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Reviews
| Freedom for Themselves: North Carolina's Black Soldiers in the Civil War Era, by Richard M. Reid. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. 420 pages. $40.00, cloth.
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| During the Civil War, about 180,000 African Americans served in either the Union army or navy, making a significant contribution to Union victory in the conflict. Although largely ignored throughout most of the twentieth century, in recent years, their service has received increasing attention from historians. These works have revealed the sacrifices and heroism of the men as well as the cruelties and racism they faced. Freedom for Themselves is an excellent addition to this literature. Richard M. Reid's book examines four African American regiments raised by the Federal government in North Carolina in 1863 and 1864: the 35th, 36th, and 37th United States Colored Troops (USCT) and the 14th United States Colored Heavy Artillery. The four regiments that are examined "reflect the diversity of the black military experience, from garrison troops to frontline soldiers" (p. xiv). The author argues that "the activities, abilities, and utilization of these four regiments were sufficiently varied to encompass the experiences of most black solders" (pp. xiv–xv). |
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The book is organized into eight chapters. The first five chapters examine the recruitment, organization, and record of the four regiments, as one chapter is devoted to each regiment, except for the 35th USCT, which receives two chapters. Their experiences were markedly different. For example, the 35th USCT, the first regiment organized, received the most attention from Union officials, contained two black officers (the regimental chaplain and a surgeon), and was "in many ways better prepared to fight than most other black regiments" (p. 68). The regiment participated in combat in Florida and its service was "similar to that of many Civil War regiments" (p. 101). On the other hand, the 14th United States Colored Heavy Artillery was organized as a labor battalion and never fully trained or officered. The men "fought in no battle and won little praise," but they reflected the experiences of many African American soldiers (p. 187). The experiences of the other two regiments fell in-between these two extremes. The next three chapters look at, respectively, the soldier's families during the war, their service in the post-war South, and their post-army lives. |
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The well-written Freedom for Themselves is based on extensive research in both primary and secondary sources. The sources used include manuscripts, newspapers, published primary sources, and the relevant secondary sources. The author makes good use of this material to reconstruct the services of these four regiments and draw appropriate conclusions. The writing is clear and direct, making it easy to understand the author's narrative and conclusions. |
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The book's contribution to the literature is that it presents a comparative study of four African American regiments from one state. Most of the recent scholarship on African American soldiers has been either general studies that broadly discuss the experiences of African American soldiers or regimental studies that look at the activities of a single regiment. The strength of Freedom for Themselves lies in its examinations of four regiments, allowing the author to compare and contrast the experiences of these units and then make general conclusions about the service of African Americans in the army. From this, he demonstrates how their experiences were similar, how they differed, and why the differences occurred. As a result, he shows the variety of experiences encountered by African American soldiers. |
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Freedom for Themselves is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate college students. It would be particularly useful in upper division undergraduate classes that focus on the Civil War, nineteenth-century African American history, or U.S. military history. The book would allow students to see the variety of experiences encountered by African American soldiers, how they reacted to their service, and how their service affected them and their families both during and after the war. The book would be a good class resource because it touches upon virtually every aspect of the services of African American soldiers during this period. Thus, instructors will find many important topics to discuss with students: how well African American troops performed in battle and how they were perceived to have performed, the relationship between African American soldiers and white officers, the treatment of African American officers, how the Federal government treated the soldier's families, the reaction of the Confederacy to the use of African American soldiers, the activities of African American soldiers in Reconstruction, and the role played by former African American soldiers in post-Civil War North Carolina. |
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| Texas A&M University at Qatar |
David Work |
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