54th Mass, Captured Confederate Currency

Group of 4 Charleston, South Carolina Confederate currency notes captured in 1865 by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Notes include 5, 10, 15, and 20 cents. Charleston, South Carolina, June 1862. Rectos printed in red and black. Versos with the value written in letters and printed in blue. Contemporary ink inscription to verso of 20 cent note reads: "Found in Charleston S.C. soon after the evacuation by the Confederates early in 1865 by W.L. Whitney Jr 54th Mass. Vols."

The famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry was the first Black regiment raised in the North. After training at Camp Meigs near Boston, the regiment shipped to Beaufort, South Carolina and joined the X Corps. They took part in operations against Charleston, South Carolina, fighting at the Battle of Grimball's Landing and most famously the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. The bloody assault claimed the lives of nearly half the regiment, including those of commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and Captain Russel (see Lot 207).

William Lambert Whitney was a 21 year old student when he enlisted with the 54th Massachusetts at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as a first lieutenant with the all Black regiment, the first raised in the North. The 54th saw a gruesome enlistment, including the bloody Second Battle of Fort Wagner where nearly half of the regiment was killed, including their commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The regiment continued its service in South Carolina, playing a pivotal role in the rear-guard action protecting retreating troops at the Battle of Olustee, and fought in one of the last battles of the war at Boykin's Mill. The regiment ended the war in Charleston, mustering out in the suburb of Mt. Pleasant. It was here that Whitney collected the Confederate currency notes as fascinating souvenirs of war.

[Civil War, Union, Confederate, Currency, Numismatics, Ephemera, Printing, African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Abolition, Enslavement, Emancipation]