Army Life in a Black Regiment

"Army Life in a Black Regiment has some claim to be the best written narrative to come from the Union [side] during the Civil War," wrote historian Henry Steele Commander. "Higginson's picture of the battle which was the origin of 'praise the Lord and pass the ammunition' and his reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to the black regiment are unsurpassed for eloquence." A Union colonel wrote this book —originally a series of essays— from New England, in charge of black troops training on the Sea Islands off the coast of the Carolinas. A lively and detailed wartime diary, it offers a refreshing portrait of life in the Union Army as the narrator captures the raw humor that develops among the men in combat. His portraits of the soldiers, routines of camp life, and southern landscapes are unforgettable.