Soldier’s Descendant Fighting for a Cause : Civil War: A retired attorney says his great-great-grandfather, a member of one of nation’s first all-black regiments, was denied his pay.

Charles Johnson is looking for glory. Not for himself, but for the great-great-grandfather who was killed while serving as an unpaid Civil War soldier in one of America’s first all-black Army regiments.

One such regiment was portrayed in “Glory,” the Oscar-winning movie about black Union troops who rejected their monthly wages because they were less than the $14 paid to white soldiers. The “Glory” troops who survived the battle of Ft. Morgan eventually got paid.

Johnson says his great-great-grandfather--who died Nov. 30, 1864, in the Battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina--did not.

So Johnson has written the President and two congressmen seeking the $237 that he says was earned by his ancestor--plus interest.

With compounded interest figured at 6% annually, the 125-year-old debt could reach as high as $345,000, a Bank of America official said.

But Johnson, 68, a retired Pasadena attorney, said he is driven by principle and doubts that he will see any money.

“This man died for his country,” Johnson said of Emory Allen, his forefather slain at the age of 40. “He was a free black man with a farm and a tinsmith business. He left behind a family and a wife carrying a child he would never see. He had to really want to fight for something he loved. And I want that to be known.”

In his request to President Bush, Johnson mailed his proof: copies of Allen’s enlistment and death notifications that indicate he received only $14 worth of clothing, and a letter signed by 74 black soldiers, including Allen, and sent to President Lincoln, demanding the same $14 monthly pay as white soldiers. Obtained from the National Archives in Washington, the letter was written from Folly Island, South Carolina, and dated July 16, 1864.

“We the members of company D of the 55th Massachusetts Volunteers call the attention of your excellency to our case,” it begins.

”. . . We have been in the field now 13 months, and a great many yet longer. We have received no pay and have been offered only $7 per month, which the paymaster has said was all he had been authorized to pay colored troops. This was not according to our enlistment. Consequently we refused the money.”

At a later date, according to the letter, Congress passed a law equalizing the pay but a bureaucratic mixup continued to prevent the troops’ payment.

” . . . Sir . . . to us, money is not the object,” the soldiers wrote. “We came to fight for liberty, justice and equality. These are gifts we prize more highly than gold. For these we left our homes, our families, friends and relatives.”

The letter concluded with the soldiers saying they had risked their lives “to do battle for God and liberty,” but they sought immediate discharge if not paid.

So far there has been no presidential response to Johnson’s letter, dated March 12. A White House spokeswoman said there would be no comment on the letter because “correspondence to the President is considered private.”

Johnson also wrote to U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, whose Los Angeles office has asked the U.S. Army to investigate the claim. The Army has no comment on Cranston’s request because “correspondence, even from a senator, is considered private in nature,” said Maj. Joe Padilla, an Army spokesman in Washington.

It is unclear which government agency would handle Johnson’s request. It also is unclear whether such a request is subject to a statute of limitations--and if payment is due, the interest.

“Would inflation be factored in? Would the dollar’s present-day value or the Confederate value be used? There are so many variables,” said Dave Reed, vice president and manager of the Bank of America’s South Pasadena branch, who consulted several bankers before trying to figure out what Johnson might be owed.

“If you figured it at 6% . . . it could be up to $345,000,” said Reed, who was contacted by The Times. “It’s kind of mind-boggling.”

Johnson said he does not know what the interest rate would be, but the statute of limitations issue rankles him.

“If we can pay the Japanese reparation for the offenses we committed against them by putting them in camps during World War II,” he said, “I think the government can pay my grandfather’s heirs. He fought for this country. I’m fighting for what I think is right. This (claim) may not fall into a statute of limitations, but it would be the just thing to do to pay it.”

In his lawyering days, Johnson handled plenty of civil rights cases. He was among several attorneys who won decisions in the 1970s to desegregate Pasadena public schools. In the 1970s, he worked to help preserve affirmative-action programs for minority contractors.

Johnson has been active in local chapters of the NAACP and is still involved with private community mentor programs for black students. He has, in the words of Pasadena Mayor William Thomson, been “a prominent and respected member of the community for years.”

His interest in Emory Allen began as a child in Michigan, where his family had “begats” at the breakfast table. “Begats are like in the Bible, so-and-so begat so-and-so. My family’s history and a sense of identity were kept alive this way,” Johnson said.

The most fascinating ancestor of all, Johnson said, was Emory Allen. His mother had his wallet and his sword, which was hidden behind the living room couch. She regaled her children with family folklore about Allen and other relatives. About 20 years ago, Johnson decided to find his roots and went in search of documents about him.

But the Lincoln letter was actually discovered by another relative earlier this year after “Glory” opened at movie theaters.

“I thought these soldiers were portrayed as heroes when they were really stupid fools, and victims sent to slaughter,” Johnson said. “But I felt it would be a timely claim to file seeking the back wages for my grandfather.”