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.
