2004-09
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2004
LANE, James H. (1814-1866) Congressman from Indiana 1853-1855. Senator from Kansas 1861-1866. In 1862, it was still against the law to recruit African-Americans as soldiers in the Union Army. Yet that didn't stop one U.S. senator and abolitionist, James H. Lane, from recruiting blacks and promising equal pay and fair treatment. Lane's new regiment, the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, was made up of mostly fugitive slaves from Arkansas and Missouri. Although it would be several months before they were recognized by the U.S. government, the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry quickly proved itself in battle against rebel bushwhackers in Kansas and Missouri by the end of 1862. They were the first black unit to engage the Confederate army in battle. Partly-printed Document Signed, “J.H. Lane”, 1p. folio, May 3, 1861, witnessed by Lt. Delahy and Lt. Stockton, this rare document with printed correspondece between Lane and Secretary of War Cameron and “Cheerfully approved. A.Lincoln”, reads in part: By authority vested in me as Captain of the Frontier Guard, I, James H. Lane, do hereby certify that H.W. DePuy a Member of said Company, served his country in defence of the National Capital, at a time of great peril, when threatened by hordes of traitors: said service commencing on the eighteenth day of April 1861, and ending on the date hereof. I also, by virtue of said authority, do hereby HONORABLY DISCHARGE the said H.W. DePuy from the service of the United States...” Repaired, else about VG. The Frontier Guard was organized after Ft. Sumter, to protect the Executive Mansion and the President from any threats by the enemy.
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