A Social History of the American Negro Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including A History and Study of the Republic of Liberia

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.

Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, 1839. He inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to manhood in a strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his father, Morris L. Hallowell--the "House called Beautiful," in the phrase of Oliver Wendell Holmes--was a haven of rest and refreshment for wounded soldiers of the Union Army, and hither also, after the assault upon him in the Senate, Charles Sumner had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one way or another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward N. Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood Penrose Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard class orator in 1861; twenty-five years later he was the marshal of his class; and in 1896 he delivered the Memorial Day address in Sanders Theater. Entering the Union Army with promptness in April, 1861, he served first in the New England Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and within the next year took part in numerous engagements, being wounded at Glendale and even more severely at Antietam. On April 17, 1863, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30 Colonel of the newly organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment of Fort Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his commission, and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. He engaged in business in New York, but after a few years removed to Boston, where he became eminent for his public spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and to the last he preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among the first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. He died April 11, 1914.