Freedom Soldiers

Almost 200,000 African Americans fought to save the Union, many believing that military service was the pathway to freedom. Yet their journeys for liberation continued. They marched across taxing terrain, performed backbreaking labor, and endured corporeal punishment. They agonized over families still enslaved and suffered virulent diseases. They fought on bravely, yet thousands ran. Chafing against restraints and violence, they briefly liberated themselves.

The men examined in Freedom Soldiers took self-granted breaks and, once caught, were tried by the US Army for "desertion." In the courts-martial, they justified their unauthorized departures by telling authorities that they left to temporarily help their families, regain their health, and evade violent officers. Army judges nevertheless convicted freedom seekers. From prisons, the convicted deserters wrote petitions to President Abraham Lincoln and Union officials. These prisoners disputed rulings, offered their continued service to the Union, insisted on the injustice of incarceration, and explained the dire need of kin.

Jonathan Lande recovers this subset of soldiers who took leaves of freedom and defended their breaks within the military justice system. He reveals how Black men fought for freedom not only against Confederates but also in US Army camps, courts, and prisons.