[
574]
R. I.; the
Attorney-General assumed the expense, there being a contingent fund available for the purpose.
Andrew Ellison, Jr.,
Esq., of
Rio de Janeiro, on the 8th of July, wrote to
Governor Andrew, inclosing a draft for five hundred dollars on
Wright,
Maxwell, & Co., of New York; the proceeds to be applied for the relief of soldiers in the army, according as
Governor Andrew should think proper.
This donation was made in the names of the four minor sons of
Mr. Ellison.
On the 18th of August, the
Governor wrote to
Mr. Ellison, acknowledging the receipt of the letter and the draft, and said,—
I have directed this amount to be divided equally between Colonel Frank E. Howe, the military State agent of Massachusetts, in the city of New York, and Lieutenant-Colonel Gardiner Tufts, our agent in Washington, whose especial duty it is to provide for the wants and comforts of our sick and wounded soldiers; gentlemen acting under my immediate supervision, and who, I know, will expend this sum in a manner that will be approved by the generous young donors.
I beg leave to return to them, through you, my most cordial and sincere acknowledgment of this token of their patriotic attachment to the land of their father.
Colonel N. A. M. Dudley, commanding the Thirty-first Massachusetts Regiment in
Louisiana, wrote to the
Governor, proposing to raise and organize a brigade of colored troops in that department.
The proposition was favorably regarded by the
Governor, who wrote to
Secretary Stanton, requesting permission to be given; the troops to be officered by intelligent colored men,
Colonel Dudley himself to be the only white officer concerned with the military command in the whole brigade.
‘I wish,’ said the Governor, ‘that the experiment could be tried, subject to Major-General Canby's approval of it, and that Colonel Dudley could be assigned to attempt it, with an understanding that he should have a commission as brigadier, and the command of the brigade, if he should succeed; but not, if he should fail in conducting such a recruitment successfully.
He would rely greatly for success, upon officers of such troops, with men of their own color. . . . In certain respects, I think Colonel Dudley possesses peculiar qualifications for such an attempt: he is an officer of the regular army; he is well acquainted ’
