William U. Saunders to Frederick Douglass, October 12, 1869

WILLIAM U. SAUNDERS^{1Baltimore-born William U. Saunders was a barber by trade. During the Civil War, he became a quartermaster sergeant in an infantry regiment for the U.S. Colored Troops, for which he later received a pension. After the war, he settled in Florida and became an organizer for the state’s young Republican party. Saunders played a critical role in the Florida state constitutional convention during Reconstruction. Along with Liberty Billings and Daniel Richards, he established the Florida chapter of the National Union League, a semisecret Republican group intended to recruit African Americans. This faction repeatedly clashed with more moderate Republican leaders, which ultimately led to intervention by federal military authorities on the moderates’ behalf. Saunders returned to Baltimore around the end of 1868 and resumed barbering before working for the federal government as an at-large special agent in the Post Office Department. He remained active in the Baltimore social scene, interacting with the likes of Frederick Douglass and Postmaster General John Creswell. In 1870, Saunders served as the chief marshal of a Baltimore parade commemorating the Fifteenth Amendment; several notable figures, including Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, were honored guests. Very little is known about Saunders’s life after the early 1870s. Official Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1869 (Washington, D.C., 1870), 916; George C. Osborn, “Letters of a Carpetbagger in Florida, 1866–1869,” Florida Historical Quarterly, 36: 239–85 (January 1958); Jerrell H. Shofner, “The Constitution of 1868,” Florida Historical Quarterly, 41: 356–74 (April 1963); Gordon C. Bond, “The First Negro Politicians of Florida: The Black Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1868,” NHB, 38: 486–89 (December 1975); Brad Alston, “Baltimore’s 1870 15th Amendment Parade and Celebration,” Baltimore Gaslight 17, 2: 1 (Fall 2018).} TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Baltimore, [Md.] 12 Oct[ober] 1869.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS ESQ

ROCHESTER, N. YORK.

DEAR FRIEND,

Please accept my thanks for the assurances of assistance conveyed in yours of the 4th inst.

Mr. Creswell^{2John Andrew Johnson Creswell (1828–91) was born in Creswell’s Ferry (Port Deposit), Maryland. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1848. Creswell’s oratorical skills were considerable. An accomplished politician, he was elected to both the Maryland House of Representatives (1863– 65) and the U.S. Senate (1865–67) before President Grant appointed him the U.S. postmaster general (1869–74). His leading role in supporting congressional passage of the Thirteenth Amendment gained him national attention. Creswell became well known for reforming and greatly improving the U.S. postal service; in doing so, he appointed many African Americans to work for the postal system in every state. John M. Osborne and Christine Bombaro, Forgotten Abolitionist: John A. J. Creswell of Maryland (Carlisle, Pa. 2015); BDUSC (online).} regrets very much that the pressure of his public duties prevented a reply to yours in relation to the Rochester P. Office and feels certain that you will appreciate the motive and understand his reasons for not considering your claims for the position

He requests me to say that he “considers “that <you> hold a first place among the great men” of the country and that you have worn your “fame by an admirable source of independence that commands his respect and admiration,” “and that he could not think of your name in connection with a local position, which “at best <is> a bone of contention among small politicians.” He fully appreciate your motives in desiring to make the sacrifice and trusts you will consider him a sincere friend

He authorizes me to invite you to call on him at your earliest convenience

I take the liberty to suggest that you open a correspondence with him. He is a man of broad [learn]ing and the coming man as a “Representative man” of the south

I volunteer the remark that your friends could not afford to allow you to accept a position that would invite a contest which could not result favorably to you, and must to some effect injure your [illegible] fame. I trust you will take the interference kindly

Very Respectfully

WM SAUNDERS

ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 2, frames 499–500, FD Papers. DLC.

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