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New Orleans, Louisiana, 29 January 1866. Broadsheet, 29” x 26”, printed form filled out in manuscript. CONDITION: Good, old folds, light soiling, 1.5” x 3.25” loss along lower margin affecting the printed text, Japanese tissue repairs on recto and verso to tears and separations along olds folds, a few losses to the document including partial losses to two names of Black privates listed on the recto and four names of Black privates on the verso.

An evocative muster-out roll for the 96th U.S. Colored Infantry, Co. K, which was raised in New Orleans in 1863 and whose service extended until January 1866, discharging a total of eighty-two men from duty and including information on the service of forty-four additional Black privates who either deserted, died, or were discharged or transferred.  

The recto lists each of the company’s sixty-six Black privates, two Black musicians, and thirteen white officers—all of whom served under Capt. Daniel Rolfe. The servicemen are aged between eighteen and forty-seven. The names of the privates listed here include John Baptist, Primus Black, Cupid Forester, Ezan Telijo, Siar Gibbs, and Moses Slater. Notes for each soldier describe the circumstances under which he joined the 96th, and in the upper-right corner is a detailed chronology of Capt. Rolfe’s service. In the case of private Alexander Gordon, it is noted that he is “absent in confinement at New Orleans, LA by order of Bvt. Maj. Gen. Sherman—no discharge furnished.” Comments indicate that many of these privates over the course of their service were transferred from other U.S. Colored Troop companies. 

The verso details that twenty privates deserted (Dreg Dawson, Hippolite Thompson, et al.); thirteen privates died (Caesar Pen, John Dancer, et al.); ten privates were discharged for disability (Uriah Mortel, et al.); and one private was transferred to Co. E of the 96th. Of the deaths, four privates drowned at Matagorda Island, Texas on March 13th, 1864, and six other privates died between 1863 and 1865 in Mobile, Alabama, Matagorda Island, Texas, and Louisiana. The circumstance of each desertion is provided, including where they deserted; what personal effects they left behind; whether or not their accounts were settled; and so forth. It is recorded that some of the Black privates stopped for such items as “1 letter, 2 numbers, and 1/2 shelter tent”; “1 Springfield rifle musket, 1 set of musk. accouterments, 1 knapsack, 1 Haversack, 1 canteen, 1/2 shelter tent”; and “1 Haversack, 1 canteen, 2 great coat straps, 1 number, and 1 letter.” Information relating to the payment of the soldiers is included on both the recto and verso.

Early in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln observed, “The colored population is the great available yet unavailed of force for restoring the Union.” Two months later, the War Department issued General Order #143, which sanctioned the creation of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). The 96th’s predecessor unit was the 2nd Corps de Afrique Engineers, which was organized in New Orleans on August 15th, 1863. The 2nd was first attached to the Engineer Brigade of the Department of the Gulf and performed duty at New Orleans. On December 5th, 1863, it was ordered to Matagorda Bay, Texas. Here, as part of the 13th Army Corps, it “engaged in engineering duty and erecting field works at De Crow’s Point, Point Isabel, Fort Esperanza, Matagorda Island, Indianola, and Pass Cavallo, Texas, till April, 1864” (“96th Regiment”). 

On April 4th, 1864, the 2nd’s designation changed to the 96th U.S. Colored Infantry. First attached to the 13th Corps, Dept. of the Gulf, it was garrisoned at Fort Esperanza and performed engineer duty at the Matagorda Peninsula in Texas until May 1864. On May 27th, as part of the Engineer Brigade of the Dept. of the Gulf, it was ordered to New Orleans and thence to Port Hudson, Louisiana, where it performed duty until late July. The 96th then traveled to Mobile Bay, Alabama where it took part in siege operations against Forts Gaines and Morgan between August 2nd and 23rd. Next, as part of the 1st Brigade, it performed duty at Mobile Point until November, when it traveled to East Pascagoula, Mississippi. From February to April 1865, the company participated in the campaign against Mobile and its defenses, and from March 17th to April 9th it participated in the siege of the Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. Near the end of the war and following its close, the 96th performed duty on the fortifications at Mobile and at various points in the Dept. of the Gulf until January 1866. 

Born in Ellsworth, Maine, Daniel Porter Rolfe (1840–1905) enlisted on December 10th, 1861 as a Sergeant in the Maine 15th Infantry Regiment, Co. D. On June 15th, 1864, he was commissioned as Captain of the U.S. Colored Troops 96th Infantry, Co. C, but was later transferred to Company K. He died in Wakefield, Mass. in 1905.

REFERENCES: “96th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry” at National Park Service online; “Daniel P. Rolfe” at Civil War Data online.

Item #8886

Price: $2,750.00