Seth Kaller, Inc.

Click to enlarge:
Select an image:

Douglass entreats African Americans to join the 54^th Massachusetts regiment in a speech of March 2, 1863, from Rochester, New York.

Inventory #22908       SOLD — please inquire about other items

Excerpt

“When first the rebel cannon shattered the walls of Sumter and drove away its starving garrison, I predicted that the war then and there inaugurated would not be fought out entirely by white men. Every month’s experience during these dreary years has confirmed that opinion. A war undertaken and brazenly carried on for the perpetual enslavement of colored men, calls logically and loudly for colored men to help suppress it....with every reverse to the national arms, with every exulting shout of victory raised by the slaveholding rebels, I have implored the imperiled nation to unchain against her foes, her powerful black hand....Action! Action! not criticism, is the plain duty of this hour. Words are now useful only as they stimulate to blows....They tell you this is the “white man’s war”; that you will be “no better off after than before the war”; that the getting of you into the army is to “sacrifice you on the first opportunity.” Believe them not; cowards themselves, they do not wish to have their cowardice shamed by your brave example....Massachusetts now welcomes you to arms as soldiers. She has but a small colored population from which to recruit. She has full leave of the general government to send one regiment to the war, and she has undertaken to do it. Go quickly and help fill up the first colored regiment from the North. I am authorized to assure you that you will receive the same wages, the same rations, the same equipments, the same protection, the same treatment, and the same bounty, secured to the white soldiers....The day dawns; the morning star is bright upon the horizon! The iron gate of our prison stands half open. One gallant rush from the North will fling it wide open, while four millions of our brothers and sisters shall march out into liberty....Remember Denmark Vesey of Charleston; remember Nathaniel Turner of Southampton; remember Shields Green and Copeland, who followed noble John Brown, and fell as glorious martyrs for the cause of the slave....The case is before you. This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it, and forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly hurled against us by our enemies. Let us win for ourselves the gratitude of our country, and the best blessings of our posterity through all time.”

Historical Background

The Emancipation Proclamation ushered in the full participation of African American troops in the war effort. Early in 1863, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew announced the formation of the first African American regiment recruited in the North—the the 54th Massachusetts. Frederick Douglass served as a recruiter for this and other African American units. He published this appeal, and his sons, Lewis and Charles, joined the 54th. Robert Gould Shaw, the son of an abolitionist, led the regiment, which saw action at Fort Wagner in South Carolina.

Also on page 2, a lengthy discussion of amendments to the income tax laws.