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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03946 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1865 |
| Title | George Gordon Meade to Edward Davis Townsend requesting information about the organization of an African-American division |
| Date | 7 September 1865 |
| Author | Meade, George Gordon (1815-1872) |
| Recipient | Townsend, Edward Davis |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Major General Meade requests information regarding "the organization of the Division of Colored troops formerly belonging to the 28th Corps" from Townsend, the Assistant Adjutant General. Inquires regarding the status of the command of Brigadier General Payne (possibly Charles Jackson Paine). Instructs Townsend to send his reply to Major General [Thomas Howard] Ruger. Written in ink with several pencil notations. |
| Subjects | Union General Uniforms Military History Civil War African American History African American Troops |
| People | Meade, George Gordon (1815-1872) Townsend, Edward Davis (1817-1893) Paine, Charles Jackson (1833-1916) Ruger, Thomas Howard (1833-1907) |
| Place written | Raleigh, North Carolina |
| Theme | The American Civil War; African Americans |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Additional Information | Edward Davis Townsend (1817-1893) was Adjutant General of the Army and a close friend and colleague of Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. He also developed a plan for a military prison for the United States Army, which became the prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The reference to "Brigadier General Payne" is unclear: there were three Union generals with the last name "Paine," but none named "Payne." Halbert E. Paine (1826-1905) resigned his commission as a Major General in May of 1865. His cousin, Eleazer A. Paine (1815-1882), was known for his brutality against civilians in Kentucky, and was formally reprimanded and left the army in April, 1865. Charles Jackson Paine (1833-1916) was ranked as Brigadier General at the time this letter was written, and had led a division of black troops at the Battle of New Market Heights, near Richmond, Virginia, on 29 September 1864. He is therefore most likely the General discussed here. Thomas Howard Ruger (1833-1907) was a Union general who fought in several key battles of the Civil War, such as Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |
| Civil War: Theater of War | Main Eastern Theater |