CIVIL WAR SHILOH LT 26th KY INFANTRY INDIAN WARS CAPTAIN VANCE DOCUMENT SIGNED !

Description

Here’s a Scarce Civil War Date Document Signed by Career 19
th
Century US Military Officer
RICHARD VANCE
a/k/a
EDWARD RICHARD VANCE
(
1833 – 1902
)
CIVIL WAR BATTLE OF SHILOH UNION
1
st
LIEUTENANT
IN THE FIELD and STAFF OF THE
26
th
KENTUCKY INFANTRY 1862-1865,
CIVIL WAR LT. and AIDE-DE-CAMP TO UNION GENERAL STEPHEN G. BURBRIDGE 1864-1865,
INDIAN WARS CAPTAIN
19
th
US INFANTRY 1879-1892, SERVING IN NUMEROUS POSTS IN THE SOUTH AND ON THE WILD FRONTIER
-&-
INDIAN WARS
1
st
LIEUTENANT
28
th and
19th
US INFANTRY 1866-1879
Although he retired in 1892, prior to the Spanish-American War, Civil War and Indian Wars veteran, and Warren County, Kentucky native
Captain Richard Vance
took great interest in all aspects of his country’s prosecution of the Spanish-American War, documenting the racism experienced by the brave gallant black troops returning from the front, especially from southern volunteers, some of whom would refuse to accept their army pay from black paymasters
!
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HERE’S A DOCUMENT SIGNED BY VANCE – “
GENERAL ORDERS No. 23} HEAD-QUARTERS DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY, LOUISVILLE, FEBRUARY 25
th
, 1864,”
ORDERING (1) BRIGADIER GENERAL E. H. HOBSON, US VOLUNTEERS TO RESUME COMMAND OF “
THE DISTRICT OF SOUTHERN CENTRAL KENTUCKY,
” (2) COLONEL CICERO MAXWELL, COMMANDING THE 26
th
KY VOLUNTEER INFANTRY TO COMMAND THE “
DISTRICT OF SOUTH-WESTERN KENTUCKY
” AT BOWLING GREEN, KY, (3) COL. HORATIO G. GIBSON, 2
nd
O. H. ARTILLERY TO COMMAND THE “
DISTRICT OF NORTHERN CENTRAL KENTUCKY
” WITH HQ AT CAMP NELSON, KY, and (4) TROOPS FROM OTHER DISTRICTS TO REPORT TO COLONEL Z. R. BLISS,
7
th
RHODE ISLAND VOLUNTEER INFANTRY COMMANDING THE
“DISTICT OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE, AT POINT BURNSIDE, KY.”
THE DOCUMENT IS BOLDLY SIGNED BY VANCE WHILE SERVINF AS ADC TO GEN. BURBRIDGE.
The document measures 5” x 7” and is in VF+ condition.
The Document comes with the biographical information pictured in the listing photos.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES RE RICHARD VANCE
Edward Richard Vance
(known as Richard), the son of Henry Vance (1799-1867) and
Elizabeth H. Flurry (1812-1840), was born on 15 September 1833 in Warren County, Kentucky.
After his m
other’s death, Vance br
iefly lived with his grandmother, but then returned to live with
his father on a farm in the Mount Olivet community. In 1851, he departed for Franklin, Kentucky, where he worked as a saddler, drugstore assistant and schoolteacher.
On Sept. 1, 1861,
Vance joined the Union Army, serving in the 26
th
Kentucky Infantry and rising to the position of
First Lieutenant and Adjutant on the staff of General Stephen G. Burbridge. He was mustered out in 1865.
Although Vance disliked the Army, he soon returned to military ser
vice “more from
necessity than choice,”
claiming that he could not live in Kentucky because of hostility toward
his support of the Union. Vance received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the regular Army in 1866, and served with the 19
th
Infantry at numerous
posts in the South and on the frontier. Many of Vance
’s administrative duties related to courts
-
martial and other disciplinary proceedings. He retired in 1892 with the rank of Captain.
After retiring from the Army, Vance, though beset by rheumatism and diabetes, lived a
rather nomadic existence, dividing his time mostly between Washington, D.C., Longview, Texas,
New Orleans, Louisiana, and the home of his sister, Mary Frances Carter, at 1182 Kentucky Street in Bowling Green, KY.
Widely read and fluent in French, Vance was known as a man of
many interests and a talented conversationalist; he was also a musician and a prolific letter-
writer, essayist and journal-keeper.
Though he admitted to
many “
lost loves
,” Richard
Vance never married. He died in New
Orleans on 17 February 1902.
Bibliographical Notes
The Collection.
Handel Vance: His Ancestry and
Descendants
, Shelley T. Riherd,
Emogene Riherd, Margaret Vance
Anderson, compilers
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEROES OF SAN JUAN HILL
by
Lynn Niedermeier
|
February 21, 2019
Although he had retired in 1892, Civil War veteran and Warren County, Kentucky native
Captain Richard Vance
took great interest in all aspects of his country’s prosecution of the Spanish-American War.  Among the topics covered in his personal scrapbooks, letters and essays was the plight of American soldiers who had volunteered for the war only to be met with disease, poor camp conditions, and substandard food and medical treatment.
For African-American soldiers, Vance realized that the conditions were far worse.  He noted that, in spite of their outstanding gallantry, African-American troops could not escape the racism of their white counterparts; in particular they “
continued to be despised objects in the estimation of southern volunteers
.”  Vance cited an example in which “
certain Virginia gentlemen (volunteers) refused to receive their pay because it was offered to them by a Negro paymaster.
”  He had heard stories of “
disorders
” in some African-American regiments, but dismissed them as no worse than those in other volunteer organizations.  His own long military experience had taught him “
that the ‘white-washing’ process is invariably used in such cases
.”
Vance included clippings in his scrapbook to illustrate his points.  During the fierce battle around Santiago, Cuba, read one report, African-American soldiers not only “
fought like devils
” but came to the aid of the wounded, and when wounded themselves showed “
more nerve
” under the surgeon’s knife “
than many of their fellow soldiers of lighter hue.
”
When the men returned home, Louisville, Kentucky offered cheers for the
10
th
Cavalry—“
The Colored Heroes of San Juan Hill
”—but as the troop trains passed through Richmond, Texas and Meridian, Mississippi, they were targeted with gunfire!
When Charles Mason Mitchell, a veteran of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, attempted to pay tribute to the bravery of his African-American comrades during a lecture in Richmond, Virginia, he was booed off the stage.  “
Is there a remedy for these evils?
” asked Vance.  “
Yes.  Unquestionably.  Will it ever be applied?  That remains to be seen.
”
RICHARD VANCE – CIVIL WAR SERVICE SUMMARY
Enlisted on 9/1/1861 as a Hospl Steward.
On 3/5/1862 he was commissioned into Field & Staff
KY 26th Infantry
He was Mustered Out on 7/10/1865
(Subsequent service in US Army from 02/23/1866 until
retiring 11/30/1892)
He was listed as:
Detailed (date and place not stated) (Detailed Aide-de-Camp Gen. Burbridge)
Promotions:
2nd Lieut 6/22/1862 (As of Co. F)
1st Lieut 1/31/1863 (1st Lieut & Adjutant)
Intra Regimental Company Transfers:
6/22/1862 from Field & Staff to company F
1/31/1863 from company F to Field & Staff
6/1/1865 from Field & Staff to company G
Other Information:
born in Kentucky
died 2/17/1902
Sources:
- Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky
- Heitman: Register of United States Army 1789-1903
HISTORY OF THE Twenty-sixth Infantry
KENTUCKY
(3-YEARs)
Twenty-sixth Infantry. -- Cols., Stephen G. Burbridge, Cicero
Maxwell, Thomas B. Fairleigh; Lieut.-Cols., James F. Lauck,
Rowland E. Hackett; Majs., John L. Davidson, Joseph L. Frost,
Ignatius Mattingly, Cyrus J. Wilson, Francis M. Page, James H.
Ashcraft.
This regiment was recruited and organized by Col. Burbridge,
but as he was made brigadier-general June 12, 1862, he was not
long with the regiment.
The companies came from the Green
River counties, and there was no place or road in all the
section of the state from Bowling Green to Henderson that was
not known to some of the men.
Arriving at the mouth of Green River after the fall of Fort
Donelson, the regiment passed up the Cumberland by the fallen
fortress and landed at Nashville just as Buell's army was
crossing the river into the city.
At Nashville on March 5,
1862, it was regularly mustered by Maj. Bankhead.
Upon the second day at
Shiloh
it was engaged in heavy
fighting, as the casualties show, there being 7 killed,
including Maj. Davidson, and 60 wounded.
After the battle of
Shiloh the regiment moved with the army to Corinth; took part
in the siege and skirmishing there; then moved to Tuscumbia,
Florence and Athens, Ala., and camped at Battle Creek, Tenn.
The regiment was but slightly engaged at
Perryville
.
It
continued in pursuit of Bragg until he was out of the state
and then marched across the country to Nashville, where the
army, then under Gen. Rosecrans, was concentrated, Buell
having been relieved.
Later the regiment was sent to Bowling
Green.
On Jan. 31, 1864, the members of the 26th reenlisted as
veterans and rendezvoused at Bowling Green in the spring where
on April 1 the 33d was consolidated with it, becoming Cos. F.
H, I and K.
The regiment was mounted and used through the
entire spring and summer for the protection of Kentucky.
It then joined the command of Gen. Burbridge for the raid to
the salt works, in Virginia.
From the day it left Pikeville
until its return to that point it was in a continual fight.
On Oct. 29 it was ordered to Paducah.
On Dec. 7 it went to
Nashville and was placed in the 1st brigade, 2nd division, 23d
corps.
It engaged in the
battle of Nashville
, moving with the 23d
corps under Gen. Schofield, and joining in the general charge
which broke up and destroyed Hood's army.
Taking transports
at Clifton, Tenn., it proceeded down the Tennessee and up the
Ohio to Cincinnati, thence by rail to Washington, D. C., and
Alexandria, Va, then taking ocean steamer the regiment went
with the 23rd corps to Fort Fisher, N. C., arriving there in
Jan., 1865.
On the way to Wilmington the regiment fought at
Fort Anderson
and Town Creek
, and led by Col. Fairleigh was the first
regiment to enter Wilmington.
It reached Raleigh and remained
there until the surrender of Gen. Johnston, when it was sent
to Salisbury, N. C., and encamped until it was ordered to
Kentucky.
It was mustered out July 10, 1865, at Louisville.
Source:
The Union Army, vol. 4, p. 336
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