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| Charlotte Scott From the Library of Congress |
The Marietta Register, April 20, 1865:
A Noble Offering By a Grateful Heart
Charlotte Scott, a colored woman living at Dr. Rucker's on Putnam Street, Marietta, wishes to show, in a substantial manner, her profound regard and high veneration for Hon. Abraham Lincoln, especially in his proclamation of freedom to the slaves. She has handed me five dollars to be applied towards rearing a monument in memory of the greatest man, in her estimation, that ever lived on earth. This noble thought, so far as I know, originated with herself. She thinks many colored persons would love to contribute for this purpose, in this region. She wishes me to act as their agent and receive their contributions and hand over the same to such agents as the government may hereafter appoint to rear said monument. I consent, and will keep a faithful record of all such contributions.
C. D. Battelle
[This $5 is to be the foundation of a fund to be applied toward the erection of the Monument to Abraham Lincoln, for which Rev. Mr. Battelle - a suitable person for the purpose - will receive further contributions, depositing the same in bank as received, until the time for its applications shall arrive. - Ed. Reg.]
The Marietta Register, July 17, 1873:
From the St. Louis Democrat.
The Freedmen's Monument to Lincoln.
Just after President Lincoln's death it was announced that a woman named Charlotte Scott, in Marietta, Ohio, had sent $5, "her first earnings in freedom," to Mr. Yeatman, President of the Western Sanitary Commission, to build a monument in memory of the Great Emancipator. The publication of this fact led to an enthusiastic response from several colored regiments in Tennessee, and other Western-Southern States, and there was at one time a good prospect that $100,000 would be raised.
But the amount reached was only about $16,000, which was reduced by cost of collection and by several unsuccessful efforts to obtain a suitable design. But by increase of interest received the fund now in the hands of the Sanitary Commission is about $21,000, and we are gratified to announce that an order has been sent to Thomas Ball in Florence for a group to be executed in bronze, colossal size, which will, as we believe, give universal satisfaction. It has already been executed in marble, reduced size (four feet high), and has been seen by all visitors to Ball's studio during the last five years; for it was done by the artist immediately after the President's assassination, with the hope that it would be some day wanted to tell the emancipation story. One of the members of the Sanitary Commission, being in Florence two years ago, requesting Mr. Ball to keep it for the present use, and the fund having now reached the requisite amount, and photographs of the group having been received and approved, the design has been accepted and the order sent forward.
It is expected to be finished, including a white marble pedestal, 12 feet high, and delivered in Washington City in about two years, to be unveiled and dedicated perhaps on the anniversary of Mr. Lincoln's death, in 1876.
The Marietta Register, May 18, 1876:
Charlotte Scott and the Lincoln Statue
To the Editor of the Cincinnati Gazette:
The first contribution to the Lincoln Statue Fund was made by Charlotte Scott, who was born the slave of Capt. William Scott, an officer of the Revolutionary War, who resided on his plantation, near Judith Dam, four miles above Lynchburg, Virginia. Upon a division of Capt. Scott's estate after his death, among his children, Charlotte fell by allotment to his son, Thomas H. Scott, who also received the old homestead. On this plantation Charlotte Scott was born and raised, and there lived until the marriage of Mr. Scott's daughter, Margaret Ann, with Dr. William S. Rucker, in 1852, when she, among other slaves, was given to Mrs. Rucker by her father.
Dr. Rucker and his wife being strong Unionists, left their residence at Covington, Virginia, to escape rebel persecution; and Charlotte, in the face of great opposition from certain persons, was finally, mainly through the exertions of Col. Joel McPhearson of Lewisburg, West Virginia, permitted to accompany her mistress. Being once through the military lines, Mrs. Rucker took up residence in Marietta, Ohio, Charlotte remaining a member of the family.
The assassination of Mr. Lincoln was announced while the family were at breakfast. All were sad and silent. Charlotte was the first to speak: "Well! Well! The best friend the colored folks ever had is dead! The colored folks ought to raise a monument to his memory! I will give $5 freely! The Lord knows I will!" And she immediately deposited the $5 in the hands of a gentleman for the purpose. After the Rebellion, she went back to the old homestead in Virginia and now resides on a small portion of it, to which she has a fee simple title.
The Marietta Tri-Weekly Register, January 29, 1891:
Charlotte Scott, a Marietta Woman, Dead
The Colored Woman Whose Name Appears on the Lincoln Statue Passes Away.
At 736 10th Street northwest in a frame tenement house of not very pretentious appearance lives a colored family, the members of which, representing three generations, are today mourning the death of Mrs. Charlotte Scott, a colored woman whose name at one time was doubtless upon the lips of every man and woman in the United States and is now read by the thousands who annually visit the Lincoln statue at Lincoln Park.
Inscribed upon one of the bronze tablets resting upon the base is the following:
Freedom's Memorial
In grateful memory of
Abraham Lincoln.
This monument was erected
By the Western Sanitary Commission
Of St. Louis, Mo.,
With funds contributed solely by
Emancipated citizens of the United States
Declared free by his proclamation
January 1, A.D. 1863.
The first contribution of five dollars was made
by Charlotte Scott, a freed woman of
Virginia, being her first earnings
in Freedom and consecrated
By her suggestion and request
On the day she heard of President Lincoln's
death to build a monument to his memory.
The woman whose name is thus honored died Saturday night, the 24th instant, at her home, Reusens, a little railroad station about four miles from Lynchburg, in the one hundred and ninth year of her age. As stated in the inscription, she was the first to contribute to the erection of a monument to Abraham Lincoln and at that time lived in Marietta, Ohio. It is said that when she heard of the assassination of the President she exclaimed: "Lord have mercy - Mr. Lincoln is killed! He ought to have a monument and I am going to give the last cent I have for it," and immediately contributed the sum of $5. The St. Louis Commission, as it is known, was soon afterward formed and, taking this $5 as a nucleus, collected the fund for the erection of the famous emancipation group that now adorns Lincoln Park.
THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE
took place April 14, 1876, and in order to honor the name and person who had made the first contribution, Mrs. Scott, through the instrumentality of Prof. J. M. Langston, who by authority of Congress was chairman of the committee, and Frederick Douglass, who was orator of the day, was brought on and given a prominent place in the procession and exercises. Her picture was taken and many thousands of them sold, from which a large revenue was derived and which was devoted to paying for the monument. While here she was the recipient of many attentions and met all the leading promoers of the scheme and many of the prominent men of the day.
A SKETCH OF HER LIFE
Charlotte Scott was born a slave on what is still known as the Scott plantation, near Lynchberg, and took and retained the name of her owners. Some years before the war she went to Marietta, Ohio, as the maid of Mrs. Dr. Rucker, nee Margaret Scott, and there she was set free some two years prior to the emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln, January 1, 1863. Notwithstanding her freedom she returned to her old friends on the farm of her nativity shortly after the cessation of hostilities, and from the old folks readily obtained four acres of land, upon which she built a modest but comfortable home in order, as she said, to be near "her children," as she called the members of the Scott family to the day of her death. Her confidence in her "old folks" never flagged and it was not misplaced.
In this city lives her daughter, Mrs. China Brice; her granddaughter, Mrs. Alice Anderson Lewis, and her great-granddaughter, Mary Anderson, all at 736 10th street northwest. Mrs. Brice left last evening for Lynchberg, thence to Reusens to attend the funeral and burial ceremonies, which will take place tomorrow or Wednesday.
Mrs. Scott has twelve children, six sons, all of whom are dead, and six daughters, some of whom are well known among their race. Besides Mrs. China Brice of this city, there are Mrs. Celia Scott of Philadelphia, Mrs. Emma Turner of Baltimore, Mrs. Maria Williams of Lynchburg, Mrs. Mary Cole, who lives with her mother and Mrs. Rachel Scott, who lives in the same neighborhood. (Washington, D.C. Star)
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