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Samuel K. Thompson Diary, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
Purchase.
Accessioned and minimally described in March 2010. Further described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC Staff, in April 2010.
Samuel K. Thompson was a 2nd Lieutenant of the 25th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry.
Diary, 1870, of Samuel K. Thompson, 2nd Lieutenant of the 25th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry, which was one of the all African-American regiments founded in 1866 that are also referred to as "Buffalo Soldiers." Thompson was a white commanding officer of the regiment.
The diary starts out in early 1870 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the regiment had its headquarters. Thompson then describes marching to Ft. Davis, Texas. His entries are regular and often detailed and give a good impression of day-to-day occurrences. An entry inside the front cover gives directions on where to send the diary in case of his death, with special instructions in case it should be found by a Mason like himself.
The back of the diary has a few personal accounts and several pages of detailed listings of letters written and received.
Included in the back pocket of the diary are several loose items: an undated photograph of Thompson in uniform (dedicated to his sister Lizzie, who died in 1866), several notes and receipts, an obituary for a colonel of his regiment, a General Service Code Card, and a short letter written to Thompson by his wife Alice in 1876. Also contains a threatening note from the Ku Klux Klan: "Beware! the Ku Klux Klan. Warning 1st." with a drawing of a skull and crossbones, knife, and coffin.
"Lieutenant Samuel K. Thompson, formerly a Lieutenant and Brevet Major of the 54th US Infantry during the Civil War, kept this diary from 1870 while an officer of the 25th Regiment, US Infantry. In 1870, the regiment begins the year in Louisiana and then they are marched to San Antonio briefly and then Thompson's company is marched on to Ft. Davis, Texas to control the Mexicans and the Indians in this remote outpost.
The diary, identified in ink on the inside cover, is 3" x 7" in size. Thompson writes long, very neat and detailed entries in ink There are also additional notes and cash account information written in the memorandum section at the back of the diary.
Thompson makes many mentions of other officers, enlisted men, and locations. The most important items are a signed photographs of him in his Civil War uniform, a warnings "Beware! The Ku, Klux Klan, Warning 1st" and has a drawing of a coffin with a skull and crossed bones and a knife on it. The lettering is in brown ink, and red ink is used to underline the word "Beware" and also is shown as blood dripping from the knife.