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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC08989 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1863 |
| Title | William A. Smith to Mary E. Townsend regarding the Emancipation Proclamation |
| Date | 11 February 1863 |
| Author | Smith, William A. (fl. 1863) |
| Recipient | Townsend, Mary E. |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Expresses strong dislike for the Emancipation Proclamation, and does not want to fight for blacks. A soldier from the One Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, part of the Irish Brigade, writing to his sister. "You asked me how I like the Niggers Bussiness I tell you wat I think of It in shorte wordes to hell with the Niggers I did not come out to fight for Niggers I come to fight for the flag and for the Union Insted of going to free Niggers and down at Fort Royle they think a Nigger is better than a white man and I donte thinq mutch of that for I would shoote one as quick as wink if he give me any sass and would not now wate to hurt him and I would not think nothing of it. Well I got a letter from Frank the other day and he said that the Nigger Regt is thought of more than the whites." Written one month after the Emancipation Proclimation. |
| Subjects | Emancipation Proclamation Emancipation Presidential Speeches and Proclamations President African American History Slavery Civil War Military History Union Soldier's Letter Union Forces Soldier's Letter African American Troops |
| People | Smith, William A. (fl. 1863) Townsend, Mary E. (fl. 1863) |
| Place written | Falmouth, Virginia |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Slavery & Abolition; African Americans; Government & Politics |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |