MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY: Wisconsin African Americans in the Civil War
By Jeff Kannel
Round Table members will enjoy this 2020 Civil War publication of the Wisconsin Historical Society Press focusing on the African American Civil War experience. In contrast to many 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 a connection with state of Wisconsin.
Their connections with Wisconsin were diverse. Some, like John J. Valentine, in the 17th USCI, had settled in the state before the War and enlisted there. Escaped enslaved persons, such as Henry Sink of the 29th USCI, had made their way to Wisconsin and enlisted after arriving in Wisconsin. Others, including Matthew Griffith of the 29th, had no prior association with Wisconsin, but were credited as enlisting from Wisconsin even if they had signed up in another state. Recruitment restrictions drove some to offer their services to units in other states. For example, Edward Diggs of Racine and Caledonia, Wisconsin, joined the 55th Massachusetts USCI. Men, including Alfred Patterson of the 55th settled in Wisconsin only after the War.
The plight of Wisconsin African American warriors was not
easy, though, whether before, during, or after the War. Pleas to be allowed to serve came to Governor
Alexander Randall from Cornelius Butler of Kenosha stating, “I wish to lay
before your excellency the hope and desire of the colored men of the state to
do something to aid the government at this time.” Though not acceptable substitutes for
draftees during the Second Draft (November 1862), African Americans were
accepted in the Third Draft (September-October 1864).
Full acceptance did not come with the return of peace, however. Some veterans returned to their homes in Wisconsin, others moved to the West, and some formed exclusively African American communities in which to live. While not admitted nationally to the Grand Army of the Republic, many did join local posts, with some assuming leadership positions.
Make Way For Liberty is organized into five categories: arrival, recruitment, on the battlefield, postwar life, and after Reconstruction. The text is supplemented by appendices listing what is known about individual veterans, their places of residence, age, 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 his work to enlisted men, Mr. Kannel also 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.
Round Table readers will find
new perspectives on the War, about the men who fought and died in it, and about those who
lived in its aftermath. Although limited
to Wisconsin, characters featured in this book undoubtably have counterparts
elsewhere who only lack an author to put their sagas into Civil War literature.
Make Way For Liberty: Wisconsin African Americans in The Civil War
By Jeff Kannel
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, Wisconsin,
2020,
ISBN 978-0-87020-946-8
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Jim Gallen is a St. Louis, Missouri attorney. He is Chairman of the Military History Club of the Missouri Athletic Club (https://www.mac-stl.org), a member of the St. Louis Civil War Round Table (https://civilwarstlmo.org/), and a member of the Ulysses S. Grant Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (https://www.grantcamp.org/).
