About the Author

Glenn David Brasher is instructor of history at the University of Alabama.

Reviews

[An] assiduously researched and highly illuminating work.--Journal of Southern History

[A] satisfying read, breaking new ground and laying the groundwork for future studies of Black/White relations on the front lines of the Civil War. This excellent book is well written, extensively researched, and convincingly argued. The University of North Carolina Press has a winner here.--TOCWOC: A Civil War Blog

[Brasher] successfully challenges both myths [about slave participation in the Civil War], and in the process, places Virginia's slave population at the center of one of the most important military campaigns of 1862. . . . [This book] reminds us just how much the Union and Confederacy shared in their valuation of blacks during the war.--The Atlantic

A fascinating, impressively researched, and lucidly written addition to the literature on emancipation.--American Historical Review

In a highly stimulating way this seminal work ties social, military, and political developments together into a powerful thesis about the making of the Federal decision for emancipation.--Journal of American History

No student of the Civil War who wants to give an informed answer when next confronted with the 'black Confederate' question can afford to miss this fine book.--Civil War Monitor blog

Rarely does an author merge so seamlessly in one study a military history--a particular campaign, social history--slavery and history from the bottom up, and political history--the origins of the Emancipation Proclamation.--Civil War Book Review

Recommended. All levels/libraries.--Choice

This book effectively opens new doors of scholarly exploration.--Virginia Magazine

This book, which is destined to become a mainstay in the historiography of emancipation, offers a constant reminder that history does not occur in a vacuum.--Civil War News