Kent County officials arrest army recruiting officers for enlisting enslaved men against the wishes of their enslavers
description: John Frazier (pro mar) to H.W. Hoffman reporting that judges in Kent have ordered the arrest of several citizens, including the Deputy Pro. Mars. for alleged interference with the enlistment of Black soldiers. Frazier states that “This is done to effect the election and secure, if possible, the election of the Copper Head Ticket. Frazier thinks that the judges should be arrested and held until after the election. According to Frazier, the judges are “trying to make the impression that the enlistment of slaves was against the law and without authority thereby securing for the Maffit ticket the votes of all who have lost Negroes...If the arrest are made we can carry the county for the ’Straight-on-Ticket.'" Included with this letter are four Transcripts of Record involving those citizens arrested. The defendents were accused of enticing slaves away from their lawful owners.
date: 10/23/1863
coverage: Kent County, MD

White trustees of a Black church refuse to allow them to employ a Black pastor
description: Several documents beginning with deposition of David Lucket, complaining that white trustees of church at Oxon Hill, MD prevent Black parishioners from employing a Black minister. Require a white one. The underlying reason for this requirement by white trustees, subsequent investigation shows, is the "Nat Tyler" insurrection of 1852.
date: 2/21/1866
coverage: Oxen Hill, Prince George's County, MD

Black pastors petition the Secretary of War to partner with the A.M.E. Church
description: A.W. Wayman, D.A. Payne, John M. Brown, M.F. Stuby, & James Lynch to Edwin Stanton responding to Stanton's order authorizing the Methodist Episcopal Church to oversee all Southern Methodist Churches. Wayman et al. inform Stanton of the existence of AME church, the strength of its membership and ministers, and the readiness of the AME to assume control of the spiritual direction of Black Southerners. "The aforementioned order virtually excludes us from a vast field of Christian labor among our brethren, whom we have long payed to meet, and organize."
date: 6/1/1864
coverage: Baltimore, MD

A White Unionist testifies on the abuses of the apprenticeship system to bind large numbers of Black children
description: John Graham to Majr Genl Lew Wallace on the scale of the apprenticeship crisis: Black children in Worchester County are "carried from different portions of the County in ox Carts, waggons, and carriages to the County town (Cambridge) to be carried before the Court to be bound out as apprentices." File includes a massive number of enclosures, mostly dealing with apprenticeship and illegal enslavement after Maryland passed an emancipation measure in its Constitution of 1864.
date: 11/15/1864
coverage: Worchester County, MD

Postmaster at New Town reporting on the burning of Black churches and attacks on Black residents and their property
description: James Murray (postmaster, New Town MD) to Maj. Gen. Wallace reporting on the burning of the Black M.E. Church in Worchester County. Another Black chuirch burned in Somerset Co. See C-4141 for another letter from Murray. File includes a massive number of enclosures, mostly dealing with apprenticeship and illegal enslavement after Maryland passed an emancipation measure in its Constitution of 1864.
date: 11/14/1864
coverage: Somerset & Worchester counties, MD

Free Black Woman Barbara Diggs petitions for the release of her children, who were bound out against her will
description: Statement of Barbara Diggs, a free woman of color, whose children "are slaves of Dr. Featherbridge of Talbot Co Md" he "claiming the right of binding them to him." File includes a massive number of enclosures, mostly dealing with apprenticeship and illegal enslavement after Maryland passed an emancipation measure in its Constitution of 1864.
date: 11/14/1864
coverage: Talbot County, MD

Free person of color Thomas Brown, apprenticed to a secessoinist, takes refuge in Annapolis
description: Thomas Brown, a free person of color apprenticed to Grafton Hall, a secessionist, seeks protection in Annapolis because he is afraid that Hall will punish him for giving information to Union troops "that had led to the capture of rebel arms."
date: 2/15/1862
coverage: Anne Arundel County, MD

Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta passes the Army medical exam against the wishes of white board members
description: Series of letters regarding Alexander Augusta's desire to serve as a Surgeon in what would become the 7th USCI. Augusta initially writes Lincoln and Stanton requesting an appointment from Toronto and eventually travels to D.C. to sit for the officer's exam over the objections of white officers and physicians. Contains letters from Augusta, Surg. W. Moss, and M. Clymer as well as relevant endorsements.
date: 1/7/1863
coverage: Washington, D.C.

Black Surgeon Alexander Augusta reports on his ejection from a segregated streetcar in Washington D.C.
description: Surgeon Alexander Augusta describes his ejection from a streetcar for being Black. "I attempted to enter the car, and he pulled me out and ejected me from the platform. The consequence was I had to walk the whole distance through rain and mud, and was considerably detained past the hour for my attendance at Court."
date: 2/8/1864
coverage: Washington, D.C.

Army officials levy a tax on rebel sympathizers to raise money to rebuild Black churches burned down by arsonists
description: Lt. J.E. Mobray to Brig. Gen. Lockwood recommending taxation of rebel property in order to raise money to rebuild Black churches that were burned in Somerset County. Subsequent order implements recommendation, taxing disloyal and "disaffected" citizens to rebuild burned Black churches.
date: 12/2/1864
coverage: Worcester & Somerset Counties, MD