Sumter Souvenir
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
In May 1863, before his home state of Ohio received federal approval to recruit African-American regiments, Marquis Peterson, a free black farmer from Barnesville, enlisted as a private in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry, a regiment that was formed, in part, by the overflow of volunteers turned away from Robert Gould Shaw’s recently recruited 54th Massachusetts Infantry.
Over the next two years, Peterson and the 55th served in North Carolina, Florida, and South Carolina; in February 1865, they were among the first Union troops to enter the recently surrendered city of Charleston. Sometime before he and his comrades were mustered out of the service in August, Peterson took this piece from one of Fort Sumter’s reddish-brown brick walls, which had been battered during the Union siege of Charleston. This keepsake, which Peterson kept in the small cotton bag shown here, resides in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture alongside other artifacts from his service, including his pocket Bible, razor, and Grand Army of the Republic medallions. Peterson was in his mid-60s when he died in 1896.
