FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO GERRIT SMITH

Rochester[, N.Y.] 14 Ap[ril] 1863. HON GERRIT SMITH:

MY DEAR SIR. I send you herewith an acc.t, of my Stewardship. I have recruited and sent forward to camp at Readville Mass. more than one hundred men for the 54th regiment. Lewis and Charles, my two sons, are a part of that regiment, Lewis a sargeant major—and Charles an orderly.¹Muster rolls list Charles R. Douglass as a private in Company F in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Lewis H. Douglass initially enlisted as a private in Company F and was promoted to the regiment’s sergeant major effective 23 April 1863. Massachusetts Soldiers, 4:658, 686. Upon the earnest request of Mr Stearns,²George Luther Stearns. I am endeavouring to raise another company. The two hundred dollars you gave me and the five hundred you donated in Boston³Reports indicate Smith sent a check for $500 to Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew in early 1863. There is no record of funds sent directly to Douglass, but the $200 might have been the sum mentioned in Douglass’ Monthly as an additional pledge that Smith made to recruit 100 New York free blacks for the Fifty-fourth. Lib., 6 March 1863; DM, 5:804 (March 1863). will about cover the cost of raising the company raised by me—While I venture to say that no other company has been raised for less than twice that sum. You will see per acc.t, that I have given you credit to Mr Stearns for two hundred Dolls—I feel that the work to be done now is to fill up this Massachusetts regiment without delay—and I am leaving home to day to add its numbers. With neverfailing love for you and yours,

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

ALS: Grenville H. Norcross Manuscripts, MHiS.