After President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in December 1862, Massachusetts was the first state to respond by enlisting African American soldiers. The Historical Society holds many manuscripts and photographs that document the service of Black soliders and sailors in the Civil War. Highlights include those found in the personal papers of Governor Jon A. Andrew, who ordered the recuitment of the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Volunteer Infantry Regiment and offered the command to Robert Gould Shaw, as well as photographs and other materials collected for a history of the regiment by the commander of Company E, Captain Luis Fenollosa Emilio.

Provenance: Gift of Mary Silsbee Emilio, 1920.