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One Drop in a Sea of Blue: The Liberators of the Ninth Minnesota
Soldiers in the Union Army volunteered for many reasons—to reunite the country, to put down the southern rebellion. For most, however, slavery was a peripheral issue. Sympathy for slaves often came only after the soldiers actually witnessed their plight.
In November 1863, thirty-eight men of the Minnesota Ninth Regiment responded to a fugitive slave's desperate plea by holding a train at gunpoint and liberating his wife, five children, and three other family members who were being shipped off to be sold. But this rescue happened in Missouri, where Union soldiers had firm orders not to interfere with loyal slaveholders. Charged with mutiny, the Minnesotans were confined for two months without being tried. Their case was even debated in the U.S. Senate. This remarkable and unprecedented incident remains virtually unknown today.
One Drop in a Sea of Blue is the story of these thirty-eight liberators and of the Ninth Minnesota through the entire Civil War. After a humiliating defeat at Brice's crossroads, Mississippi, many were held at Andersonville and other notorious confederate prisons, where the Ninth Minnesota as a whole suffered a death rate exceeding 60 percent. Yet the regiment also helped destroy the confederate army of Tennessee at Nashville and capture mobile. In August 1865, when the Ninth Minnesota was mustered out, only fourteen liberators stood in its ranks. With vital details won through assiduous research, John Lundstrom uncovers the true stories of ordinary men who lived and died in extraordinary times.
In November 1863, thirty-eight men of the Minnesota Ninth Regiment responded to a fugitive slave's desperate plea by holding a train at gunpoint and liberating his wife, five children, and three other family members who were being shipped off to be sold. But this rescue happened in Missouri, where Union soldiers had firm orders not to interfere with loyal slaveholders. Charged with mutiny, the Minnesotans were confined for two months without being tried. Their case was even debated in the U.S. Senate. This remarkable and unprecedented incident remains virtually unknown today.
One Drop in a Sea of Blue is the story of these thirty-eight liberators and of the Ninth Minnesota through the entire Civil War. After a humiliating defeat at Brice's crossroads, Mississippi, many were held at Andersonville and other notorious confederate prisons, where the Ninth Minnesota as a whole suffered a death rate exceeding 60 percent. Yet the regiment also helped destroy the confederate army of Tennessee at Nashville and capture mobile. In August 1865, when the Ninth Minnesota was mustered out, only fourteen liberators stood in its ranks. With vital details won through assiduous research, John Lundstrom uncovers the true stories of ordinary men who lived and died in extraordinary times.
512 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
36 people want to read
About the author
John B. Lundstrom
14 books14 followersJohn B. Lundstrom is Curator Emeritus of History at the Milwaukee Public Museum where he has worked since 1967.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 7, 2014
I've rarely been as excited to find a book I didn't know about as when I found this book. A regimental history of one of Minnesota's lesser known Civil War units? Sign me up! One Drop in a Sea of Blue, isn't your average regimental history, and the men of the 9th Minnesota seem to have run the gamut of Union Army experiences in the war.
The 9th started off participating in the US-Dakota War in 1862, fighting in one battle, guarding Forts Ridgley and Abercrombie, and guarding the infamous mass execution of Dakota prisoners in Mankato. After things settled down on the frontier (yes, Minnesota was "the frontier" in 1862), the 9th was transferred to Missouri to guard various locales against Confederate cavalry and pro-Confederate "bush-wackers."
While in Missouri, 38 men from companies C and K of the regiment came to the assistance of a run away slave in preventing his family from being moved out of state and the family broken up. Slavery was still legal in Missouri in 1863, and the "liberators" (as the author refers to the men who helped aforementioned slaves) were arrested and for a time imprisoned. Through the rest of the narrative, Lundstrom gives us updates on the liberators within the larger context of the 9th's story. From Missouri, the 9th would head south to Mississippi on Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis' raid that culminated in the disastrous Battle of Brice's Crossroads.
After Brice's Crossroads, the Union retreat turned into a route, and large numbers from the 9th Minnesota and other regiments were taken prisoner. A large portion of the rest of the book deals with the regiment's prisoners ordeals in Andersonville and various other Southern prisons. The book winds up covering the rest of the 9th's campaigns (including the Union triumph at Nashville), and the post-war experiences of members of the regiment.
Lundstrom's writing style is easy to follow, and he avoids getting bogged down in too much detail when covering the battles in which the 9th fought. There are a lot of Civil War histories that I wouldn't recommend to non-Civil War enthusiasts, but this is not one of them. The one complaint I have, is that Lundstrom's constant references to the "liberators" throughout the narrative is a little bit distracting.
The 9th started off participating in the US-Dakota War in 1862, fighting in one battle, guarding Forts Ridgley and Abercrombie, and guarding the infamous mass execution of Dakota prisoners in Mankato. After things settled down on the frontier (yes, Minnesota was "the frontier" in 1862), the 9th was transferred to Missouri to guard various locales against Confederate cavalry and pro-Confederate "bush-wackers."
While in Missouri, 38 men from companies C and K of the regiment came to the assistance of a run away slave in preventing his family from being moved out of state and the family broken up. Slavery was still legal in Missouri in 1863, and the "liberators" (as the author refers to the men who helped aforementioned slaves) were arrested and for a time imprisoned. Through the rest of the narrative, Lundstrom gives us updates on the liberators within the larger context of the 9th's story. From Missouri, the 9th would head south to Mississippi on Brig. Gen. Samuel Sturgis' raid that culminated in the disastrous Battle of Brice's Crossroads.
After Brice's Crossroads, the Union retreat turned into a route, and large numbers from the 9th Minnesota and other regiments were taken prisoner. A large portion of the rest of the book deals with the regiment's prisoners ordeals in Andersonville and various other Southern prisons. The book winds up covering the rest of the 9th's campaigns (including the Union triumph at Nashville), and the post-war experiences of members of the regiment.
Lundstrom's writing style is easy to follow, and he avoids getting bogged down in too much detail when covering the battles in which the 9th fought. There are a lot of Civil War histories that I wouldn't recommend to non-Civil War enthusiasts, but this is not one of them. The one complaint I have, is that Lundstrom's constant references to the "liberators" throughout the narrative is a little bit distracting.
June 2, 2016
I've read many Civil War books and I've never given up on one until now. Fought my way through to page 180 and decided that I had enough. "Cast of characters" is quite large and difficult to keep track of and I found the authors writing style difficult also. I'm sure others will find this book more readable than I did.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews