Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts

The Civil War Memoir of John W. M. Appleton

James Robbins Jewell, Eugene S. Van Sickle (Herausgeber)

John W. M. Appleton (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

368 Seiten

2025
Potomac Books Inc (Verlag)
978-1-64012-644-2 (ISBN)

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Late in 1862, amid the horrors of the U.S. Civil War, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, with President Lincoln’s approval, authorized the recruitment of Black soldiers for the Union cause. In January of 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was born. On February 7, 1863, Massachusetts governor John Andrew commissioned Boston-bred John W. M. Appleton the first of the white officers in the most famous Civil War regiment of Black soldiers. Appleton immediately began recruiting enlisted soldiers for the company he would command, Company A.

Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts is a fresh look at the service of this famed regiment as told through Appleton’s memoir-the most complete first-person account available about the service of the men in the 54th Massachusetts regiment. Appleton wrote candidly about his own experiences and the men who served with and under him, including troop punishments, combat, and combat injuries, including his own. He also described in detail the weather, climate, southern geography, and his interaction with civilians. Appleton served with the regiment from February 1863 through August 1864, when severe injuries forced him home a second time. Taking Appleton’s memoir as their foundation, the editors thoroughly contextualize the service of the 54th through its disbanding in 1865, providing a fresh perspective on the men and the regiment as they fought to abolish slavery in the United States.

James Robbins Jewell is a professor of history at North Idaho College. He is the author of Agents of Empire: The First Oregon Cavalry and the Opening of the Interior Pacific Northwest during the Civil War (Nebraska, 2023) and the editor of On Duty in the Pacific Northwest during the Civil War: Correspondence and Reminiscences of the First Oregon Cavalry Regiment. Eugene S. Van Sickle is a professor of history at the University of North Georgia.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: “The Fallacy That the War Was Not Waged for Freedom”
1. “An Opportunity to Fight for Their Liberty”: From Boston to South Carolina (January 11–June 5, 1863)
2. Are We Soldiers or Pirates? A Foray into Georgia (June 7–July 7, 1863)
3. May This Night “Find Us Masters of Morris Island and Thus of Sumter and Charleston”: The Assault on Fort Wagner (July 8–23, 1863)
4. “Fighting Our Battle against Slavery”: The Siege of Charleston (October 19–November 26, 1863)
5. “Ready for Coffee or Pistols”: The Siege Continues (November 26, 1863–January 25, 1864)
6. “To Rescue Those in Bondage to Break the Captives’ Chains”: The Florida Campaign (January 28–February 24, 1864)
7. “In a Chronic State of Expectation of a Fight”: Garrison Duty at Jacksonville (February 25–April 15, 1864)
8. “General Officer of the Day, and Hard at Work”: Return to the Siege of Charleston (April 17–June 29, 1864)
9. “I Was Badly Affected by the Heat”: Last Days with the Regiment (June 30–August 17, 1864)
10. “Performed His Duties with Marked Efficiency”: After the War (August 1864–October 1913)
Epilogue: “I Have Written an Account of My Service . . . to Hand to My Children”
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	06.03.2025
Zusatzinfo	8 photographs, 7 illustrations, index
Verlagsort	Dulles
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918)
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-64012-644-9 / 1640126449
ISBN-13	978-1-64012-644-2 / 9781640126442
Zustand	Neuware