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by Robert L. McKinney (Author)
This is a factual and thoroughly-researched novel of the American Civil War's final bloody year set against the participation of more than 180,000 formerly enslaved and free persons of color who volunteered to fight for the Union and their own freedom.After his wife, Ellen, defending herself against rape by a brutal overseer, kills her assailant, her husband, Benjamin, flees so as to deflect the blame onto himself and save Ellen's life. He makes his way on foot through the Cumberland Gap and across Kentucky to join the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry. Along the way he is captured by a gang of Black men and one white cracker woman who intend to sell him to a slave trader, but he escapes with a young and beautiful African-American woman, Sally. By disguising herself as an old white man, Sally and Benjamin make their way across Kentucky where they part ways: Benjamin to join the Union army and Sally to continue to freedom in Cincinnati.Mainly out of revenge, the "owner" of Benjamin and Ellen sells their two children, Cheri 12 and Aaron 5, to a slave trader who transports both to New Orleans where they are sold to the owner of a brothel who buys light-colored girls as young as nine and auctions off their virginity to rich white men. Several of the girls have died while being raped by their purchasers and Cheri faces the same fate while five-year-old Aaron is slated for a similar fate.Meanwhile, Patrick Flanagan, a young Irishman in London, England, is kidnapped and shanghaied to America to be sold as an indentured servant but he manages to escape into New York City where he is appalled by riots, primarily by Irish immigrants, during which the orphanage for African-American children is torched. He signs up to join the Union army and agrees to become a junior officer over a portion of the 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry. He is given this assignment because "American" whites often refused to serve with troops of color.While in England, Patrick had fallen in love with a beautiful young medical student who, although graduating at the head of her all-male classmates, is refused graduation due to her gender. Outraged, she decides to travel to America to become a wartime surgeon. Neither Patrick nor Bridget know of the other's whereabouts.The final action takes place at Saltville, Virginia, during what has become known as the "Saltville Massacre" where between 25 and 125 African-American soldiers were murdered in cold blood by a renegade named Champ Ferguson. Although the massacre at Fort Pillow, Arkansas, is more well-known, that event took place during the battle but the murders at Saltville were carried out more than 12 hours after the fighting had ceased.All historical persons and events are accurately depicted and all fictional characters and events are based on actual events and people. All dialogue of the historical characters has been taken from their diaries and letters.This book is an too-rare look at the bravery shown by the more than 180,000 men of color (and their white officers) who fought with great bravery, often defying the hostility of their fellow soldiers and sure death if captured by Confederates.
