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Stewart, Isham, (fl. 1872) to Blanche Kelso Bruce

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09400.045 Author/Creator: Stewart, Isham, (fl. 1872) Place Written: Macon Mississippi Senatobia, Mississippi Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 12 November 1872 Pagination: 4 p. : docket ; 20.4 x 12.4cm.

Summary of Content: A letter from Stewart asking Senator Bruce to look into a petition put forth to oust his son Robert from his position of Post Master in Macon for a Mrs. Gilmero. He says that one of the only reasons the signers want this is because her husband John was killed in the "Christiana Massacres" [the Christiana Riot of 1851]. The docket is written over the letter text in Red pen.

Background Information: Blanche Kelso Bruce was born into slavery near Farmville, Prince Edward County, Va. on March 1 1841. He was tutored by his master's son, but left his master at the beginning of ...the civil war and taught school in Hannibal Mo. After the civil war Bruce became a planter in Mississippi, and a member of the Mississippi Levee Board, and Sheriff and Tax Collector for Bolivar County from 1872-1875. Bruce was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, where he served from March 4 1875 - March 3 1881. Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. In 1881 Bruce was appointed by President James Garfield as the Register of the Treasury. Bruce then went on to serve as the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Colombia from 1891-1893, returning to the office of Register of the Treasury from 1897 until his death on March 17, 1898. See More

People: Bruce, Blanche Kelso, 1841-1898
Stewart, Isham, (fl. 1872)

Historical Era: Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861-1877

Subjects: African American HistoryAfrican Americans in GovernmentCongressLawReconstructionGovernment and CivicsPost OfficeWomen's HistoryOffice SeekerPetitionDeathSlaveryFugitive Slave ActRunaway SlaveMobs and RiotsUnderground Railroad

Sub Era: Reconstruction

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