James K. Bryant, II

A fine working history of a Civil War regiment. However, because this is a regimental history of a black unit, it is especially to be praised because of the lack of primary research materials concerning the enlisted troops.

The account discusses the problems of forming the regiment and using white officers from Massachusetts, but I wish he had spent a little more time on the politics revolving around the enlisting of newer regiments from recruits taken from the slave areas, and during raids into the Confederate territories.

There are several other areas of interest that could be further developed. The problems of black non-commissioned officers with the troops duplicated some of the social problems that black overseers had in a slave community, and many of these men were caught in the social hostilities of both the troops below and the officers above.

Another area of exploration are the social differences between the black recruits from northern states such as Ohio and Massachusetts, and those recruited locally in Virginia and North Carolina. Also between those blacks in the regiment who were free (about 4%), and those who were formerlly slaves.

I agree that there is a good index. I also especially like the use of a roster to show who was who in the regiment, and as a gift to geneaologists. The roster, about half the book, gives the names, ranks, and as much personal infomration about the soldiers as possible. My only regret is that the roster is formated in the 19th century fashion by company rather than alphabet, thus making anyone who does not know the comany of a soldier look through all of them until the name is found at last.

I do recommend this book for libraries and personal book collections of the Civil War. It gives another aspect to the complexities of the war, and some further insights to the enorminty of the struggle.… (plus d'informations)

I'm very glad that Mr. Bryant admits in his forward that this book arose from both his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation because in just flipping through the book before reading it I knew that's was it was.

That aside, this is not entirely a scholarly book and gives the reader much to think about. As much as he is able, Mr. Bryant makes the members of the 36th Infantry USCT come alive. The times were very different, but the needs and wants of the individuals was often very similar. I would recommend this book more to the student of history, specifically the Civil War period, than I would to the regular reader.… (plus d'informations)