Page 223 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

409
409 ● (MILITARY—CIVIL WAR.) JOHNSON, MAJOR A.H. Major A.H.
Johnson, Drummer Boy 54th Regiment, 1861-1865. Cabinet sized printed blue card,
35⁄
8 x 51⁄4 inches, light wear to corners, slight discoloration. INSCRIBED BY JOHNSON ON THE
REVERSE Np, circa 1900-1914 [750/1,000]
INSCRIBED BY JOHNSON ON THE REVERSE, QUITE POSSIBLY TO HIS MOTHER: “ COM-
PLIMENT [SIC] TO MRS. PERRY, DECEMBER 23RD, 1914.” Alexander’s original surname was
Howard, his mother’s name was Perry. His grandfather was Peter Perry, a native Hawaiian
whaler who married an Indian woman
At the age of 16, Alexander H. Johnson was the first African American musician to enlist in
U.S. military, joining the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers under Robert Gould Shaw. Johnson
was adopted by William Henry Johnson, the second black lawyer in the United States and
close associate of Frederick Douglass.
408 ● (MILITARY.) [CALIF, JOSEPH MARK.] Record of the Services of the
Seventh Regiment of Colored Troops, from September, 1863 to November,
1866, By an Officer of the Regiment. Frontispiece portrait. 138 pages. Tall 8vo, origi-
nal printed stiff gray cardstock covers soiled; spine cracked; a few chips.
Providence: E.L. Freeman & Co, 1878 [800/1,200]
The Seventh Regiment of Colored Troops was raised in Baltimore in September 26th 1863.
They saw frequent action and suffered numerous casualties over the course of their service.
Attached to the Seventh was Major Alexander T. Augusta (1825-1890), the first black sur-
geon in the Union Army and the first black officer-rank soldier to be buried at Arlington.
Despite his rank, he was only paid black-enlisted wages for most of his duty. This regimental
history is quite detailed beginning with the raising of the companies, and the difficulties encoun-
tered with some whites who refused to serve with blacks, though their engagements and the end
of the War. Their training and later action is told in voices of enlisted men and officers, with a
chapter on the harsh treatment of prisoners who were taken by the Confederates to Libby
Prison. A scarce regimental.