I’ve long been interested in reading the letters, diaries, and journals of individuals—soldiers and civilians, men and women—who lived through the Civil War. These writings hold an immediacy that memoirs and other postwar accounts do not. They deliver, often powerfully and eloquently, a clear sense of the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of various Americans during the conflict—as they experienced them at the time. Of all the collections of primary sources I’ve read, a top favorite is The Black Military Experience (1982), edited by historians Ira Berlin, Joseph P. Reidy, and Leslie S. Rowland. I came across the book in my search to learn more about the subject after seeing the 1989 movie Glory. It contains hundreds of letters written by black soldiers and their families, shedding light on their myriad experiences, passions, disappointments, and encounters with racism. Years later, I still revisit it with some regularity, rereading letters I found especially moving or enlightening.
This issue’s feature articles approach the African-American Civil War experience in a similar way, by exploring the subject from a variety of lesser-known angles. In our cover story, “The Villain of Sherman’s March,” Bennett Parten recounts the tragedy that occurred at Ebenezer Creek during William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea—and how thwarting refugee slaves’ attempted escape to freedom there was only one example of Union general Jefferson C. Davis’ determination to rid the army of its desperate African-American followers during the campaign. Lorien Foote’s article, “A Confederate Concession,” looks at the little-known story of the Confederacy’s evolving policy on the treatment of captured black Union soldiers and sailors. And in “Dear Mr. President,” Jonathan W. White highlights various arguments made by African-American civilians who petitioned Abraham Lincoln on a number of issues, from authorizing black military service to pressing for the right to vote. In highlighting obscure facets of the wartime experiences of African Americans, each article moves us toward a broader understanding of the conflict and those who experienced it.
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