Fine Books & Manuscripts

[CIVIL WAR]. A large group of photographs of the 62nd Regiment United States Colored Troops. Approximately 23 carte de visite photographs depicting officers and infantrymen of the 1st Missouri Colored Infantry, later renamed the 62nd Regiment United States Colored Troops, many signed and identifying them as members of the 62nd; 6 period photographs of children and teenagers included. Among the persons depicted are Colonel Theodore Harvey Barrett, First Lieutenant Richard Foster, Lieutenant Colonel David Branson, Lieutenant Aron M. Adamson, Captain Henry R. Parsons, and Captain Sylvester N. Stewart. Largest, 165 x 114 mm. All photographs of soldiers depict white officers. The 1st Missouri Colored Infantry was organized at Benton Barracks in St. Louis on December 7-14, 1863; they were designated the 62nd United States Colored Troops three months later. Their commander, Theodore Harvey Barrett, holds the distinction of commanding Union forces at the Battle of Palmito Ranch on May 12-13, 1865 - the last battle of the U.S. Civil War. As the war’s end neared Lt. Col. Richard Foster, who had been involved with John Brown’s anti-slavery efforts in Kansas, established an educational program for illiterate African American soldiers which he would expand into the Lincoln Institute following the Confederacy’s defeat. Later the Lincoln Institute would be integrated into Missouri’s university system and renamed Lincoln University. Among its famous alumni are Lloyd L. Gaines, Moddie Taylor, and Oliver Lake.