CHILD, Lydia Maria (1802-1880), Abolitionist. Autograph letter signed ("L. Maria Child"), to Col. Robert Gould Shaw, Wayland, Massachusetts, 31 March 1863. 4 pages, 8vo, remnants of tipping at top edge of fourth page. "THAT COLORED PEOPLE CAN BE MADE EFFECTIVE AND RELIABLE SOLDIERS, I HAVE NO DOUBT," Child writes, as she thanks Shaw "for the noble position you have taken at this important crisis" as the commander of the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first black combat units in the Civil War. Child's language both exalts and demeans black Americans: "There is a great principle at stake in this contest. It is much broader than we any of us realize...God offers us the alternative to secure the freedom of our colored brothers, or to lose our own...We must sink or swim with the poor oppressed slaves...To you who would save Sambo for his own sake, even if our own freedom were not involved in his, especial honor is due...That colored people can be made effective and reliable soldiers, I have no doubt...May our Heavenly Father strengthen you, guide you, and protect you!..." -- STOWE, Harriet Beecher (1811-1896), author, abolitionist. Autograph letter signed ("H. B. Stowe"), to Sarah Shaw, Hartford, 27 October [1863]. 4 pages, 8vo, small closed tears at folds. AN ELOQUENT LETTER OF CONDOLENCE TO THE MOTHER OF COL. ROBERT GOULD SHAW AFTER HIS DEATH IN BATTLE. "We are all of us who feel the full pressure of these times living at a frightful inward expense of vitality." Stowe, who had also lost a child, says "I know better than any how deep & long is that valley of the shadow of death which those must walk who have given a dear one back to God..." Shaw was killed leading his men in the storming of Fort Wagner in South Carolina, on 18 July 1863. Together 2 items. (2)