Frederick Douglass' Photograph Album

Today I had the opportunity to see Frederick Douglass' personal photograph album, part of the collection of Howard University's prints and photographs holdings at the Moorland Spingarn Research Center. The album holds four images per page (front and back) and contains a number of cartes de visite, including a portrait of Douglass' son Sgt. Maj. Lewis H. Douglass, who served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. His image and story will be included in my book. The album binding is loose, and a number of pages are empty. Nevertheless, it belonged to Frederick Douglass, and I felt privileged to see it up close, thanks to Joellen El Bashir, Curator of Manuscripts. She was extremely helpful and made my visit a success.

A Squirrel in Combat

In researching the Battle of Cloyds Mountain (May 9, 1864), I am reading Howard Rollins McManus' excellent volume on the subject. Page 9 includes an excerpt taken from the papers of James M. Comley in the Ohio State Historical Society in Columbus. It refers to breaking up winter camp and the liquidation of accumulated items before the May 1864 raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad that culminated in the action on Cloyds Mountain:

"Extra clothing and bedding, cooking stoves, banjos, tamborines, stove pipe hats, fishing tackle, sidesaddles, rowboats and sailboats, pet raccoon, game cocks,...and one solemn looking blinking old owl, comprise a few of the extras disposed of to the highest bidder...One of the men carried a pet squirrel all through the raid."

The fate of this Southern squirrel in federal captivity was not revealed. Nor was his allegiance.