Benjamin Antony Boseman Jr. (July 30, 1840 – February 23, 1881), sometimes misspelled Bozeman, was an African-American physician and state legislator. He was born in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany, New York, Albany. At the ...

, son of Benjamin and Annaretta Boseman, the oldest of five children. In the 1860 U.S. Census he is described as

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

. His father was a steward on a steamboat, and then

sutler A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Sutler wa ...

. He studied in the Preparatory (high school) Division of

New York Central College New York Central College, commonly called New York Central College, McGrawville, and simply Central College, was a short-lived college founded in McGraw, New York, in 1848 by abolitionist Baptists led by Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor. The first college ...

from 1854 to 1856. After a lengthy apprenticeship with prominent Dr. Thomas C. Brinsmade in Troy, Boseman completed his medical studies at

Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine is the medical school of Dartmouth College located in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is one of the sev ...

in 1863 and

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

's Maine Medical College in 1864. He then served the Union as an assistant surgeon in the

U.S. 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 ...

. Stationed at

Camp Foster Camp Foster (), formerly known as Camp Zukeran, is a United States Marine Corps camp located in Ginowan City with portions overlapping into Okinawa City, Chatan town and Kitanakagusuku village in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa Island. It ...

Hilton Head, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, often referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia (as the crow flies), and southwest of Charles ...

, he treated sick and wounded soldiers, and medically examined prospective recruits. At the end of the war he opened a medical practice in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. In 1869 he was appointed physician to the Charleston City Jail. He married Virginia Montgomery and they had two children. Another source says that he had a son Christopher and a daughter Ana, and that Virginia was

Radical Republicans in the South Carolina Legislature

Boseman served in the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...

for three consecutive terms, from 1868 until 1873, representing Charleston County. As a legislator, he introduced in 1870 South Carolina's first comprehensive

Civil Rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

bill. In 1869, the South Carolina Legislature, beginning the misspelling of his name as "Bozeman", appointed him and Francis L. Cardozo trustees of South Carolina College, predecessor of the University of South Carolina. He was also appointed to the Board of Regents of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum. In 1872, he was nominated for

Comptroller General A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

of South Carolina, but he declined the nomination. In 1873, 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 ...

appointed Boseman the first Black

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Charleston. His salary was $4,000 (). He invested in railroad and phosphate mining. Boseman served as postmaster until his death in 1881, at the age of 40 (not 41).

References

Further reading