NAME Revels, Hiram R... OFFICE-HOLDING Former Members of Congress Cain, Richard H. South Carolina North Carolina. South Carolina_ Turner, Benjamin S. Alabama White, George H... North Carolina_-- 43rd and 45th Congress-4 years 43rd, 44th & 47th Congress-6 years 48th and 49th Congress-4 years 44th, 45th & 47th Congress-6 years 42nd, 43rd & 44th Congress-6 years Blanche K. Bruce.-United States Senator from Mississippi, 1875 to 1881. Born a slave March, 1841, in Prince Edward County, Virginia; died in Washington, D. C., March 17, 1898. He was educated with his master's son. After freedom came he taught school for some time in Missouri and also studied for a short time at Oberlin. In 1869 he came to Mississippi and became a planter. He entered politics, held a number of offices, including that of sheriff and superintendent of public schools. Finally elected to the United States Senate. In 1881 was made Register of the United States Treasury. Hiram R. Revels.-First colored United States Senator. Born free at Fayetteville, North Carolina, September 1, 1822. In 1847 he graduated from Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. He became a preacher and lecturer. At the ourbreak of the Civil War he was serving as pastor of a Methodist Church in Baltimore. He assisted in raising the first colored regiment organized in Maryland. He afterwards organized a colored regiment in Missouri. He finally settled at Natchez, Mississippi. January, 1870, he was chosen United States Senator for that State and on February 25th took his seat in Congrss. FIRST NEGRO MEMBERS OF A STATE LEGISLATURE Edward G. Walker and Charles L. Mitchell who were elected in 1866 to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from Boston were the first Negroes in the history of the race to sit in the legislatur of any State in the Union. Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, of Philadelphia.-First Negro given an appointment by the United States Government. In 1869 was appointed minister resident and consul general to Haiti. It was the first appointment ever given to a man of color by the United States Government. He mas born of Indian and mulatto parentage at Litchfield, Connecticut, October 16, 1833, and died in Philadelphia November 13, 1908. He filled the position until the end of 1877. He was Consul and Consul General of Haiti at New York, 1879-1888. In 1883 he was appointed Charge d'Affaires of the Haitian Government at Washington, but as it is not customary for the United States to receive its own citizens as diplomatic representatives of other governments he was only conditionally recognized in that capacity. The three years, 1889-1892, were spent in Haiti. Mr. Bassett then returned to the United States and engaged in literary work. He is the author of the Handbook of Haiti, issued by the Bureau of American Republics at Washington and published in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese languages. He was a member of the American Geographical Society and of the Connecticut Historical Society. He was educated at the High School, Birmingham, Connecticut, the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and the Connecticut State Normal School. He was principal of a public school in New Haven, Connecticut, 1853-1855. During this time he was a student at Yale College. In 1857 he became principal of the colored high school in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania, 1857-1858. He remained at the head of the High School until he received his appointment in 1869 as minister to Haiti. COLORED PERSONS NOW HOLDING FEDERAL OFFICES Robert H. Terrell, Judge Municipal Court, Washington, District of Columbia. James A. Cobb, Assistant District Attorney for the District of Columbia. Charles W. Anderson, Collector of Internal Revenue, New York City. Charles Cottrell, of Ohio, Collector of Customs, Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. COLORED PERSONS IN THE DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC Name, Position, and Address George W. Buckner.-Minister Resident and Consul General at Monrovia, Liberia. Richard W. Bundy, Secretary of Legation at Monrovia, Liberia. CONSULAR Name, Position, and Address William J. Yerb, Consul at Sierra Leone, West Africa. James G. Carter, Consul at Tamatave, Madagascar. George H. Jackson, Consul at Cognac, France. Lemuel W. Livingston, Consul at Cape Haitien, Haiti. Herbert R. Wright, Consul at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. NUMBER OF COLORED OFFICERS, CLERKS AND OTHER EM- It is estimated that there was an average of thirty-five Negroes in each white regiment in the Revolutionary War. According to an official report there were in the army under General Washington's immediate command on the 24th of August, 1778, seven hundred and seventy-five Negroes. This does not appear to include the Negro troops furnished by Connecticut, New York, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. There were altogether about 3,000 Negro soldiers employed by the Americans. Negro soldiers have served with distinction in every war that the United States has waged. Free Negroes and slaves were employed on both sides in the Revolutionary War. They were found in all branches of the patriot army. They generally served in the same regiments with the white soldiers. A Hessian officer under date of October 3, 1773, wrote "the Negro can take the field instead of his master and therefore no regiment is to be seen in which there are not Negroes in abundance." Some of the most heroic deeds of the War of Independence were performed by the black men. The first martyr in the Boston massacre, March 5, 1770, was the Negro, Crispus Attucks. Samuel Lawrence, a prominent white citizen of Groton, Massachusetts, led a company of Negroes at the Battle of Bunker Hill. It was the Negro, Peter Salem, who at the Battle of Bunker Hill fired the shot that mortally wounded Major Pitcairn. Solomon Poor, another Negro, so distinguished himself at the Battle of Bunker Hill that a petition was drawn up by some of the principal officers to secure him recognition by the Massachusetts Colony. The Black Legion, organized in 1779 in St. Domingo by Count D'Estaing, consisted of 800 young freedmen, blacks and mulattoes. At the siege of Savannah on the 9th of October, 1779, this legion by covering the retreat and repulsing the charge of the British, saved the defeated American and French Army from annihilation. Only a small number of Negroes were allowed to serve in the patriot army of the Southern Colonies. Toward the close of the struggle, however, there was a growing sentiment among these colonies to use a large number of Negro troops. In 1780, Col. John Laurens, of South Carolina, seconded by Gen. Lincoln, urged that State to raise black troops. In 1782, Gen. Greene proposed to the governor of South Carolina a plan for raising black, regiments. Negroes were also employed in the British army during the Revolutionary War. This fact helped to gain them admittance into the patriot army. It is estimated that 30,000 slaves were carried off by the British troops and used in pioneer work and in building fortifications. In 1775, Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all Negroes and indentured white servants who might enlist in the British army. In 1776, the British formed a regiment of 800 Negroes on Staten Island. In 1782, a Mr. J. Cruden, of Charleston, wrote a letter to Lord Dunmore, proposing that 10,000 black troops be raised in the province of South Carolina. Lord Dunmore wrote to Gen. Clinton approving this scheme and REFERENCES: Nell, Colored Patriots of the Revolution; Livermore, Opin- IN THE WAR OF 1812 Commodore Perry spoke highly of the bravery and good conduct of the many Negroes who were under his command at the battle of Lake Erie. He said: "they seemed to be absolutely insensible of danger. The legislature of New York, October 24, 1814, authorized the raising of two regiments of men of color. As a result, 2,000 black men were enlisted and sent forward to the army at |