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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC09400.066 |
| From Archive Folder | Collection of letters of the first African American to serve a full term in the Senate |
| Title | A.E. Kilpatrick to Blanche Kelso Bruce to request help transferring from the 17th Infantry into the 7th Calvary |
| Date | 25 January 1876 |
| Author | Kilpatrick, A.E., (fl. 1876) |
| Recipient | Kelso Bruce, Blanche |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | 2nd Lieutenant Kilpatrick was writing to the Senator to request help transferring from the 17th Infantry into the 7th Calvary due to a vacancy through the death of an officer in the Calvary. He is writing the Senator since he is from Mississippi, and Bruce helped him to gin his commission in the army. There is a note that says he has also written to Senator Alcorn, also a representative of Mississippi. |
| Subjects | African American History African Americans in Government Congress Reconstruction Government and Civics Military History Infantry Cavalry Death |
| People | Bruce, Blanche Kelso (1841-1898) Kilpatrick, A.E., (fl. 1876) |
| Place written | Fort Sully, South Dakota |
| Theme | Government & Politics; African Americans |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1860-1945 |
| Additional Information | Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |