NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG3430.AM: Henry Vinton Plummer, 1844-1905
Papers: 1881-1899
Ft. Robinson, Dawes County, Neb.: Chaplain, 9th Cavalry
Size: 1 reel of microfilm
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Henry Vinton Plummer was born a slave on June 30, 1844, in Prince Georges County, Maryland. During the Civil War he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, served for about sixteen months, and was honorably discharged in August of 1865. Following the war, he worked at various jobs in Washington, D.C., until he had saved enough money to enter Wayland Seminary of that city. He graduated from the seminary in 1879 and served as a Baptist pastor or missionary in Maryland and Washington, D.C. On July 8, 1884, Plummer was appointed chaplain of the Ninth Cavalry, U.S. Army by President Chester A. Arthur, becoming the first Negro chaplain to serve in the post-civil war army. After ten years of service in Kansas, Wyoming, and Nebraska, he was dismissed from the army at Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, in 1894 for conduct unbecoming an officer. Plummer died in Kansas City, Kansas, on February 8, 1905.
For a more complete sketch of Plummer’s life and especially his trial and dismissal from the Army, see “Chaplain Henry V. Plummer, his Ministry and Court Martial” by Earl F. Stover, Nebraska History, Vol. 56, No. 1, Spring, 1975.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of correspondence and documents relating to the military career of Henry Vinton Plummer, arranged in three series on one reel of microfilm: (1) Correspondence and documents, 1881-1894; (2) Court Martial proceedings, 1894; and (3) Research notes.
The bulk of this collection is comprised of copies of official correspondence and reports relating to Henry V. Plummer’s service as Chaplain, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 1884-1894, and to his court martial and subsequent expulsion from the army at Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, in 1894. Much of the material within the collection was copied from official military records by Earl F. Stover during research for his article, “Chaplain Henry V. Plummer, his Ministry and Court Martial,” Nebraska History, Vol. 56, No. 1, Spring, 1975.
INVENTORY
Series 1 – Correspondence and documents, 1881-1894
Reel 1 (control #16115)
Correspondence, documents and reports regarding H. V. Plummer, 1881-1894
Series 2 – Court Martial proceedings, 1894
Item
- Report of the examination of the charges preferred against Chaplain H. V. Plummer, 9th Cavalry, by Acting Judge Advocate, Dept. of the Platte, June 28, 1894
- Proceedings, H. V. Plummer General Court Martial, Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, Aug. 27-Sept. 7, 1894
- Notes and proceedings, Sgt. Barney McKay General Court Martial, Ft. Robinson, Nebraska, June 1-21, 1893
Series 3 – Research notes
Note cards, printed matter and biographical data, research about H. V. Plummer
Subject headings:
Courts-martial and courts of inquiry — Nebraska
Military law — United States
Negroes — Nebraska
Plummer, Henry Vinton, 1844-1905
Trials (Military offenses) — Nebraska
United States. Army — Cavalry, 9th
Revised 05-27-2009 TMM
