Sumner, Charles (1811-1874) to Epes Sargent
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02095.12 Author/Creator: Sumner, Charles (1811-1874) Place Written: Boston, Massachusetts Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 15 September 1863 Pagination: 2 p. ; 20.2 x 12.8 cm. Order a Copy
Sumner thanks Sargent for his sympathetic praise. Writes, "The verses on Shaw I had enjoyed before, & had sent to England," likely a reference to Sargent's poem, "Colonel Shaw: On Hearing that the Rebels Had Buried His Body Under a Pile of Twenty Five Negroes," Boston Evening Transcript, 4 August 1863.
Contains a 12 September 1878 autograph note signed by Sargent on page 2, giving a brief biography of Sumner: "Charles Sumner, United States Senator from Massachusetts... -a very conspicuous man in his day. He was a classmate of my brother, John O. Sargent, and we were intimate from my boyhood. Many years ago Sumner lectured at Auburn, Mass., and I delivered a poem the same evening. We put up at a house where they could give us but one bed: so we had to sleep together."
Sargent was a poet, author, editor, and playwright. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw led the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a famous African American regiment, until he was killed in action during the regiment's assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863.
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