Jeff Kannel

The African American Civil War experience varies from that of their white compatriots. In contrast to white veterans who generally enlisted in their home states and returned there after the war, for the African Americans featured on these pages, the War was a transformative event in their lives, homes and status. “Make Way For Liberty” is the story of those having some connection with Wisconsin.

Their associations with Wisconsin were as diverse as their antebellum stations. Some, like John Rosier of Company E, Fifth Wisconsin Infantry, had settled in the state before the war and enlisted there. Escaped slaves, such as Henry Sink, Twenty-Ninth USCI, had made their way to Wisconsin from which they enrolled. Others, including Matthew Griffith of the Twenty-Ninth, had no prior connection to Wisconsin, but were credited to it upon enlistment elsewhere. Recruitment restrictions drove some, Edwin Cross of Oconomowoc and Janesville for one, to offer their service to out of state units, in Cross’s case the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts. Men including William Wilson of the Thirteenth USCHA settled in Wisconsin after the War.

Wisconsin African American troops participated in some well-known battles. The Twenty-ninth USCI participated in the Battle of the Crater and the Eighteenth USCI performed so well at the Battle of Nashville that General George Thomas commented “Gentlemen, the question is settled; Negroes will fight.”

The plight of Wisconsin African American warriors was not easy either before, during or after the War. Pleas to be allowed to serve came to Governor Alexander Randall from William H. Noland of Madison “inquiring you would, (if tendered) accept the Services of a Company of Colored Men”? Though not acceptable substitutes for draftees during the Second Draft (November 1862), they were accepted in the Third Draft (September-October 1864). Full acceptance did not come with the return of peace. Some veterans returned to their homes in Wisconsin, others moved to the West and totally African American communities were formed where they lived their lives. While not admitted nationally to the Grand Army of the Republic, many did join local posts, with some assuming leadership positions.

This work is organized into six categories: arrival, recruitment, on the battlefield, postwar life, after Reconstruction and epilogue. The text is supplemented by appendices listing what is known about individual veterans, their places of residence, age and enlistment dates and post-war residences.

Author Jeff Kannel has crafted a deeply researched account of an often-overlooked category of Civil War veterans. Not limiting to enlisted men, he documents the services of African American employees of Wisconsin units. To my observation he has delved deeply into military and real estate records and community newspapers and journals to uncover the lives of his subjects. This volume will be of interest to those seeking to learn African American history, a new perspective on the Civil War or the history of Wisconsin.

I did receive a free copy of this book without an obligation to post a review.… (mehr)