Campfires of Freedom: The Camp Life of Black Soldiers during the Civil War (review)

Nearly 180,000 African Americans, many former slaves, fought in the Union army in the Civil War. Their actions helped them to achieve emancipation, and make equal rights a cornerstone of Republican party policy. Their outstanding battlefield performance also convinced many Americans to finally support racial equality.

The earliest attempts to chronicle African-American performance during the Civil War were made by veterans or abolitionists; these include: William Welles Brown's The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867), George W. Williams's A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 (1888), and Joseph T. Wilson's The Black Phalanx (1890).

For many years Dudley T. Cornish's The Sable Arm (1956) remained the most comprehensive account of African-American soldiers during the Civil War. Other accounts written in the 1950s and 1960s include Benjamin Quarles's The Negro in the Civil War (1953) and James M. McPherson's The Negro's Civil War (1967).

In recent years a number of outstanding studies of the role of the African-American soldier have appeared and these include Joseph T. Glatthaar's Forged in Battle (1990), Hondon B. Hargrove's Black Union Soldiers in the Civil War (1988), Joe H. Mays's Black Americans and Their Contributions towards Union Victory in the American Civil War, 1861- 1865 (1998), and Howard C. Westwood's Black Troops, White Commanders and Freedmen during the Civil War (1992). The latest and most intriguing addition to this list is the book by Keith P. Wilson under review here.

In Campfires of Freedom, Wilson examines the social fabric of the USCT (U.S. Colored Troops) camp communities along with the crucial roles played by their officers in promoting military performance and moderating the direction of cultural change. By portraying camp life and by analyzing the collective memories of the officers and men of the USCT, Wilson sets the camp experience in the broader context of social and political change.

USCT camp activities helped African-American soldiers reshape their African heritage, slave traditions, and Northern community values in ways that would help them prepare for American citizenship. The cultural life of the camps enabled the soldiers to place their service in the context of their struggle for freedom. For example, they often modified spirituals into marching songs. But this was nothing new; white soldiers often changed elements of their culture to ease their transition from civilian to soldier. But this transition was more difficult for African Americans; slavery and racism separated them from mainstream America. According to Wilson, camp activities helped African Americans to bridge this gap, and make changes to meet the demands of Army life. Army life helped them to reconfigure race relations and challenge existing notions of race and citizenship. On the battlefield and in camp, they won their liberty and gained entrance into American society. During the Civil War, the tent was their home and the army camp was their community. It is there, according to Wilson, that African-American soldiers made the transition from slave to citizen, re-created their identity, and exercised their freedom.

Campfires of Freedom is one of the most original and important studies of African-American soldiers in the Civil War to appear. Wilson penetrates their inner lives with clarity, empathy, and precision. It is a fine example of how one can successfully meld military and cultural history but, moreover, it shows how complex the emancipation process truly was.