Lincoln-Era State Department Report on Black Troops, Yellow Fever, and French Imperial Strategy in Mexico, 1863

Abraham Lincoln

Pamphlets

[Lincoln, Abraham]. [African Troops] Scarce U.S. Senate executive document transmitting a message from Abraham Lincoln and accompanying State Department correspondence concerning the French deployment of Black troops to Mexico during the American Civil War. Issued by the 37th Congress (3rd Session) in February 1863, the report reflects the convergence of emancipation-era policy, racialized military labor, and international imperial strategy.

U.S. Senate Executive Document No. 40, 37th Congress, 3rd Session; February 1863. Original printed pamphlet in standard folio format.Prepared under the direction of William H. Seward, the document compiles diplomatic intelligence indicating that France transported African troops from Egypt—specifically from regions identified as “Dalfour” and Nubia—to reinforce forces stationed at Veracruz during the French Intervention in Mexico. The stated rationale, as recorded in the report, was that “the black race is not subject to the yellow fever,” revealing the period’s racialized medical assumptions and their direct application in imperial military logistics.

Produced in the immediate aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation, this document is especially significant for situating Black military labor within a global context. While the Union was actively recruiting African American soldiers, U.S. officials were simultaneously monitoring European powers deploying African troops across colonial networks. The report thus provides rare contemporary evidence of how race, disease theory, and military necessity intersected in both American and European wartime policy. This document holds strong research value across multiple fields: African American military history, Civil War diplomacy, transnational slavery and emancipation, colonial medicine, and 19th-century imperial warfare. It is particularly notable for documenting the perceived biological resilience of Black soldiers as a strategic asset—an idea central to both colonial and military history. AS per OCLC Scarce in institutional holdings, with only a small number of recorded copies (including Wyoming, North Texas, Michigan, and Faulkner University). OCLC data should be understood as approximate and subject to revision. Condition: Light dampstaining to the lower right blank corner; otherwise in very good condition and clean, legible text.

Item #17568

Price: $885.00