Baker, J. Newton, (fl. 1879) to Blanche Kelso Bruce
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09400.095 Author/Creator: Baker, J. Newton, (fl. 1879) Place Written: Philadelphia, Pensylvania Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 13 November 1879 Pagination: 2 p. ; docket ; 20 x 12.4 cm. Order a Copy
A letter in response to Senator Bruce. Baker has been in the mountains for the summer but has plans to return to Washington on the 20th or 21st of November. He cannot wait to be back and in the committee. He hopes to see Senator Bruce soon. There is some mention of guilty parties that the committee now has evidence against but it is a vague reference and no names or situation is mentioned.
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.
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