Fletcher, Francis H. (b. 1841) to Jacob C. Safford

Fletcher, a black soldier in the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, complains bitterly of the inequality of treatment and pay between the white and black soldiers. ”Just one year ago to day our regt was received in Boston with almost an ovation, and at 5 P.M. it will be one year …in that one year no man of our regiment has received a cent of monthly pay all through the glaring perfidy of the U.S. Govt.” He references an act for equal pay passed in 1864, ”All the misery and degradation suffered in our regiment by its members’ families is not atoned for by the passage of the bill for equal pay.” Expresses his anger and resentment about the situation, ”I cannot any more condemn nor recite our wrongs, but console myself that One who is able has said Vengeance is mine and I will repay.” The 54th Massachusetts is famous for its refusal to accept the unequal pay offered to black soldiers. As a result, the men of the 54th did not receive any pay for the first 18 months of their service.