Customer Reviews

The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves

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There are many excellent studies of black Civil War soldiers and equally good editions of letters and reminiscences from black veterans. (In fact, following the 1989 release of the film "Glory" about the black Massachusetts 54th, there was something of a flood of such books.) But until now, there really hasn't been a good study of the reactions of southern slaves to the war. Andrew Ward, familiar to Civil War buffs from his excellent River Run Red (2005) has changed that with his The Slaves' War.

Mr. Ward's book is perhaps best described as a hybrid between straightforward narrative and oral history. In ten well-written and organized chapters, he transcribes the chronological reminiscences of slaves from both eastern and western theaters of the war. The witnesses come from all walks: house and field slaves; skilled and unskilled; men, women, and children; slaves who eagerly followed the course of the war, and slaves who wanted nothing to do with it; slaves who were rented by their masters to dig fortifications, and slaves who remained on the farm while their white owners went to the front; slaves who remained convinced until their dying day that they'd met Lincoln on an incognito journey through the south he made before the war, and slaves who actually did observe Jefferson Davis on a regular basis (one black preacher humorously prayed: "Shake Jeff Davis over the mouth of hell, Lord, but don't drop him in"); slaves who welcomed blue-coated soldiers as harbingers of Jubilo, and slaves who, frightened by their masters' tales of northern barbarism, were frightened; and slaves, always and everywhere, distrusted by masters worried that all the northern-spawned talk of abolition would spawn rebellion south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Ward tells us that he surveyed thousands of recorded interviews, memoirs, obituaries, diaries, and letters in compiling The Slaves' War. It's both remarkable and a bit disconcerting that this material hasn't been mined until now. Hopefully Ward's revitalization of these slaves' voices, with all their eloquence, hope, fear, pain, joy, anger, pride and even humor, will spark more research into this too neglected Civil War perspective.
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* This joyous cry was raised by plantation slaves upon the news that the Confederacy was defeated. But as would prove all too often the case in the post-war years, the joy of freedom was quickly shadowed by threats. Immediately after the slaves shouted their thanksgivings, "a white man come along and told them that if he heard them say that again, he would kill the last one of them." From Addie Vinson's reminiscences, p. 263.

This is a superb telling of the story of the Civil War with running commentary in the actual words of slaves who saw it, fought it, endured it and lived to tell about what it was like for them and their fellows before, during and after the war. For anyone interested in the war, it provides a unique and invaluable perspective never seen before. For anyone interested in African American history, which of course should be every American who wants to be politically awake, this is a wonderful opportunity to let the people speak for themselves, a most welcome change in historical writing about these terrible and awesome events. Must read.....

As someone who has been an amateur Civil War historian for over 40 years, this is a glimpse of the war from an entirely new, and sobering perspective. The reader needs to understand Ward has captured the oral testimonies of former slaves, and as such, the style of presentation is unavoidably choppy and not congruent. But that pales in comparison to the CONTENT of what the former slaves relate in this book. It is a unique, and again, very sobering collection of stories. And I HIGHLY recommend reading it. I am adding it to my library.

This book is the product of extensive research. It is resourced and documented to perfection with hundreds of quotations and reminiscences of former slaves, but as importantly, it contextualizes them with a profound understanding of the age. Every library in the world should have it and everyone with any interest in American history should read it. The author even includes such information as the fact that by the time of the civil war only a very small percentage of the slaves were foreign-born, and most had been in America for generations, unlike a much larger percentage of the white population, making the black population virtually the second native Americans after the Indians. How many of us learned in school that freed slaves serving in the Northern Army were often put in the front of the front lines, like cannon fodder? History of course is perspectivistic in the description and interpretation of events. To quote and articulate the multiple perspectives of the lowest echelon of society in itself was an outstanding achievement. The book gives great insight on how and why discrimination became institutionalized, routed during and in the aftermath of the civil war after the institution of slavery itself was abolished. It has every bit the quality of the finest documentary, bringing that age to the light of day, and therefore shedding much light on this one. Read it.

Although this book is a hard one to read more than a few chapters at a time, it is worth the effort. I think you need time to let each section sink in and be mentally absorbed before takling the next one. I found it a bit difficult to follow exactly the narrations, as they tended to get mixed together a bit. However, of course, I waa reading late at night, so that may account for some of it. But, I did plod through and found this book an informative and unique one in recounting the harshness and suffering for both the northern and southern soldiers,plantation owners in the south, and. of course. the slaves. The damage done to the south by this war,and the lack of support to the slaves after the warby the Union was made vivid.Since the south was phycially and mentally devastated by the war,and the slaves had no real chance for decent jobs ,due to their inablity to read or write, or even do math, and the plantation owners almost total dependancy on their slaves to do manual tasks and their loss of them threatening their own survival, certainly brought home the starkness of the post war southern landscape.All in all, a definite read for people who wish to know more in depth about the American Civil War.

This was by far the best book of its kind written about this particular event in American history. The author used great care in weaving a histroical story by first person accounts of the events surrounding some of the major battle of the civil war. Few authors have possessed the courage to write such an unbiased account of the slaves and how the civil war affected them both individualy and as a people as a whole.

I highly recommend this book to any and all students of history especially those students of African American history. Five stars plus.

This isn't exactly a smooth reading book, sort of like a crazy quilt built out of hundreds of quotes sewn together by the Author's own words. What got me to read this book wasn't that I'm so interested in our past Wars as much as the truth in our Past. Why I'm giving this book a positive review is because the Author's writing structure works precisely as I imagine it was designed to work, for me that is similar to dozens of rotating razors cutting to shreds any sanity, logic, or dear I might say any romance about this time period. This special kind of Hell wasn't meant for the casual reader; sure can't find my Marse's head anyhow (paraphrased).

This is a great book! One of the only ones I have read giving former slaves a voice in post-Civil War history. Very insightful

I have recently purchased The Slave's War after seeing the author on The Daily Show promoting it. I absolutely love reading about history and real events from real people, but I found this a kind of difficult read. It started out good, but it seemed like halfway through, the stories seemed to be repeating, like I kept reading the same stuff over and over again. And it sort of jumps from one account to the next, confusing me some. Maybe it's just me, but I thought is was a slow read.

I had just finished reading Complicity (The North's involvment in the slave trade) when this book arrived. It is a wonderfully written "history" book & I love history