Charles W. Foster to Frederick Douglass, August 13, 1863

CHARLES W. FOSTER^{1Following the issuance of General Order 143 in May 1863, Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas appointed Major Charles W. Foster (1830-1904) chief of the Bureau for Colored Troops, giving him the title assistant adjutant general. A Massachusetts native, Foster had risen through the regular army ranks from private to major. During the war, he was promoted to major and then brevet lieutenant colonel. Foster helped regularize the recruitment and training of the U.S. Colored Troops, but remained dubious concerning the promotion of African Americans to officer ranks. He retired from the Army in September 1867. Adjutant General’s Office, Official Army Register for 1868 (Washington, D.C., 1868), 139; William A. Dobak, Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862-1867 (Washington, D.C., 2011), 14-15; Hondon B. Hargrove, Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War (North Carolina, 1988), 104; Thomas and Hyman, Stanton, 263-64; Samito, Becoming American under Fire, 62—63; Cornish, Sable Arm, 130; Nina Mjagkij, Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations (New York, 2001), 109.} TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Washington, D.C. 13 Aug[us]t 1863[.]

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESQR.

ROCHESTER, N. Y.

SIR,

I am instructed by the Secretary of War to direct you to proceed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and on your arrival there to report in person to Brig’r General L. Thomas,^{2 Lorenzo Thomas.} Adjutant General, U. S. Army, to assist in recruiting colored troops. Enclosed please find copy of order for your transportation at public expense.

I am Sir. Very respectfully, Your Ob’t Servant,

C. W. FOSTER ASSIST ADJ’T GENERAL[.]

HLS: General Correspondence File, reel 1, frames 834-35, FD Papers, DLC.