Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865
ISBN: 9780823240425
Platform/Publisher: De Gruyter / Fordham University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited

A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (originally published in 1888) by pioneer African American historian George Washington Williams remains a classic text in African American literature and Civil War history. In this powerful narrative, Williams, who served in the U.S. Colored Troops, tells the battle experiences of the almost 200,000 black men who fought for the Union cause. Determined to document the contributions of his fellow black soldiers and to underscore the valor and manhood of his race, Williams gathered his material from the official records of U.S. and foreign governments and from the orderly books and personal recollections of officers commanding Negro troops during the American Civil War.

The new edition of this important text includes an introductory essay by the award-winning historian John David Smith. In his essay, Smith narrates and evaluates the book's contents, analyzes its reception by contemporary critics, and evaluates Williams's work within the context of its day and its place in current historiography.

George Washington Williams (1849-1891) was a Pennsylvania-born soldier, legislator, and historian whose History of the Negro Race in America, 1619-1880 (1882) became the first work of serious scholarship by an African American.Smith John David :

Dr. John David Smith is the Charles H. Stone Distinguished Professor of American History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His many books and editions include Black Soldiers in Blue: African American Troops in the Civil War Era (2002).