Description:

Civil War
New Orleans, LA, July 21, 1864
Chaplain for Colored Troops ALS Endorsed & Signed by Nathaniel P. Banks
ALS

Nathaniel P. Banks (1816-1894). Autograph Endorsement Signed, "N. P. Banks," on a handwritten and signed letter by Chaplain Thomas W. Conway, 3pp bifolium, on letterhead of the Office of Commission of Enrollment, 7.75" x 9.75", New Orleans, Louisiana, July 21, 1864. Inner right page blank. Additional endorsements and docketing at verso. Expected folds and creases. Separation and minor loss at folds. Light toning and scattered foxing. Overall, in very good condition.

Reverend Conway writes to Major George B. Drake requesting "an order assigning me to the chaplaincy" of the newly organized 75th United States Colored Infantry..."to which my former regiment is to be consolidated. I ask this order for the following reasons...I was appointed by the Secretary of War...I am not only the Senior Chaplain of all the colored troops in this Department, but the senior chaplain in the volunteer service..."

Banks's handwritten endorsement reads, in full: "Approved. Mr. Conway is a most valuable public servant and his labors are of especial importance in this department at this time. He should be retained as chaplain of the new Regiment. / N. P. Banks / M[ajor]. G[eneral]. C[ommanding]."

Reverend Thomas W. Conway (1840-1887) served as superintendent of freedmen in the Union Army's Department of the Gulf. In that role, he tried to organize work which the Army needed done. In April 1865, he was given command of the Freedmen Bureau's Alabama operations as interim Freedmen's Bureau assistant commissioner for the state. Amid the disruption of the closing days of the war, Conway reported on the horrible conditions Blacks faced in the South. Often having left plantations when emancipated, they faced a lack of housing and food. Conway was assistant commissioner of the Freedmen Bureau in Alabama and Louisiana during the Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War.

The 75th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, formerly the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard, was a Black infantry regiment of the Union Army that was active from 1862 to 1865 during the American Civil War. Organized at New Orleans, Louisiana, November 24, 1862, the regiment fought at the Siege of Port Hudson and in the Red River Campaign, and mustered out November 25, 1865.

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an American politician from Massachusetts appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as Union major general at the outbreak of the Civil War. As one of the first political major generals, West Point regulars initially resented Banks, but came to acknowledge his influence on the administration of the war. At the time the present letter was written, Banks was in command of Union forces in the disastrous Red River Campaign, a failed effort to capture Shreveport, Louisiana, which resulted in significant Union setbacks. Banks was eventually removed from field command in May 1864, though he remained involved in Reconstruction efforts in Louisiana and lobbying for President Lincoln.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.75" x 9.75"
  • Medium: ALS

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