Freedom Soldiers: The Emancipation of Black Soldiers in Civil War Camps, Courts, and Prisons by Jonathon Lande

Nearly 200,000 African Americans fought to save the Union, viewing military service as a path to freedom. Despite enlisting, they faced grueling labor, harsh discipline, disease, and separation from enslaved families. Some, disillusioned or desperate, took unauthorized “leaves of freedom” to aid their families, recover health, or escape abusive officers. Many were caught, tried for desertion, and sent to military prisons, where they petitioned President Lincoln and Union officials for justice, often offering to continue their service. In Freedom Soldiers, Jonathan Lande uses court-martial transcripts, petitions,  letters, and reports to uncover how these men fought for liberation not only against Confederates but within the Union Army’s own ranks.

Jonathan Lande is an assistant professor of history at Purdue University. His work has received numerous awards, including the Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of  American Historians and the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation Dissertation Prize from the American Society for Legal History

ISBN 9780197531754