Part 57 (2/2)
”JOHN P. COLEMAN,
”_Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 6th U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery._”
”Amounts as donated by their respective companies: Company A, $515; Company B, $594; Company C, $514; Company D, $464; Company E, $199; Company F, $409; Company G, $284; Company H, $202; Company I, $423; Company K, $231; Company L, $142; Company M, $354. Total, $4,242.”
”HEADQUARTERS 70TH U. S. COLORED INFANTRY,
”RODNEY, MISS., May 30th, 1865.
”Brevet Major-General J. W. Davidson, commanding District of Natchez, Miss.:
”GENERAL: I have the honor to enclose the sum of two thousand nine hundred and forty-nine dollars and fifty cents as the amount collected, under your suggestion, for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of President Lincoln. Every dollar of this money has been subscribed by the black enlisted men of my regiment, which has only an aggregate of six hundred and eighty-three men. Much more might have been raised, but I cautioned the officers to check the n.o.ble generosity of my men rather than stimulate it. Allow me to add that the soldiers expect that the monument is to be built by black people's money exclusively.
They feel deeply that the debt of grat.i.tude they owe is large, and any thing they can do to keep his 'memory green'
will be done cheerfully and promptly.
”If there is a monument built proportionate to the veneration with which the black people hold his memory, then its summit will be among the clouds--the first to catch the gleam and herald the approach of coming day, even as President Lincoln himself first proclaimed the first gleam as well as glorious light of universal freedom.
”I am, general, most respectfully, your obedient servant,
”W. C. EARLES,
”_Colonel 70th United States Colored Infantry._”
”DISTRICT OF NATCHEZ, May 21st, 1865.
”_Hon. James E. Yeatman_:
”Upon seeing your suggestions in the _Democrat_ I wrote to my colonels of colored troops, and they are responding most n.o.bly to the call. Farrar's regiment, 6th United States Heavy Artillery, sent some $4,700. The money here spoken of has been turned over to Major W. C. Lupton, Pay-master U. S.
A., for you. Please acknowledge receipt through the Missouri _Democrat_. The idea is, that the monument shall be raised to Mr. Lincoln's memory at the national capital exclusively by the race he has set free.
”Very truly yours,
”J. W. DAVIDSON, _Brevet Major-General._”
”HEAD PAY DEPARTMENT, NATCHEZ, MISS., June 15th, 1865.
”_James E. Yeatman, Esq., President Western Sanitary Commission, St. Louis_:
”SIR: The colored soldiers of this district, Brevet Major-General Davidson commanding, feeling the great obligations they are under to our late president, Mr.
Lincoln, and desiring to perpetuate his memory, have contributed to the erection of a monument at the national capital, as follows:
73th. United States Colored Infantry, Colonel W. C. Earle $2,949.50 Three Companies 63d U. S. Colored Infantry--A, C, and E-- Lieutenant-Colonel Mitch.e.l.l 263.00 Freedmen of Natchez 312.38 --------- Total $3,529.85
”Added to this Major John P. Coleman, of the 6th United States Colored Heavy Artillery, (those that Forrest's men did not murder at Fort Pillow), stationed here, has sent you nearly five thousand dollars for the same fund, and the 57th United States Colored Infantry desire me, at the next pay-day, to collect one dollar per man, which will swell the amount to nearly ten thousand dollars. This is a large contribution from not quite seventeen hundred men, and it could have been made larger--many of the men donating over half their pay, and in some instances the whole of it--but it was thought best to limit them.
”Will you please publish this, that the colored soldiers and their friends may know that their money has gone forward, and send me a copy of the paper.
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