 Governor Andrew also selected Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell as the unit's second in command.Simmons was introduced to Francis George Shaw, father of Colonel Shaw, by William Wells Brown, a prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, historian and former slave, who described him as ""a young man of more than ordinary abilities who had learned the science of war in the British Army"".In his book, "The Negro in the American Rebellion", Brown wrote that ""Francis George Shaw remarked at the time that Simmons would make a 'valuable soldier'.