Read more
The memoir of John W. M. Appleton, a field officer in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, provides the most in-depth account available of the lives of the first regiment of free Black soldiers recruited during the Civil War.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: “The Fallacy That the War Was Not Waged for Freedom”
1. “An Opportunity to Fight for Their Liberty”: From Boston to South Carolina (January 11–June 5, 1863)
2. Are We Soldiers or Pirates? A Foray into Georgia (June 7–July 7, 1863)
3. May This Night “Find Us Masters of Morris Island and Thus of Sumter and Charleston”: The Assault on Fort Wagner (July 8–23, 1863)
4. “Fighting Our Battle against Slavery”: The Siege of Charleston (October 19–November 26, 1863)
5. “Ready for Coffee or Pistols”: The Siege Continues (November 26, 1863–January 25, 1864)
6. “To Rescue Those in Bondage to Break the Captives’ Chains”: The Florida Campaign (January 28–February 24, 1864)
7. “In a Chronic State of Expectation of a Fight”: Garrison Duty at Jacksonville (February 25–April 15, 1864)
8. “General Officer of the Day, and Hard at Work”: Return to the Siege of Charleston (April 17–June 29, 1864)
9. “I Was Badly Affected by the Heat”: Last Days with the Regiment (June 30–August 17, 1864)
10. “Performed His Duties with Marked Efficiency”: After the War (August 1864–October 1913)
Epilogue: “I Have Written an Account of My Service . . . to Hand to My Children”
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
James Robbins Jewell is a professor of history at North Idaho College. He is the author of
Agents of Empire: The First Oregon Cavalry and the Opening of the Interior Pacific Northwest during the Civil War (Nebraska, 2023) and the editor of
On Duty in the Pacific Northwest during the Civil War: Correspondence and Reminiscences of the First Oregon Cavalry Regiment.
Eugene S. Van Sickle is a professor of history at the University of North Georgia.
