Lieutenant Colonel Henry Northey Hooper, Jr., 32nd Massachusetts Infantry and 54th USCT, Manuscript Archive, Ca 1862-1912 

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• Lot Description
  Lieutenant Colonel Henry Northey Hooper, Jr., 32nd Massachusetts Infantry and 54th USCT, Manuscript Archive, Ca 1862-1912 
  
  Lot of over 113 items related to Henry Northey Hooper, Jr., 32^nd MA Inf. Co. E and 54^th USCT Field and Staff, and his family. 
  
  Includes: 1862 passports to Uruguay and Buenos Aries; 3 commission papers for the 32^nd MA and the 54^th USCT; two special orders ca 1863; 1865 discharge papers; letter of sale for 400 lots in Colorado, 1867; commission papers for brig. general of the Colorado Militia; handwritten account from Henry Jr. ca 1873; 3 miscellaneous business papers; 2 letters from friends and family about his impending death; hand carved wooden knife made from the wood used in his son’s casket; sixth plate daguerreotype of Henry N. Hooper, Jr.; Knights Templar medallion inscribed Raper/ Com. No. 1/ Indplis/ 1865; stock certificate for Boston Beltin Corporation, 1917; 11 family photographs of his children and his wife’s family, the Kents, several photographed by Miss Selby’s in New York; a World War I French wool cap, from the 45^th regiment; 54 documents from Lodge No. 5 in Colorado and other regions, 1866; 7 documents concerning his cousin, William Simpkins, Capt. of the 54th USCT, KIA; and a History of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 1863-1865 by Luis Emilio, 1894, with an ALS from the author to Colonel Hooper inside the front page. 
  
  On a sleepy plain in Uruguay in 1862, the son of a millionaire slept with sheep and worked for almost nothing. Henry Northey Hooper, Jr., the son of successful Boston merchant, Henry Northey Sr., was a voyager and wanderer. In the 1850s he returned home from a trip to Calcutta, India, and in 1862 he traveled to England, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay. I had no desire for wealth my habits were simple and I had no thought of marriage, explained Henry (1874 personal account).  Distressing news disrupted his quiet life of herding, When the [United States Civil] war broke out and there seemed to be something worth living or dying for, wrote Henry, And when I read the published account of my brother’s death on the banks of the Potomac at Ball’s Bluff I made up my mind that there was but one thing to do—to go and take his place (1874 personal account). He quickly sailed to Massachusetts and rushed to the enlistment office and found it closed. I then went to Governor Andrew as to him who best knew how I could get the right to carry a musket, he explained. [He] advised the study of Tactic and Army Regulations and to make myself ready for a commission. I declined to be a candidate for a commission, preferring to begin as a private (personal account). Henry tried earnestly to enlist as a private but his willingness to serve outweighed his pride. The governor did not respect Henry’s wishes, and he signed a commission making Henry a 2^nd lieutenant in the 32^nd MA Inf. Co. E on May 26, 1862.  He accepted it and went to war.
  
  Henry’s regiment, the 32^nd MA Inf., fought near many important incursions such as the second battle of Bull Run and Antietam, but did not engage.  He was taken prisoner at Harrison’s Landing, but quickly escaped. On a cold day in December, he and his men participated in the assaults on Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg. Out of the 35 officers and men, six were either killed or mortally wounded. The 32^nd fought on the outskirts of Chancellorsville, but were heavily engaged while supporting the 3^rd Corps in the Devil’s Den region at Gettysburg. Their efforts came at a cost. Out of 227 men taken into action, they lost 81, 22 were killed or mortally wounded. According to family lore, Henry owed his life to his boots that he tied to his belt during the battle. An enemy ball shot the pair into the mud, deflecting a fatal blow to his stomach (Ross, History of Long Island, p. 322).
  
  After serving with the 32^nd for a little more than a year, Henry’s father received a letter from Governor Andrew asking him if either of his sons would be willing to be an officer in the colored troops. I had seen negro regiments and knew if they were well officered they made first class soldiers, wrote Henry. He agreed to serve if the regiment was well staffed. He accepted the promotion to major on July 18, 1863 of the 54^th US Colored Inf. and received a commission as lieutenant colonel on August 24, 1863, after his leadership on the field during a battle at Fort Wagner. His cousin, William Simpkins, joined him in the ranks of the 54th. 
  
  William was a 22-year old clerk before he enlisted in the army on the same day as Henry, on May 26, 1862. He mustered in as a private, his cousins' desired position, in the 4th MA Battn. Inf. Co. B. He mustered out of the regiment on May 31, 1862 in Boston. He reenlisted as a corpl. of the 44th MA Inf. Co. F and served there until his superiors discharged him for a promotion as capt. of the 54th USCT Co. K, serving alongside his cousin, Henry. There was a grace, a style with which he went into battle that showed one the poetic side of meeting personal danger, wrote Henry to William's mother, there was magnetic and irresistible influence enmating(?) from him on such occasions. (extract from a letter from Lieutenant Colonel Hooper, no date). He fought with the regiment from May 13, 1863 until he tragically died at the disastrous battle at Fort Wagner that July. 
  
  Henry continued to fight without his cousin, and on May 23, 1864, he received orders from Colonel William Gurney, If the enemy opens fire in Secessionville, you will open fire upon them with solid shot only, wrote Gurney (Morris Island, SC).  He became very attached to his men and even declined four commissions as colonel from New York Governor Andrew including command of the 5^th MA Cav. I was afraid to leave the 54^th in the hands of any other, he explained.  He was discharged from service on July 11, 1865.
  
  During his service with the 54^th, Henry married Laura A. Kent (a descendant of Massachusetts Governor William Bradford and Governor Hill) in Quincy, MA on August 8, 1863. Within the first year of marriage they had a daughter, Eleanor Bradford. After the war, he moved he and his young family to New Mexico, where he worked as the manager of the Maxwell ranch. The ranch was one of the largest in the west. He, with Henry Maxwell, also undertook financing a railroad that reached from San Diego, CA to Galveston, TX. After becoming interested in mining and ranching on his own, he purchased 400 lots in Colorado and moved further West. While in Colorado, army asked him to serve again, as a brigadier general of the Militia of Colorado territory to fight off American Indians. He accepted the position, but served for only a short time. He moved his family back to New Mexico, and the next spring the Indians came to his land in Colorado. Near the house in which I had lived men and children were shot, killed and scalped—among them the herder of the sheep I had left, said Henry.
  
  Seeking better educational opportunities for his seven children, Henry decided to move his family from New Mexico back East to Boston and Brooklyn. He entered the chemical fertilizer business and established the Ward Fertilizer Co. After that, he became the president of the Reliable Steam and Power Company. He served in that position for 21 years. His son, William Bradford, followed his family’s example and served in the Spanish American War with the Naval Reserves on the prairie. His other children went on to marry happily and pursue careers in engineering, architecture, and building. Failing health forced Henry to move to California. Unfortunately, in 1902, he died of Bright’s disease. 
  
  Provenance: Descended Directly in the Family of Henry Northey Hooper, Jr.

  Condition

  Most items are in very good condition with some toning of the paper, typical folds, and some brittle folds.
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