WAR DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT CONCERNING THE DEATH OF A USCT SOLDIER, AUGUSTUS JACKSON – WITH PRINTED "MODEL FOR SET OF PAPERS FOR A DECEASED SOLDIER"

WAR DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT CONCERNING THE DEATH OF A USCT SOLDIER, AUGUSTUS JACKSON – WITH PRINTED

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Item Code: 2023-2613

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A scarce piece of United States Colored Troops paperwork that shows the Army's bureaucracy trying, and struggling, to account for the death of one Black soldier.

The front is a printed War Department, Adjutant General's Office circular, dated in ink at Washington, "Oct 26th 186[5]." It is addressed to the "Commanding Officer 30th U.S.C. Troops, Morehead City, N.C." and filled out in the case of Augustus Jackson of the "30th Regiment of U.S. Col'd Troops Volunteers." The circular reports that the Inventory of Effects had been received, but the copies of the Final Statement were missing, and orders the commander to "please forward the missing papers without delay." It is signed by an Assistant Adjutant General. A red-ink notation records that the inventory of effects came from the General Hospital at Alexandria, Va., that Jackson had no Descriptive List, and that he died May 12, 1864.

The regiment's reply is written on the outside flap, and it tells the real story. Someone in the 30th USCT went through the company rolls and reported back: "Not in Co. 'K'... Not in Co. E & never was... Not in Co. C... Not in Co. F, never on Rolls." The 30th USCT had no record of the man at all.

The likely explanation is a confusion between two units numbered "30th." Research identifies a Pvt. Augustus Jackson of Stonington, Connecticut, who enlisted February 2, 1864, in the 30th Connecticut (Colored) Infantry. That regiment's four companies were sent straight to Virginia and consolidated into the 31st United States Colored Infantry, which served with the 9th Corps. The 31st fought at the Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, and in the Petersburg trenches, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox. Jackson is buried in Alexandria National Cemetery, which matches the hospital notation. With his papers routed to the wrong "30th," the paperwork that would have settled his pay and effects for his family was still unresolved more than a year later.

The two inner pages are a fully printed "MODEL FOR SET OF PAPERS FOR A DECEASED SOLDIER." It is a sample set of forms worked out for a fictitious Pvt. John Smith of the 1st Pennsylvania, who died of typhoid fever at Fort Brown, Texas. The model includes:

- Form 1, the Final Statement

- Form 2, the Inventory of Effects

- Form 3, the Heir's Receipt for Effects

- Form 4, the Paymaster's Receipt for Money

- Form 5, the Proceedings of a Council of Administration auctioning the soldier's effects

- Form 6, the Paymaster's Receipt

- the text of the 95th Article of War, with detailed directions for handling the effects of deceased soldiers

Together, the model and the filled-in circular show exactly how the system was supposed to work, and how it broke down for one Black soldier.

Condition: A single large folded sheet forming four pages, opening to approximately 16 inches wide. There is light toning and some scattered spotting, including a small cluster of spots on the outside flap, with normal folds. The printing is crisp, and the ink and red-ink notations are legible.    [cm][ph:L]

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