Joshua M. (Joshua Melancthon) Addeman

author

Joshua M. (Joshua Melancthon) Addeman

1840–1930

A Civil War officer, lawyer, and Rhode Island public official, he is best remembered today for a firsthand memoir about serving with Black troops in the Union Army. His writing offers a direct, personal view of the war and the people who fought it.

1 Audiobook

Reminiscences of two years with the colored troops Personal Narratives of events in the War of the Rebellion, being papers read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society. No. 7, Second Series

Reminiscences of two years with the colored troops Personal Narratives of events in the War of the Rebellion, being papers read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society. No. 7, Second Series

by Joshua M. (Joshua Melancthon) Addeman

About the author

Born in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in 1840, Joshua Melancthon Addeman grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from Brown University in 1862. Soon afterward he entered Union service during the Civil War.

Addeman first served in the 10th Rhode Island Infantry and later became a captain in the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored), a regiment of Black soldiers that was later redesignated the 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery. His best-known book, Reminiscences of Two Years with the Colored Troops (1880), draws on that experience and has remained the work most closely associated with his name.

After the war, he trained as a lawyer and went on to public service in Rhode Island, serving as secretary of state from 1872 to 1887. Beyond his memoir, bibliographic records also connect him with a major index to Rhode Island legislative acts and reports, reflecting a career that combined military service, law, and civic work.