[Scrapbook of Poems by a Union Army Captain of the United States Colored Troops]

Iowa; Missouri; Wichita, Kansas, 1910. Very good. 12” x 9¾”. Commercial scrapbook, yellow cloth over boards, embossed in blind. Pp. 84 with 46 poems (39 typed, 1 handwritten, 6 clipped from publications), 4 pp. compiler notes, military document and 11 other clippings adhesive mounted and laid in. Very good: joints cracked, covers lightly soiled; pages and contents age-toned with some chips at edges and offsetting.

This is a homemade scrapbook of poems by S.A. Cooper, a medical doctor and captain of African American troops during the Civil War, compiled in tribute by his son, Astley Cooper of Wichita, Kansas.

Per his obituary (one of the clippings laid into this book), Dr. Samuel A. Cooper was born in Philadelphia in 1933, raised in Indiana and graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati in 1858. He enlisted with the 5th Iowa Infantry at the start of the Civil War, was promoted to Captain of the 50th United States Colored Infantry in 1863 and served “the entire period, including the battle of New Orleans, two months after Lee's surrender.” After being mustered out Cooper moved to Warren County, Iowa, where he practiced medicine and ran the general store and post office. In 1879 he was one of the early settlers of the town of Milo, and opened a drugstore there as well. He and his family moved to Des Moines in 1892, citing his failing health. Cooper died at the age of 68 in 1901, “a man that was liked and respected by all . . . well read in his profession and built up an immense practice.”

A handwritten note by Astley Cooper laid into this book explained that he compiled his father's poems, some of which “were written before the evil war . . . some during the idle hours of camp life and others during his private and professional career.” The poems are typically quite long and complex, covering themes of war, democracy, science and spirituality, and many have notes by the author explaining his inspiration or reason for writing. While most of the poems in the book appear unpublished, and are typed (a few with handwritten amendments), several were clipped from local newspapers and other publications. “S.A. Cooper's Farewell” (vowing to adhere to the “honor to sustain, or die / on fields bedewed with gore”) noted that it was “Written for the Journal,” a work on “Memorial Day 1889” was “Written for the Milo Motor” and a scathing 1862 rebuke of the Dubuque Herald was intended “For the Dubuque Times.” The typed “To Henry Watterson” was placed next to its published counterpart, along with a clipping of Watterson's comments concerning race and morality.

Several poems show the quest for meaning and understanding in this life, with titles such as “Shall Man's Punishment Be Endless?”, “Is Death The Sequence Of Sin?” and “Is There No God?” There were tributes to teachers, friends and family members, and odes to “The Science of Medicine” and “The Microscope and it's [sic] revelations.” “The Immortal Hope” was printed along with Cooper's obituary, and concerned “an instinct in the human soul, / That points it to a future goal, / A home beyond the tomb.” A work entitled “Islands of the Sea” also appears to have been published, and spoke compellingly about England's colonization of the known world, particularly regarding “Her daughter, fair Columbia.”

The album also contains Samuel Cooper's statement of military service, furnished to Astley in 1910, as well as clippings concerning Astley's marriage, his bride's relative (an accomplished railway company superintendent) and his own status as secretary of the International Boiler Cleaner company of Kansas.

A handmade tribute to an accomplished but lesser-known poet and doctor, deserving of a place in the historical record. (Inventory #: 7935)