The Civil War's Black Soldiers

by Joseph T. Glatthaar

Book by Glatthaar, Joseph T

55 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Military historian, specializing in the American Civil War and American military history

Reviews

[Ginger Stephens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Given the new insights that I found in the NPS book on Hispanics in the Civil War, I was very disappointed with this book on African Americans. According to the book, all black soldiers were in the Union Army and the Confederate Army did not attempt to enlist blacks until 1865 when the war was almost over.

That completely contradicts the known facts and contemporary reports of Union scouts who saw black soldiers in the Confederate Army. I wish this book had been better researched and included those soldiers. Theirs is a story that we need to remember and it makes me sad that historians deny they existed.

The information that is included on the African Americans in the Union Army did not seem to contain much new information, but I never realized that the Union Army was so segregated that they had to create a Bureau of Colored Troops to oversee them. That does reflect the large number of African Americans who served in the Union Army, which is amazing given how the army treated them.

I did notice that the NPS book on Asians and the Civil War is four times as long as this book on African Americans.