Richard Josiah Hinton (November 26, 1830 – December 20, 1901) was a journalist, author,

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

, and military officer with the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

. He was the commander of African-American soldiers in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Freedmens Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

official, and U.S. government official. Born in England, he came to the United States in 1851, and became an important witness to events leading to the Civil War and its aftermath. He was an abolitionist who moved to Kansas in 1856 to help stop the spread of slavery. During the Civil War he helped recruit units of the new

United States Colored Troops United States Colored Troops (USCT) were Union Army regiments during the American Civil War that primarily comprised African Americans, with soldiers from other ethnic groups also serving in USCT units. Established in response to a demand fo ...

, and served as an officer of one (all the officers were white). He wrote about

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

, and poet Richard Realf. He reported from

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

for

James Redpath James Redpath (August 24, 1833 in Berwick upon Tweed, England – February 10, 1891, in New York, New York) was an American journalist and anti-slavery activist. Life In 1848 or 1849, Redpath and his family emigrated from Scotland to a farm nea ...

's ''Pine and Palm'' newspaper. He served as an officer with the

1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment organized in a northern state to see combat during the Civil War. At the Battle of Po ...

in 1862 and then as captain of Company B, 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment. (All the "colored" regiments had white officers.) He subsequently served in various federal government positions: United States Commissioner of Emigration in Europe in 1867; inspector of U.S. consulates in Europe; special agent to President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

to Vienna in 1873; special agent to the Departments of Treasury and State on the frontier and in Mexico in 1883; irrigation engineer to the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

from 1889-1890; and special agent in charge of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production ...

from 1890 to 1892. In 1900 he wrote "I am glad also I was able to do other work, both as writer and fighter, in a small way, and, among Kansas soldiers, and many others by far more important than myself, to make the union secure and the whole of the state free from the curse of chattelism." In 1897 he played a prominent role in a new political movement,

Social Democracy of America The Social Democracy of America (SDA), later known as the Cooperative Brotherhood, was a short lived political party in the United States that sought to combine the planting of an intentional community with political action in order to create a ...

. The founding convention of the Social Democracy of America established a three member “Colonization Commission” consisting of Richard J. Hinton, and two journalists,

Cyrus Field Willard Cyrus Field Willard (August 17, 1858 – January 17, 1942) was an American journalist, political activist, and theosophist. Deeply influenced by the writing of Edward Bellamy, Willard is best remembered as a principal in several utopian socialist en ...

and socialist propagandist W.P. Borland of Bay City, Michigan. Hinton, Willard and Borland helped lead an affiliated initiative, the

Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth Equality Colony was a United States socialist colony founded in Skagit County, Washington (U.S. state), Washington by a political organization known as the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth in 1897. It was meant to serve as a model which ...

, whose goal was to concentrate progressive thinkers in one state. They chose Washington State as the most suitable for the purpose. The

Equality Colony Equality Colony was a United States socialist colony founded in Skagit County, Washington by a political organization known as the Brotherhood of the Cooperative Commonwealth in 1897. It was meant to serve as a model which would convert the rest ...

was founded as part of this initiative. When he died in 1901, he was survived by his wife Isabella H. Hinton, and two sons, George F. and Ralph Hinton. The

Kansas Historical Society The Kansas Historical Society is the official state historical society of Kansas. Headquartered in Topeka, it operates as "the trustee of the state" for the purpose of maintaining the state's history and operates the Kansas Museum of Histor ...

has a collection of his papers.

Publications (chronologically)

*' * * * * (With Frank A. Burr) * * * In 1899 he published a summary. * * Contains a 14-page introduction on Hinton, by William E. Connelley.

References

External links

Findagrave entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Richard J. 1830 births 1901 deaths British emigrants to the United States