| Inspired and
informed by the latest research in African American, military, and
social history, the fourteen original essays in this book tell the
stories of the African American soldiers who fought for the Union cause.
An introductory essay surveys
the history of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) from emancipation to the
end of the Civil War. Seven essays focus on the role of the USCT in
combat, chronicling the contributions of African Americans who fought at
Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, Olustee, Fort Pillow, Petersburg,
Saltville, and Nashville. Other essays explore the recruitment of black
troops in the Mississippi Valley; the U.S. Colored Cavalry; the military
leadership of Colonels Thomas Higginson, James Montgomery, and Robert
Shaw; African American chaplain Henry McNeal Turner; the black troops
who occupied postwar Charleston; and the experiences of USCT veterans in
postwar North Carolina. Collectively, these essays probe the broad
military, political, and social significance of black soldiers' armed
service, enriching our understanding of the Civil War and African
American life during and after the conflict.
The contributors are Anne
J. Bailey, Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., John Cimprich, Lawrence Lee Hewitt,
Richard Lowe, Thomas D. Mays, Michael T. Meier, Edwin S. Redkey, Richard
Reid, William Glenn Robertson, John David Smith, Noah Andre Trudeau,
Keith Wilson, and Robert J. Zalimas, Jr. |
