Important grouping related to William Hammett Hunter, among the first African Americans to be commissioned as a chaplain in the United States Army and a central voice in the struggle for recognition, equality, and dignity within the ranks of the United States Colored Troops.

William Hammett Hunter (1831–1908) was born enslaved in Raleigh, North Carolina, and freed as a child when his father purchased the family’s liberty and moved them to Brooklyn, New York. There he received his early education, entered the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and later studied for three years at Wilberforce University before resuming pastoral work. In September 1863, at the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him chaplain of the 4th United States Colored Infantry. His formal commission was issued the following month, making him one of the earliest Black chaplains to serve in the U.S. Army. Stationed largely at Yorktown, Virginia, Hunter ministered to soldiers in camp, organized literacy classes with other educated men of the regiment, and worked to establish schools for newly emancipated adults and children in the surrounding region.

The 4th USCI endured some of the hardest fighting of the war: the siege of Petersburg, the assaults at Chaffin’s Farm and New Market Heights, the capture of Fort Harrison, and the coastal operations that culminated in the fall of Fort Fisher and Wilmington in early 1865. Its men, like those of other Black regiments, served under unequal pay and constant prejudice, yet repeatedly demonstrated discipline and courage in battle.

Within this crucible, Hunter’s chaplaincy provided both spiritual strength and practical support. He preached to the troops, offered comfort to the wounded and grieving, encouraged education as a path toward empowerment, and extended his ministry to the freed communities that emerged under Union occupation.

An important grouping.
 

Items include: 

1. Full-length albumen studio CDV photograph of William H. Hunter in a Chaplain's uniform. Baltimore, Maryland: Richard Walzl, n.d. Photographer's imprint to mount recto & verso. Period ink inscription to verso reads: "Hunter, Chaplain / 4th U.S.C.I." Red two-cent revenue stamp to mount verso. 

2. Grand Army of the Republic three-piece copper badge with red, white & blue ribbon. Featuring black metal Chaplain's shoulder strap bearing a cross. G.A.R veteran emblem to verso. N.p., circa 1886. 

3. Eighteenth Union Army Corps lacquered brass badge. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]
[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]