The resolution was passed in 1897 to place a tablet in Memorial Hall or other establishments in Boston and signed by Governor Wolcott. He was a member of the early Stearns family, whose ancestor, Isaac Sterne, arrived in Salem on June 12, 1630 from Suffolk County, England, crossing the ocean with Governor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall. For the Spirit of the Universe seems to say: ‘He has done well; is not that saying all?". He left this life on April 9th, 1867. Obituary for George L. Stearns, written by Samuel Johnson. He died in his hotel room in New York City on April 9, 1867. Put new text under old text. Colored Troops.” He assented, was bestowed the rank of major, and was sent to Tennessee. He contributed strongly to recruiting the enlistees of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments and the 5th cavalry. Philadelphia : J.B. Lippincott Co., 1907 (DLC) 07038430 (OCoLC)3816989 Microform version: Stearns, Frank Preston, 1846 … At a critical moment in the great war. The fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth regiments https://exhibits.tufts.edu/spotlight/john-brown-tufts/catalog/9-592, For other people named George Stearns, see. George Luther Stearns american abolitionist sourced from The New England magazine (1891).jpg 1,596 × 1,996; 616 KB George Luther Stearns memorial - Mount Auburn Cemetery - Cambridge, MA - 20180616 102650.jpg 2,852 × 3,816; 5.05 MB Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. George had 7 siblings: Frank Lester Stearns, Jonathan Addison Stearns, Minnie Stearns, Mary Julia Stearns, William Gale Stearns, Edward Augustus Stearns and Charles Thomas Stearns. Together with 20 of his men, he was killed in July 1863 in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. George and Mary continued to visit with each other and developed a relationship that resulted in marriage on October 12, 1843, in Mary’s hometown of Bangor, Maine. His father, Luther, was a … However, in February of 1867, Stearns heard about a new method of manufacturing lead pipe that could end his financial woes. At the dedication of the monument, Booker T. Washington, President of Tuskegee Institute, made an address. George Luther Stearns George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant, as well as a noted recruiter of blacks for … Massachusetts owes Stearns, Frank Preston, 1846-1917. Connecticut Historical Society George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of blacks for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Role Title Holding Repository creatorOf Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. George married Lacy Dings on December 15 1888, at age 26 in Grand Island, Hall, Nebraska. He was born in Medford on January 8, 1809, to Luther Stearns, a doctor, and Mary Hall, a devoted Calvinist. Click here to start a … . In the three months Stearns was in Tennessee, he built several recruitment centers and recruited more than 6,000 troops (six regiments’ worth). The plaque was purchased by lawmakers under Res. He personally owned the 200 Sharps rifles Brown brought to Harper's Ferry. He expended a fortune in public and private benefactions. George Stearns provided Brown with the material support to continue his efforts in Kansas and later funded the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, believing that whether the raid was a success or failure, the end result would be the same: the nation would be drawn into a final decision on slavery. George Luther Stearns He was generous in his support of the free-state cause in Kansas and served as chairman of the Massachusetts State Kansas Aid Committee. It was here at the Evergreens that Stearns became involved in politics, first in local church disputes over antislavery pastors. George Luther Stearns became John Brown's single most important financial backer. 1897, ch. Returning to Boston, Stearns and other activists encouraged Governor Andrew to start forming volunteer companies of black troops. ", In 1897, a monument was erected on Boston Common to commemorate Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts regiment he commanded. The tablet is entitled: "In Memoriam George Luther Stearns" and says, in part:[4]. Welcome to the Civil War wiki Civil War Wiki is a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and accessible encyclopedia and reference for everything related to the Civil War. By Charles E. Heller Topics: Stearns Geo L. George Luther 1809-1867, Abolitionists New England Biography, New Englanders Biography George Luther Stearns George Luther Stearns was an abolitionist. colored troops, He had successful businesses in ship-chandlery and the manufacturing of sheet and pipe lead, but … Stearns died of pneumonia on April 27, 1820, when son George was eleven years old. Bronze plaque memorializing George Luther Stearns, located in the Doric Hall of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The next week, there was a public memorial service held at the Medford Unitarian Church, where Emerson again spoke, declaring of Stearns that, "[There is] hardly a man in this country worth knowing who does not hold his name in honor. Colored Troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Tennessee. Next to the bust of John Brown sits the bust of a man much less recognized but no less noteworthy: George L. Stearns of Medford, Massachusetts. Weep, over him, tears of woman. Stearns founded the Nation, Commonwealth, and Right Way newspapers for the dissemination of his ideas.[1]. He attributed the organization and recruiting of the US Colored Troops to be the work "of John A. Andrew ... and that of George L. Stearns, who, with hidden generosity and a great sweet heart, helped to turn the darkest hour into day, and in doing so freely gave service, fortune and life itself to the cause which this day commemorates." Believing the military would not investigate properly, Stearns encouraged black men to enlist or to volunteer to work on the railroad in order to impress the authorities and the public. George Stearns was a “a man who wanted absolutely nothing for himself,” Parsons remembered. After Harpers Ferry, the Stearnses attempted to reclaim the bodies of John Anthony Copeland Jr. and Shields Green, two black men who had participated in the Harpers Ferry raid and were subsequently executed, so that they could be buried in their native Pennsylvania. When linseed oil sales slumped, he had enough capital to move onto lead pipe manufacturing in Boston, an industry that he remained involved with until the end of his life. [citation needed] He also established schools for their children and found work for their families while the men served in the army. [Emancipation is the] shortest, cheapest, and least bloody path to permanent peace, and the only method of maintaining the integrity of the nation.” It was as a member of that league that Stearns met President Abraham Lincoln. He continued running his lucrative lead manufacturing business. He rose from a clerk to a linseed oil manufacturer for the shipbuilders of his native Medford, Massachusetts. His paternal immigrant ancestor, Isaac Sterne, arrived in Salem on June 12, 1630, from Suffolk, England. Stearns began taking a more active role by aiding fugitive slaves at his home and office; funding the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, which sent Free State settlers to Kansas to ensure that it would vote to become a free state; and in 1856 he became chairman of the Massachusetts State Committee, which provided material aid to Free State settlers being threatened by proslavery forces. George Stearns wrote, “Let not the world say we honored the white but forgot the colored brethren.” Unfortunately, the attempt failed, as the bodies were taken to Winchester Medical College to be used as teaching cadavers and were unable to be retrieved. He saved Kansas to freedom. George Luther Stearns was a merchant. The "Secret Six", a group of abolitionists that offered financial support to John Brown and the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, Virginia were: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Samuel Gridley Howe, Theodore Parker, Franklin Benjamin Farewell.” The Stearnses heeded Brown’s wishes, instead providing for the schooling of Brown’s two youngest daughters in Concord, Massachusetts, at the school of Franklin Sanborn. [3]. They met through acquaintances, including her father Warren Preston, a probate judge in Norridgewock, Maine; and Lydia Maria Child, an American abolitionist and women's rights activist. The Iron: George L. Stearns George Luther Stearns had been familiar with hard work all this life. After the Civil War, he became involved in efforts to aid freed slaves. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew asked Stearns to recruit the first two Northern state-sponsored black infantry regiments. . This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the George Luther Stearns article. . To his unresting devotion and unfailing hope His father's death forced him to enter the business world at an early age. He was born in Medford on January 8, 1809, to Luther Stearns, a doctor, and Mary Hall, a devoted Calvinist. 707-708. In it were the following instructions: “I have asked to be spared from having any mock; or hypocritical prayers made over me, when I am publicly murdered: & that my only religious attendants be poor little, dirty, ragged, bare headed & barefooted, Slave Boys; & Girls; Led by some old greyheaded, Slave Mother. Popularity: Peter N. Stearns Peter N. Stearns is a historian. Later he also enlisted black soldiers for the U.S. Stearns was a member of the “secret six”, the group of abolitionists who funded and supported John Brown’s bloody raid on Harper’s Ferry. What became known as the American Stearns family (note spelling variation) grew, with branches moving northward and westward. He is credited with recruiting more than 13,000 African Americans. To his unresting devotion and unfailing hope, Massachusetts owes the Fifty-fourth and Fifth-fifth Regiments of colored infantry, and the federal government ten thousand troops, at a critical moment in the great war. But “retirement from public life” wasn’t the end of Stearns’s advocacy. Then in 1866, Stearns experienced a change in fortune. of colored infantry, Despite his situation, he couldn’t refuse when the following year his friend Samuel Gridley Howe asked him to aid in fundraising for the Cretans who were rebelling against the Turks. Tributes to George L. Stearns are few today, but they include two plaques, a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, and a monument at his gravestone. However, Stearns grew increasingly alarmed as the antislavery cause was threatened by the Fugitive Slave Act (1850), the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), and the caning of Sumner for his antislavery speech (1856). Mary Stearns also provided material support by fundraising for the cause among the women of Medford. George Luther Stearns (1809–1867), a wealthy Medford merchant, was an ardent abolitionist who provided financial support to a variety of causes to end slavery. Learn more about the Evergreens and how it fits into Tufts University in the part of the exhibit titled The Stearns Estate. His father died when he 11 years old, so from an early age he developed a strong work ethic to provide for his family. 72. His first paid job was as a teenager as a clerk in Brattleboro, Vermont after which he worked at a ship chandlery (supply company) on Boston’s India Wharf. Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the eulogy at his funeral at the First Parish Church in Medford (Unitarian). From a financial standpoint, he and his wife Mary also proved to be two of John Brown's most important benefactors between 1857 and 1859. He also found that some potential recruits were afraid to enlist because they were worried about supporting their families, so he worked to provide for the families of black refugees displaced by the war and to arrange jobs for soldiers’ wives. George L. Stearns Grave Monument, Mount Auburn Cemetery, The Magnet and the Iron: John Brown and George L. Stearns - Online Exhibits, George L. Stearns: Businessman and Abolitionist. Stearns nearly lost his leg, but through the help of Amasa Walker, a renowned doctor, his leg was saved. "Exercises at the Dedication of the Monument to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry," May 31, 1897, Boston: Boston City Council, 1897. George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant in Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American An unexampled honor, in his time he sheltered the exiled Hungarians together with John Brown. After getting his practice started, Luther married Mary Hall of Brattleboro, Vermont, on December 29, 1799; she was 16 years old, not an uncommon marrying age for women. In advance of fate : a biography of George Luther Stearns 1809-1867. Died April 9, 1867.”, A well-to-do businessman whose wealth came from his dedication to his businesses, Stearns donated liberally to many causes of the day. He personally owned the 200 Sharps rifles Brown brought to Harper's Ferry. Farewell. However, Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked at his funeral that “unlike other benefactors, he did not give money to excuse his entire preoccupation in his own pursuits, but as an earnest of the dedication of his heart and hand to the interests of the sufferers.... For himself or his friends he asked no reward; for himself, he asked only to do the hard work.”. Stearns married Mary Train of Medford in 1836, but she died just four years later. Isaac Sterne moved to Watertown, located along the Charles River, where he died in 1671. Stearns' father, Luther Stearns, was born on February 17, 1770, the eldest of five children born to Captain Josiah Stearns, a soldier in the American Revolutionary War. Stearns had owned the pikes and 200 Sharps rifles taken to Harpers Ferry by Brown and his followers. It read, in part:[2], "No duty could overtask him; Read John Greenleaf Whittier poem:He has done the work of a true man,-- Crown him, honor him, love him. The Stearnses also attempted to arrange for John Brown’s burial at the elegant Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until they received a handwritten letter that Brown had written to Mary Stearns before his death. The overthrow of slavery and the Citizenship He might have had even more success had not his earnest disposition and diligence clashed with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, whom he considered haughty and ineffective. Because of that, Massachusetts was the first state to respond to Abraham Lincoln’s April 1861 call for militias to quell the Southern rebellion. Following Brown's arrest, Stearns briefly fled to Canada but returned to Medford to face inquiry following Brown's execution. Almost alone in 1863 he organized the colored regiments, which turned the scale in favor of the Union cause. Click here to go to the next page: The Stearns Estate, The Magnet and the Iron: John Brown and George L. Stearns, Bust of George L. Stearns (Morse), After Restoration, Image courtesy Tufts University Permanent Collection, Courtesy of the Medford Historical Society & Museum, Image courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives, John Brown/Boyd B. Stutler Collection, Courtesy of Medford Historical Society & Museum, Image courtesy of the Tufts University Permanent Collection, Letter from John Brown to Mary E. Stearns, 1859 November 29, John Brown's Hair, Given to Mary E. Stearns, Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier memorializing the life of George Luther Stearns after his death. Stearns’s recruiting was so successful that an additional regiment was raised, the 55th Massachusetts. It reads: "In Memoriam: George George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant, as well as a noted recruiter of blacks for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Luther Stearns had entered Dartmouth College at age seventeen but transferred, graduating from Harvard in 1791. (Note: The pages have been combined into a single image.). He bought two abandoned cotton plantations near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to provide jobs for black women and children while their soldiers were away. George Luther Stearns had been familiar with hard work all this life. George Luther Stearns: A self-made businessman, Stearns was a manufacturer and was able to financially support various causes, including the abolitionist cause. For decades men typically worked as farmers, teachers, and clergymen. . Learn how and when to remove this template message, Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, Portrait of an Abolitionist: A Biography of George Luther Stearns, 1809-1867, Senate Select Committee Report on the Harper's Ferry Invasion (June 15, 1860), List of Union Civil War monuments and memorials, List of memorials to the Grand Army of the Republic, Confederate artworks in the United States Capitol, List of Confederate monuments and memorials, Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. George L. Stearns was the son of Dr. Luther & Mary (Hall) Stearns. A … While recuperating from this injury, he was introduced to Mary Elizabeth Preston, whose mother was sister of the famous Medford resident and feminist Lydia Maria (Preston) Child. The English-language Civil War Wiki started in June 2009, and currently consists of 5,833 articles. George Luther Stearns was an American industrialist and merchant, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American Civil War. "In Memoriam: George Luther Stearns. Published in The Radical, June 1867, pp. At the age of 15, he entered the workforce to support his mother and sisters. He financed several antislavery publications in the North, including The Right Way. His hands the work had done. He identified with the antislavery cause, and became a Free-soiler in 1848. George L. Stearns was born in Medford, Massachusetts on January 8, 1809, the eldest son and second child of Luther and Mary Hall Stearns. The nobility and generosity of Primarily through Stearns’s efforts, the first black regiment in the North, what he called a “true John Brown Corps,” was raised: the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. George Luther Stearns(January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchantin Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionistand a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Armyduring the American Civil War. George was born on January 8th, 1809 in Medford, Massachusetts. He married Mary Elizabeth Preston on October 12, 1843. George Luther Stearns STEARNS, George Luther, merchant, born in Medford, Massachusetts, 8 January, 1809; died in New York, 9 April, 1867. Emerson remembered him as a “man for up-hill work.” As a young adult, he and his brother began a profitable linseed oil manufactory in Medford. He also established the Medford station of the Underground Railroad to help escaped refugee slaves to gain freedom (some continued to Canada, which had abolished slavery). During the Civil War, Stearns served as a recruiter for black troops along with Douglass. He was in New York testing the pipe in April when he fell ill with pneumonia. Preservation of free institutions Published in the Atlantic Montly, June 1867, pp. Born January 8, 1809, George Luther Stearns was from an old New England family. Writer John Greenleaf Whittier published a poem in honor of Stearns in the May 1867 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, entitled "G.L.S." The senior Stearns later opened a private preparatory school for boys in Medford; many students came from the American South and the West Indies. George Luther Stearns became John Brown's single most important financial backer. After seeing his success, in the spring of 1863 the federal government offered Stearns the position of “Recruiting Commissioner for the U.S. A merchant of Boston who illustrated in his life and character the nobility and generosity of citizenship. Finding John Brown: The Partnership, a video by Tufts University on Vimeo. He worked as a tutor at Harvard and eventually studied medicine. Learn more about Stearns's involvement with John Brown in the part of the exhibit titled John Brown and the Secret Six. This work has been selected by schol... Spring is Mother Nature’s way of saying, “Oof–let’s try this He later became an obstetrician. 611-621. Stearns died of pneumonia in New York City, New York on April 9, 1867. After the Civil War ended, he encouraged antislavery societies not to disband so that they could work towards equal rights and treatment of black citizens. The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns book. Andrew acquiesced and gave Stearns the task of recruiting black soldiers. Stearns, Geo. Mary Stearns would hear nothing of it, so instead his son Harry left his courses at Harvard and came home to help his family. “John Brown’s Money Man: George Luther Stearns, Abolitionist” - Dr. Charles E. Heller, author and historian. They had three children together: Elizabeth Hall, George Luther, and Henry Laurens Stearns (named after the American Ambassador of that name, a distant relative). His wife was called for, but the treatments of the homeopath she brought with her failed to cure him. Or ever our lips could ask him; They settled in Medford, Massachusetts to be closer to her relatives. Before voting in the Missouri and Kansas territories about the future of slavery in each jurisdiction, Stearns was one of the chief financiers of the Emigrant Aid Company. In Samuel Johnson’s eulogy of him, it reads, “This most affectionate of friends, yielding like a child to every gentle persuasion, trusting with a self-abandonment that was often deceived in its objects, would yet turn to iron at the sight of injustice; and you could force adamant as easily as you could move the purpose his conscience shaped to meet it, or stay his step to the instant rectification, at whatever sacrifice.” His willingness to expend all his energy in his endeavors led to occasional illness from overexertion. George Luther Stearns, tireless abolitionist and a former member of the "Secret Six" who supported and financed John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, died of pneumonia at his home in New York City on this day. In January 1964, he resigned from his post and returned to his family in Medford. His friends and neighbors appealed to him to run for Congress, but he declined. George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant in Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American Civil War. It supported the settlement of Kansas by antislavery homesteaders. He commanded a company of 50 men from Lunenburg, Massachusetts. No need his will outrun; L. (George Luther), 1809-1867, Slavery -- United States Anti-slavery movements, United States -- Politics and government 1849-1877 Publisher Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott Company Collection cdl; msn In particular, he actively supported Charles Sumner, his friend and an up-and-coming lawyer and abolitionist who argued against segregation in the Roberts v. Boston court case of 1850. After a prosperous career, he began the manufacture of sheet and pipe-lead, doing business in Boston and residing in Medford. His strategies helped turn white public opinion in favor of black troops. A merchant of Boston Still other famous names were of his acquaintance, including Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. Of him Whittier wrote: ‘No duty could overtax him; no need his will outrun; Or ever our lips could ask him; His hands the work had done. In the darkest hour of the republic Later in his life, Reverend Samuel Johnson said of him, “The church, as an institution, did not interest him; he knew well enough that a true man carries prophet and covenant with him, and makes his communion where he goes.” He had always supported abolition, but it wasn’t until he attended the 1848 political convention in Worcester that resulted in the formation of the Free Soil Party that he became more actively involved. But as he served and saved the state. He had sailed to the new colony with John Winthrop, a future governor, and Sir Richard Saltonstall, among others. Susannah Rowson, famous as the author of Charlotte Temple, Lucy Temple, and Sarah, moved her large school to Medford in 1800, and Ideal in Literature, and in 1897 Modern English Prose Writers. Stearns immediately went to work creating recruiting centers, influencing public opinion to accept black soldiers, and getting to know the local black community. ", "A man who asked not to be great; In early life, Stearns was engaged in the business of ship-chandlery. Giving his life and fortune for the overthrow of slavery and the preservation of free institutions. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Luther_Stearns&oldid=1007143316, People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2019, Articles needing additional references from February 2016, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from Appleton's Cyclopedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from Appletons' Cyclopedia with no article parameter, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 February 2021, at 17:49. George L. Stearns Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. At first, Stearns’s political involvement strictly involved providing monetary donations to the individuals and groups he supported. With Civil War looming on the horizon, Stearns encouraged Governor Andrew to start preparing the military for war. Among his many admirers and friends were Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Sumner, Frederick Douglass, and President Andrew Johnson. George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867) was an American industrialist and merchant in Medford, Massachusetts, as well as an abolitionist and a noted recruiter of black soldiers for the Union Army during the American Civil War. The two traveled to New York and had plans to travel directly to Crete in the spring. The funeral was presided over by Reverend Samuel Longfellow (brother of the better-known Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Theophilus Parsons both offered eulogies. It was said that Stearns never fully recovered from her loss and never spoke of it to anyone, instead pouring himself into his work. In 1861, Stearns helped found a new antislavery organization, the Boston Emancipation League, which lobbied for total emancipation and produced the Emancipation League Declaration, signed by more than 100 influential people and advocating for “EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES as a measure of justice, and as a military necessity. After Harpers Ferry, George Stearns continued to solicit aid for Kansas, traveling there to see the situation for himself and attending the Republican Convention in Chicago. . Stearns’s body was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, where a monument to his memory reads: George Luther Stearns: The virtues of this rare man were celebrated at this death by the eloquence of Emerson, and in the poetry of Whittier. His personality was sober but optimistic, sometimes appearing naïve in the ways of the world, but he was dedicated to the cause; whatever he did, he poured his entire soul into it. Following this commemoration, Joseph H. Smith, a veteran of the 54th, started a movement to have a commemorative tablet placed in the Statehouse at Boston, to honor Major Stearns' services. New England's intellectual elites celebrated Emancipation at a party at the estate of Mary Preston & George Luther Stearns of Medford, Massachusetts and Bronson was important enough to be invited (perhaps Abba accompanied He also helped to found the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal organization designed to support emancipated African Americans (freedmen) in the South after the end of the war. Giving his life and fortune for In 1842, as he was riding home from Boston, his horse stumbled and in the fall landed upon its rider, severely injuring him. His humility in life promised him obscurity in death, but in truth Stearns had his hands in many of the important political and social issues of his time and could name as friend many who are still remembered today: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Sumner, Louisa May Alcott, John Brown, Lydia Maria Child, Thomas Starr King, Julia Ward Howe, John A. Andrew, and more. Stearns was commissioned as major through the recommendation of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. To earn money, young George sometimes tended the locks on the Middlesex Canal in town. Contents 1 … He was subject to pneumonia, so his doctor instructed him to grow his beard long to keep his chest warm, which gave him an eccentric appearance. And the federal government ten thousand Letter, 1863 December 20, Concord, New Hampshire, to George L. Stearns. He was honored in 1811 by an honorary degree from Harvard. In response to illiteracy among freed slaves, Stearns instigated schooling for new trainees. 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For the U.S. Army sons: Harry, Frank, and Carl that could his. George ’ s political involvement strictly involved providing monetary donations to the George Luther Stearns, abolitionist -! On January 8th, 1809 in Medford just four years later inquiry following Brown 's arrest Stearns... The men served in the manufacturing community of Tuskegee Institute, made an address with more. Killed in July 1863 in the darkest hour of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments and the Secret Six and... Regiments, which turned the scale in favor of black troops the.. Regiment was raised, the lead pipe that could end his financial woes companies. 4 ] held at the first Parish Church in Medford, Massachusetts Harvard in 1791 owned. In February of 1867, Stearns worked tirelessly for the U.S providing george luther stearns donations the... State Committee that Stearns was a “ a man who asked not to be great ; but as he and... Confident he could be more effective as a private citizen than as a lackey. Fell ill with pneumonia York and had plans to travel directly to Crete in the.. And residing in Medford 9, 1867 pneumonia in New York and had plans to travel directly to Crete the. 15 1888, at age seventeen george luther stearns transferred, graduating from Harvard black soldiers, including the Right newspapers... From public life ” wasn ’ t the end of Stearns ’ s body back to to... Military for War 1836, but a Second resolution was passed in 1901 by the State... The republic his faith in the part of the republic his faith in the Hall! Forcefully pressed into duty as laborers for the shipbuilders of his ideas. [ ]... 1867, Stearns encouraged Governor Andrew to start forming volunteer companies of black troops Mary Stearns also material! The exhibit titled the Stearns Estate the time, but he declined moved Watertown... The republic his faith in the spring of 1863 the federal government Stearns... George married Lacy Dings on December 15 1888, at age seventeen george luther stearns,. 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Cause among the women of Medford? `` but transferred, graduating from Harvard other named...