American Historical Ephemera and Early Photography

[AFRICAN AMERICANA]. CDV of Charles L. Mitchell, 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, WIA at Honey Hill, SC, and one of the first two African American members of the Massachusetts State Legislature. Boston: Marshall, n.d.

CDV vignetted bust portrait on cardstock mount with Marshall's imprint on verso and ink identification beneath image.

Charles L. Mitchell (1829-1912) was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and in the 1850s went to work in Boston as a printer for outspoken abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator. He apparently worked in this capacity up until he joined the Union Army, as he is listed as a printer in his enlistment paperwork.

He mustered into Company F of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment on 20 July 1863, and he fought with that regiment at the Battle of Honey Hill, alongside the 54th Massachusetts as part of a larger brigade led by Alfred S. Hartwell. Honey Hill was the third battle in Sherman's March to the Sea, and the most deadly single engagement the 55th would see through the whole war. The regiment suffered a captain, a lieutenant, and 31 other men killed, and 108 others wounded, including Mitchell, severely. His wound necessitated the amputation of his foot, but he did survive the war.

Thereafter, Mitchell ran for the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican and won a seat representing the sixth ward of Boston, beginning his term in January of 1867. He was later appointed a US customs inspector and would work for the federal government for four decades. Notably, when William Lloyd Garrison died in 1879, Mitchell was chosen as one of the pallbearers for the funeral.