred S. Hartwell. And these letters of all places have landed here in our archives, in St. Louis.

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