The Civil conflict stands brilliant within the collective reminiscence of the yankee public. There has regularly been a profound curiosity within the topic, and in particular of Blacks' participation in and reactions to the struggle and the war's final result. nearly 200,000 African-American squaddies fought for the Union within the Civil warfare. even though such a lot have been illiterate ex-slaves, a number of thousand have been good informed, loose black males from the northern states. The 129 letters during this assortment have been written by way of black infantrymen within the Union military through the Civil struggle to black and abolitionist newspapers. they supply a special expression of the black voice that was once intended for a public discussion board. The letters inform of the men's reviews, their fears, and their hopes. They describe intimately their military days--the pleasure of wrestle and the drudgery of digging trenches. a few letters provide bright descriptions of conflict; others protest racism; nonetheless others name eloquently for civil rights. Many describe their conviction that they're battling not just to loose the slaves yet to earn equivalent rights as electorate. those letters provide a rare photo of the warfare and in addition demonstrate the intense expectancies, hopes, and eventually the calls for that black squaddies had for the future--for themselves and for his or her race. As first-person records of the Civil struggle, the letters are robust statements of the yankee dream of justice and equality, and of the human spirit.
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Extra resources for A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army 1861-1865 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture)
