"Dear Sir: I hereby transmit to you, to be appropriated to the monument to be erected to the late President Lincoln, the sum of four thousand two hundred and forty-two dollars, the gift from the soldiers and freedmen of this regiment. Allow me to say that I feel proud of my regiment for their liberal contribution in honor of our lamented chief. Please acknowledge receipt.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"JOHN P. COLEMAN,
"Lieutenant-Colonel commanding 6th U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery."
"Amounts as donated by their respective companies: Company A, $515; Company B, $594; Company C, $514; Company D, $464; Company E, $199; Company F, $409; Company G, $284; Company H, $202; Company I, $423; Company K, $231; Company L, $142; Company M, $354. Total, $4,242."
"Headquarters 70th U. S. Colored Infantry,
"Rodney, Miss., May 30th, 1865.
"Brevet Major-General J. W. Davidson, commanding District of Natchez, Miss.:
"General: I have the honor to enclose the sum of two thousand nine hundred and forty-nine dollars and fifty cents as the amount collected, under your suggestion, for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of President Lincoln. Every dollar of this money has been subscribed by the black enlisted men of my regiment, which has only an aggregate of six hundred and eighty-three men. Much more might have been raised, but I cautioned the officers to check the noble generosity of my men rather than stimulate it. Allow me to add that the soldiers expect that the monument is to be built by black people's money exclusively. They feel deeply that the debt of gratitude they owe is large, and any thing they can do to keep his 'memory green' will be done cheerfully and promptly.
"If there is a monument built proportionate to the veneration with which the black people hold his memory, then its summit will be among the clouds—the first to catch the gleam and herald the approach of coming day, even as President Lincoln himself first proclaimed the first gleam as well as glorious light of universal freedom.