|
| |
Lewis Henry Douglass
|
|
|
Lewis Henry Douglass (1840–1908) was the oldest son of
Frederick Douglass and his first wife Anna Murray Douglass.
He
was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Douglass was well educated and
as a boy apprenticed, in Rochester, New York, as a typesetter for his
father's newspapers The North Star and Douglass' Weekly. He joined the
Union Army on March 25, 1863, only two months after the Emancipation
Proclamation allowed African Americans to see combat in the Union Army.
He fought for one of the first official African American units in the
United States during the Civil War, the famed 54th Massachusetts
Infantry Regiment. Shortly after joining the army, Douglass attained the
rank of Sergeant Major, the highest rank a black man could reach. He
took part in the Battle of James Island, the Battle of Olustee, the
Second Battle of Fort Wagner. At the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, half
of his regiment was killed, but this battle turned the public's
attention toward the sacrifices made by African Americans in the war.[3]
Douglass addressed the bravery of the African American troops in a
letter to his future wife Helen Amelia Loguen:
MORRIS ISLAND. S. C. July 20
MY
DEAR AMELIA:
I have been in two fights, and am unhurt. I am
about to go in another I believe to-night. Our men fought well
on both occasions. The last was desperate we charged that
terrible battery on Morris Island known as Fort Wagoner, and
were repulsed with a loss of 3 killed and wounded. I escaped
unhurt from amidst that perfect hail of shot and shell. It was
terrible. I need not particularize the papers will give a better
than I have time to give. My thoughts are with you often, you
are as dear as ever, be good enough to remember it as I no doubt
you will. As I said before we are on the eve of another fight
and I am very busy and have just snatched a moment to write you.
I must necessarily be brief. Should I fall in the next fight
killed or wounded I hope to fall with my face to the foe.
If
I survive I shall write you a long letter. DeForrest of your
city is wounded George Washington is missing, Jacob Carter is
missing, Chas Reason wounded Chas Whiting, Chas Creamer all
wounded. The above are in hospital.
This regiment has
established its reputation as a fighting regiment not a man
flinched, though it was a trying time. Men fell all around me. A
shell would explode and clear a space of twenty feet, our men
would close up again, but it was no use we had to retreat, which
was a very hazardous undertaking. How I got out of that fight
alive I cannot tell, but I am here. My Dear girl I hope again to
see you. I must bid you farewell should I be killed. Remember if
I die I die in a good cause. I wish we had a hundred thousand
colored troops we would put an end to this war. Good Bye to all
Write soon
Your own loving
LEWIS |
Douglass was also wounded in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner and
became ill, forcing him to be medically discharged from the army in
1864.[5] After the Civil War, he worked as a teacher for the Freedman's
Bureau. Douglass married Helen Amelia Loguen in 1869 and moved to
Washington D.C where he became the first typesetter employed by the
Government Printing Office. Douglass's employment by the Government
Printing Office as typesetter did not last long because he was unable to
join the typesetters' union due to racial intimidation.
Like his
father, Lewis Henry Douglass was a "valuable citizen" to Washington D.C.
through his involvement with the New National Era and other political
impact. He helped establish and was the senior editor of the New
National Era (1870-1874) with his father, a "well conducted" newspaper
aimed at addressing the issues of the black community in D.C. He had a
political impact when appointed to the legislative council of the
District of Columbia by Ulysses S. Grant where he pushed for racial
equality by creating a bill like one that required restaurants to post
their prices so they could not overcharge blacks.
One of his
brothers was
Charles Remond Douglass.
Douglass had a
stroke in 1904 that greatly impacted his health and died four years
later, at the age of 67. |
Sources
Sources for this article include:
• Lewis Henry Douglass - Biographies - The Civil War in America
Exhibition - Library of Congress.
• "I Hope to Fall With My Face to
the Foe": Lewis Douglass Describes the Battle of Fort Wagner, 1863.
• The Mind of the Negro. Woodson, Carter (1926). br>• The Rising
Son: Or, The Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race. A. G.
Brown. 1874
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
|
|
