Men of Color to Arms!: Black Soldiers, Indian Wars, and the Quest for Equality
Leonard (Lincoln's Avengers) examines the struggle of African Americans to become soldiers and citizens during the Civil War (when nearly 200,000 black men served in special "colored" units) and the postwar westward expansion. Though reconstruction held great promise for African Americans, the reality of race relations pervaded all aspects of life; whites in the defeated South chafed under black occupation, thought of armed black men as an "outrage," and provoked fights. Some in the Army argued for integration, but the majority of white officers preferred that blacks were either kept to their own units, or kept out altogether. Despite these tensions, after the Civil War black soldiers were deployed to the west, where they played a key role in forcing the remaining Indian tribes onto reservations; some of the soldiers "probably recognized the irony," Leonard argues, going on to captures the indignities suffered by black veterans of early wars, as well the first young men to enter West Point. Though Leonard is often detached and terse, the richness of her stories shines through, and first-person accounts of hardships suffered on the plains are especially gripping. (Aug.)(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC.  All rights reserved.