Black soldiers and public memory
Furness’s service in the USCT and his later addresses open a line of inquiry into how Black soldiers’ wartime contributions were remembered and defended after Reconstruction.
History · Preservation · Documentary editing
The William Eliot
Furness Project
An autobiography, a Civil War record, and a life spanning nineteenth-century America.
William Eliot Furness, 1839–1913 · Edited by James Cantrell
Explore the projectScholarly inquiries88 pagesThe family typescript
3rd & 45thUnited States Colored Troops
1954Typescript prepared by Nancy P. Straus
The manuscript
A family record.
A wider history.
Preserved by the Porter family on Great Spruce Head Island, Maine, William Eliot Furness’s autobiography follows a life from antebellum Philadelphia through Harvard, Civil War service, and a legal career in Chicago.
The 88-page typescript was prepared in 1954 by Nancy P. Straus from Furness’s papers. Its title, An Intimate Report on 74 Years of American Culture, points to the breadth of the material: family life, religion, education, military service, and the changing life of American cities.
The full typescript has been scanned. The work now is to establish a reliable transcription, check its recollections against other records, and prepare an annotated edition for publication.
The memoir is more than a retrospective narrative. It incorporates Furness’s accounts of a militia campaign, the siege of Fort Wagner, and a contemporary report of the 1871 Chicago Fire. Those separate texts are part of the editorial work.
1839–1913
Who was Furness?
A Philadelphia beginning
Born into the Furness family, with its connections to Unitarianism, abolitionism, literature, and architecture.
College and Lincoln’s inauguration
A member of Harvard’s Class of 1860, Furness witnessed Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration and recorded his impressions in the memoir.
The United States Colored Troops
After Pennsylvania militia service, he became an officer in the 3rd and later the 45th United States Colored Troops. His wartime record also includes staff service and work as a judge advocate.
A lawyer, writer, and veterans’ advocate
Furness practiced law in Chicago, participated in the Chicago Literary Club and the Loyal Legion, and publicly defended the military record of Black soldiers.
The Porter family connection
Furness was the grandfather of painter Fairfield Porter and photographer Eliot Porter. He died on Great Spruce Head Island, where his autobiography remained in family custody.
Editorial work in progress
Reading beyond the typescript
The memoir is the starting point. Letters, published papers, and institutional records help test and explain it.
Philadelphia and Chicago
His recollections place military service within a larger life: childhood, family, religion, professional work, and the Chicago Fire.
Supporting documents
Research material includes a 1914 Loyal Legion memorial and a September 1866 letter held in the Eliot Porter Papers at the Amon Carter Museum, together with published Chicago Literary Club records.
A reliable edition
Dates, unit designations, names, and inserted texts require comparison with independent sources. The edition will distinguish Furness’s recollections from the editor’s findings.
This page describes an ongoing preservation and publication project. Research findings will develop as the transcription and source comparisons proceed.
For scholars & publishers
Get in touch.
I am preparing this material for an annotated edition and welcome inquiries from historians, archivists, and acquisitions editors, especially those working on the United States Colored Troops and nineteenth-century American social history.
For information about the prospectus, transcription, or related sources, please contact me.
James Cantrell
Editor, The William Eliot Furness Project
jimcantrell2@gmail.com