The men who enlisted in the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Regiments in the winter and spring of 1863 were promised equal pay with white soldiers. However, in June 1863 the War Department ruled that black soldiers would receive the pay authorized by the Militia Act of July 17, 1862, which had envisioned that blacks would serve mainly as military laborers. Privates and noncommissioned officers would both be paid $10 a month minus a $3 clothing allowance, at a time when white privates received $13 (later $16) a month plus $3.50 for clothing. The men of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts refused to accept unequal pay, and rejected as well the attempt by the Massachusetts legislature to make up the difference using state funds. In June 1864, Congress equalized pay and authorized back pay for all black soldiers to January 1, 1864, and to their date of enlistment for soldiers who swore an oath that they had been free men on April 19, 1861. John A. Andrew, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, forwarded Rachel Ann Wicker’s letter to the War Department, which was in the process of implementing the new legislation. The 55th Massachusetts would be paid in full on October 7, 1864, and in March 1865, Congress authorized back pay for freed slaves who had enlisted early in the war.
Piqua Miama Co ohio Sep 12 1864
Sir i write to you to know the reason why our husbands and sons who enlisted in the 55 Massichusette regiment have not Bin paid off i speak for my self and Mother and i know of a great many others as well as ourselve are suffering for the want of money to live on when provision and Clotheing wer Cheap we might have got a long But Every thing now is thribbl and over what it was some thre year Back But it matters not if Every thing was at the old Price i think it a Piece of injustice to have those soldiers there 15 months with out a cent of Money for my part i Cannot see why they have not th same rite to their 16 dollars per month as th Whites or Even th Coulord Soldiers that went from ohio i think if Massichusette had left off Comeing to other States for Soldiers th Soldirs would have bin Better off and Massichusette saved her Credit i wish you if you pleas to Answer this Letter and tell me Why it is that you Still insist upon them takeing 7 dollars a month when you give the Poorest White Regiment that has went out 16 dollars Answer this if you Pleas and oblige Your humble Servant
Rachel Ann Wicker