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In this classic study, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson deftly narrates the experience of blacks--former slaves and soldiers, preachers, visionaries, doctors, intellectuals, and common people--during the Civil War. Drawing on contemporary journalism, speeches, books, and letters, he presents an eclectic chronicle of their fears and hopes as well as their essential contributions to their own freedom. Through the words of these extraordinary participants, both Northern and Southern, McPherson captures African-American responses to emancipation, the shifting attitudes toward Lincoln and the life of black soldiers in the Union army. Above all, we are allowed to witness the dreams of a disenfranchised people eager to embrace the rights and the equality offered to them, finally, as citizens.

“McPherson shatters the belief that [blacks] were passive about their freedom. His evidence is telling and, what is more, it is absorbingly retold.” —The New York Times

“Vital reading.” –The New York Times Book Review

“A highly accurate and praiseworthy contribution.” –The San Francisco Chronicle

“Rewarding. . . . Fascinating in detail.” –The Christian Science Monitor

“Tremendous research. . . . Deserves a place on the shelves of readers interested in all phases of the 1861-65 struggle.” –Houston Chronicle

“Impressive. . . . This collection of material is a valuable contribution to history.” –Charleston Evening Post

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History, Emeritus at Princeton University. America’s leading historian of the Civil War, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which was a New York Times bestseller, and he won the Lincoln Prize for For Cause and Comrades.