Document signed by Robert DeWitt Birch (1842-1877). Witnessed by Master in Chancery Warren Hardenbaugh (1827-1897). New Brunswick, Middlesex Co., New Jersey, 17 April 1865. 3 pages, folio, 8 x 12 1/2 in. 

A fascinating and highly unusual court document recording the sworn testimony of U.S. Sanitary Commission agent Robert DeWitt Birch (1842–1877), in which he alleges an attempted sexual assault by Joseph Patterson, Treasurer of the U.S. Christian Commission.

Filed in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, this testimony recounts Birch’s journey in December 1864, shortly after his appointment as an agent of the Sanitary Commission. En route from Baltimore to Fortress Monroe, Birch encountered a man identifying himself as Joseph Patterson of Philadelphia, a delegate of the Christian Commission. After several drinks of “gin and water,” Patterson’s behavior became erratic. According to Birch, Patterson sought to discover his sleeping arrangements, attempted to share his stateroom, and then made increasingly aggressive advances. Birch records that Patterson “manifested a disposition to fondle and caress him, as a man would a woman with whom he sought intercourse,” and even attempted by force to throw him to the ground. Birch resisted, and Patterson allegedly promised him employment, a horse, and a salary if he would acquiesce, before finally fleeing.

Whether Patterson genuinely mistook Birch for a woman in disguise, as Birch reports, or whether such phrasing served to veil the explicitly homosexual nature of the assault remains unclear. 

Robert DeWitt Birch, the son of a New Jersey pastor, later worked as a chemist and was married to Adelia Dey Vreeland Birch, with whom he had three children. He died in 1877 at just 35 years old. Patterson, meanwhile, is documented as Treasurer of the U.S. Christian Commission in 1865, second only to Chairman George Stuart in the organization’s annual report. The testimony itself intriguingly describes him only as an individual “claiming to be” Joseph Patterson, leaving open the question of identification.

No reporting of the case’s outcome has been found. Given the sensitive nature of the accusations, its silence in the public record may reflect a deliberate effort to shield both commissions and their reputations. Even for Birch, the public airing of such a charge would have been fraught with personal risk.

An incredible account given the time and social norms of the Victorian era. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]