From his office window one Sunday in 1864, Abraham Lincoln watched a regiment of U.S. Colored Troops march by. His secretary, William O. Stoddard, asked, “Well, Mr. President, what do you think of that?” Lincoln pondered for a moment and then replied in a low voice, “It’ll do, it’ll do!”
The admiration was mutual. When Lincoln visited City Point, Va., in June 1864, the Black soldiers of the 18th Corps “began to cheer, and the wildest demonstrations of joy was manifested along the lines,” reported one newspaperman. Some shouted, “Hurrah for the Liberator, Hurrah for the President.” Ulysses S. Grant’s aide Horace Porter stated that the scene “defies description.” Lincoln rode on his horse with his hat off and tears welling in his eyes, his voice broken by emotion.
These public demonstrations of affection that Black soldiers had for their commander in chief were a real testament to the ways that African Americans of the Civil War era had come to love Abraham Lincoln, but they obscure some of the difficult realities that Black soldiers and their families faced during the war. Many soldiers and their relatives wrote desperate, heart-wrenching letters to Lincoln about their struggles and concerns. In the selections that follow, five blank spaces are placed where a period should have appeared in order to assist the reader.
As early as the spring of 1861, African Americans began offering their services in defense of the Union. On April 8, a wealthy Black New Yorker in his mid-fifties named Levin Tilmon sent Lincoln the following short note:
In the present crisis, and distracted state of the country, if your Honor wishes colored volunteers, you have only to signify by answering the above note at 70 E. 13 St. N.Y.C., with instructions, and the above will meet with prompt attention, whenever your honor wishes them.
“I AM READY TO WORK OR PREACH OR FIGHT TO PUT DOWN THIS REBELLION”
Others also offered their personal services. Upon returning from England, where he lectured in
