This pension certificate belonged to Pvt. George R. Rome, one of nearly 180,000 African Americans to fight for the Union Army during the Civil War. Rome was born in 1835 to free African American parents in Providence, Rhode Island. He later moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, eventually joining the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and participating in several campaigns, including Sherman’s famous March to the Sea. He survived the war and died in 1900. This document, dated November 4, 1889, records Rome’s pension claim as an army veteran and is part of a small collection of his belongings in the museum’s care, including his pocket New Testament.