Letter from a Soldier in the 54th Massachusetts

Frederick Douglass once wrote of the Civil War, "The side which first summons the Negro to its aid will conquer [1]." During the first years of the war, ex-slaves constructed Union fortifications, worked as teamsters, cooks, carpenters, and general laborers but were barred from combat. President Abraham Lincoln refused to alter this policy for fear of alienating border states in the Union. But by the end of 1862, the Republicans began to see the benefits of enlisting black men to fight for the Union. In March of 1863, two months after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, Lincoln remarked, "The colored population is the great available and yet unavailed of, force for restoring the Union [2]."

The author of this week's featured document, Francis H. Fletcher, was a black soldier in the renowned 54th Massachusetts Regiment of Colored Troops. The letter offers a rare personal view of the discriminatory treatment faced by black soldiers during the Civil War. Though allowed to engage in combat, black soldiers endured harsh disparities in rank, pay, and promotion. Fletcher enlisted as a private at age 22 in February, 1863, and was eventually promoted to Sergeant, the highest rank a black soldier could expect to obtain at the time.

Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew began recruiting black men for Fletcher’s regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, in January 1863. Massachusetts, an early proponent of the abolition movement, was the first state in the North to form an African American regiment. Other states quickly followed, as black soldiers counted toward state enlistment quotas and reduced the burden on white men. Sources vary, but most records show that the Union succeeded in recruiting roughly 179,000 black soldiers, a large percentage of whom came from slave states. Permitting blacks to enlist posed an ideal solution to the shortage of Northern white volunteers and allowed black men to fight for their own freedom.

Fletcher writes to a friend, Jacob C. Safford, from his post at Morris Island, South Carolina on May 28, 1864, a time of relative calm for the 54th Regiment. He remarks, “There is no local news of any importance about here. There were some operations on James Island [South Carolina] but amounted to only a raid as far as I have been able to learn. At the front everything is quiet.” Earlier in the war, his regiment had engaged in heavy combat, most notably in the attack on Fort Wagner at Morris Island on July 18, 1863. The regiment lost two-thirds of their officers and half their troops, but the men were praised for their bravery and valor. The assault is dramatically portrayed in the film Glory.

Fletcher complains bitterly of the inequality of treatment and pay between the white and black soldiers. He writes, "Just one year ago to day our regt was received in Boston with almost an ovation, and at 5 P.M. it will be one year …in that one year no man of our regiment has received a cent of monthly pay all through the glaring perfidy of the U.S. Govt." Governor Andrew assured the black troops equal pay while they were being mustered into service, but instead they were given the laborer rate of $7 per month, plus a $3 clothing allowance, while white soldiers received $13 per month, plus $3.50 for clothes.

The 54th Massachusetts is famous for steadfastly refusing to accept this unequal payment. In November 1863, Massachusetts passed an act stating that the difference in pay would be made up by the state, but the men continued their opposition on principle, believing that the money should come from the federal government. As a result, the men of the 54th did not receive any compensation for the first 18 months of their service. This is the grievance Fletcher refers to in his letter.

Abolitionists and black leaders opposed the inequality in pay, but little was done to remedy the situation. After many delays, Congress finally passed a bill to equalize pay for black Union soldiers on June 15, 1864. Fletcher sharply criticizes this law as insufficient compensation for the severe hardships endured by black soldiers and their families. He states, "All the misery and degradation suffered in our regiment by its members' families is not atoned for by the passage of the bill for equal pay." After a long and disheartening struggle, the men of the 54th were paid retroactively for their time of service in September 1864.

Fletcher's letter expresses his anger and resentment clearly and eloquently. He writes, "I cannot any more condemn nor recite our wrongs, but console myself that One who is able has said Vengeance is mine and I will repay." Written before receiving any reimbursement for his services, his words express frustration toward a government willing to risk the lives of black men but not willing to compensate them equally for their sacrifices. Fletcher served in the 54th Massachusetts until the regiment disbanded at the end of the war. He was mustered out on August 20, 1865 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

Marisa Morigi
Assistant Curator

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[1] Lanning, Michael Lee. The African-American Solider: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1997, p. 35.

[2] McPherson, James M. Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. , 348.

GLC 07345. Francis H. Fletcher to Jacob C. Safford, 28 May 1864.

For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.

Ira Berlin, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland, Freedom's Soldiers: The Black Military Experience in the Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 1998).

David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass' Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (Louisiana State University Press, 1989).

Mark M. Boatner III, The Civil War Dictionary (New York: Vintage Books, 1988), 229-231.

W. E. B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 (Russell & Russell, c1935).

Louis F. Emilio, A Brave Black Regiment: The History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 1863-1865 (Da Capo Press, 1995).

Michael Lee Lanning. The African-American Solider: From Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing, 1997.

James M. McPherson, Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted during the War for the Union (Ballantine Books, 1991).

James M. McPherson, Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992), 349.

Noah Andre Trudeau, Like Men of War : Black Troops in the Civil War 1862-1865 (Little, Brown, 1998).