that you desire, and have
requested through him that the five dollars deposited with
the Rev. C. H. Battelle, of this city, by Charlotte Scott,
should be used as the _original and foundation subscription_
for this most praiseworthy purpose; and Mr. Battelle assures
me that he will most cheerfully remit it to you this day. As
a slave-holder by inheritance, and up to a period after the
outbreak of the rebellion, and as an ardent admirer of our
lamented president, the author of universal emancipation in
America, I feel an enthusiastic interest in the success of
the Freedmen's National Monument. I hope it may stand
unequalled and unrivalled in grandeur and magnificence. It
should be built _essentially_ by _freedmen_, and should be
_emphatically national_. Every dollar should come from the
former slaves, every State should furnish a stone, and the
monument should be erected at the capital of the nation.
Nothing could be better calculated to stimulate this
downtrodden and abused race to renewed efforts for a moral
and national status.

"Charlotte Scott, whose photograph General Smith will
forward, was born a slave in Campbell County, Virginia. She
is about sixty years old, but is very hale and active. Her
reputation for industry, intelligence, and moral integrity,
has always been appreciated by her friends and
acquaintances, both white and colored. She was given, with
other slaves, to my wife, by her father, Thomas H. Scott.
When we received the news of Mr. Lincoln's assassination,
the morning after its occurrence, she was deeply distressed.
In a conversation with Mrs. Rucker, she said: '_The colored
people have lost their best friend on earth. Mr. Lincoln was
our best friend, and I will give five dollars of my wages
towards erecting a monument to his memory._' She asked me
who would be the best person to raise money for the purpose.
I suggested Mr. Battelle, and she gave him the five dollars.

"I am, my dear sir, truly and respectfully,

"WILLIAM P. RUCKER."

"MARIETTA, OHIO, June 29th, 1865.

"_Mr. J. E. Yeatman._

"DEAR SIR: I was providentially called upon by Charlotte
Scott, formerly a slave of Dr. W. P. Rucker, now living in
this place, to receiv