General Rufus Saxton LS On great pre-printed Western
stationary”Headquarters Department of the Missouri Office of the Chief
Quartermaster, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas October 17th, 1876”.
Regarding movement of the 3rd Artillery from Caldwell, Kansas to
Fort Reno, I.T. Saxton received America's highest
military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions defending Harpers
Ferry during Confederate
General Jackson's Valley
Campaign. After the war he served as
the Freedmen's Bureau's first assistant commissioner. Saxton was
an abolitionist and proponent for
greater civil rights for blacks. According to an account by his close personal
friend, author Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Saxton "had been almost the only cadet in his time at West Point
who was strong in anti-slavery feeling, and who thus began with antagonisms
which lasted into actual service."[5]
In 1866, Saxton testified before Congress's Joint Committee on Reconstruction, saying "I think if the Negro is put in
possession of all his rights as a citizen and as a man, he will be peaceful,
orderly, and self-sustaining as any other man or class of men, and that he will
rapidly advance." Saxton also spoke in Congress against widespread
confiscation of firearms owned by African-Americans, stating such actions were
"clear and direct violation of their personal rights" as described in
the Second Amendment.[6]
We are currently not accepting orders on-line. If you would like to purchase this item please email medhurstmd@aol.com or give a call 913-851-8462