"Utilizing many newfound sources, Jonathan Lande tells us more than any previous study about how black Union soldiers in the Civil War perceived the purpose and value of their service in winning the war, proving their manhood, and protecting the freedom of their families in the new order they helped to achieve."--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era "Lande takes us into the hearts and minds of Black soldiers fighting for freedom on the bloody battlefields of the Civil War, ingeniously illuminating their unwavering concern for kin and loved ones on the home front and in refugee camps. This is a story of resistance and revolution, by turns sobering and stirring."--Martha Hodes, author of Mourning Lincoln "Lande has expanded our understanding of how military service provided a vehicle for emancipation, particularly off the battlefield. This is an important and original contribution to the history of Black soldiers."--Carole Emberton, author of To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner "Although Black regiments from the North, such as the fabled Fifty-fourth Massachusetts, have received their due from historians, the majority of Black men who donned Union blue had been born into slavery. Jonathan Lande recalls their story, and that of their families, to life in this powerful account.

Skillfully researched and highly readable."--Douglas R. Egerton, author of A Man on Fire: The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson "Lande's thoroughly convincing study links Black Civil War soldiers' conventional military roles to their revolutionary struggle for a recognition denied to enslaved men--manhood. Uniquely, he frames both efforts chronologically, tying these men's actions, including defying military authority, to the broader Civil War narrative."--Barbara A. Gannon, author of Won Cause: Black and White Comradeship in the Grand Army of the Republic.