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Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War, 1862-1865
Noah Andre Trudeau's past three books garnered him recognition as one of America's most respected Civil War historians. Now, in Like Men of War, he focuses on African-American soldiers in the Union army. In all, more than 175,000 black soldiers fought in more than 400 battles. But once the war was won, their efforts were largely ignored or forgotten. Drawing from the diaries and letters of these veterans, Trudeau vividly re-creates their experiences. At the outset, the white military believed that blacks were simply incapable of combat duty. But, as in the courageous assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina, African Americans more than proved their mettle. Thoroughly researched and copiously illustrated, Like Men of War illuminates the struggles of these courageous men and brings a fresh perspective to our understanding of the Civil War
548 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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168 people want to read
About the author
Noah Andre Trudeau
16 books48 followersAmerican Civil War historian. He has won the Civil War Round Table of New York's Fletcher Pratt Award and the Jerry Coffey Memorial Book Prize. A former executive producer at National Public Radio, he lives in Washington, DC.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 1, 2021
Noah Trudeau is a great author of Civil War history and in this book he once again shows that he is a craftsman of his art. This is only one of two books I have every read that have showed the role that African-Americans played in the military history of the United States. I have read many books on the American Civil War and very few have ever mentioned U.S. Black Troops, at long last this gap in American history has been filled. The narrative is excellent and the author has researched his topic well, covering almost every major skirmish and action undertaken by these troops. Its a shame that these actions weren't in more detail & depth but I suppose the author had constraints on time and size (the book is 548 pages). He has placed each action in context within the war and the political feeling at the time. The author has used letters, diaries and after-action reports of the participants and others involved (reporters & politicians). Overall the book offers the reader a very good overview of the role of coloured troops during the Civil War.
September 8, 2013
Well-written and enjoyable this is a solid military history of the Union Army’s colored troops during the Civil War. Black soldiers faced outright racism from many northerners, and in virtually every battle they fought in, surrendering blacks were shot by Confederate soldiers without cause or excuse. But in the midst of extreme adversity, they held up well to the rigors of combat. But almost as soon as the war ended, the service of black troops was largely forgotten.The book does not romanticize combat, but it does personalize it.
Trudeau avoids the triumphalism often marring books about black troops in the Civil War. Not every African-American soldier was a principled volunteer, he explains. Some were cajoled and cozened into uniform from ""contraband camps"" of fugitive slaves. Some donned blue at gunpoint. The USCT saw a disproportionate amount of service as garrison and labor troops, and when committed in the front lines their successes seldom matched their valor. But in an era when standards of manhood were as high as in any other, few whites who saw black troops in action ever again questioned their courage. However, even when black troops experienced combat, any slip of discipline or less than stellar performance was held up as proof of their racial inferiority. In some cases black troops were committed to hopeless tasks for the sole purpose of proving their mettle.
Black troops were paid less than white troops, and fought under horrific conditions during the war. Besides the daily racism they encountered from their white officers, the quality of medical treatment wounded blacks received was less than competent, and if captured by the Confederates they could expect a return to slavery, or long imprisonment in appalling conditions. More often than not, Confederate troops refused to take black prisoners. According to the records, when Confederate troops seized Union positions held by blacks, the number of prisoners they captured alive was far less than when the defenders were whites. Confederate president Jefferson Davis denounced the emancipation and recruitment of slaves as “the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man.”
The book is organized chronologically, but at times it jumps back and forth as Trudeau discusses the different theaters of the war. In some chapters Trudeau includes brief interludes to discuss relevant issues like unequal pay, but the story progresses smoothly, although the detail gets excessive at times. Up to Chapter 7, the story is written in a smooth narrative style, but as soon as you reach Chapter 7, it consists entirely of long excerpts from letters with brief summaries from the author. After that, the standard narrative resumes, but the change was random and a bit jarring, and did not serve to make anything more readable.
Trudeau avoids the triumphalism often marring books about black troops in the Civil War. Not every African-American soldier was a principled volunteer, he explains. Some were cajoled and cozened into uniform from ""contraband camps"" of fugitive slaves. Some donned blue at gunpoint. The USCT saw a disproportionate amount of service as garrison and labor troops, and when committed in the front lines their successes seldom matched their valor. But in an era when standards of manhood were as high as in any other, few whites who saw black troops in action ever again questioned their courage. However, even when black troops experienced combat, any slip of discipline or less than stellar performance was held up as proof of their racial inferiority. In some cases black troops were committed to hopeless tasks for the sole purpose of proving their mettle.
Black troops were paid less than white troops, and fought under horrific conditions during the war. Besides the daily racism they encountered from their white officers, the quality of medical treatment wounded blacks received was less than competent, and if captured by the Confederates they could expect a return to slavery, or long imprisonment in appalling conditions. More often than not, Confederate troops refused to take black prisoners. According to the records, when Confederate troops seized Union positions held by blacks, the number of prisoners they captured alive was far less than when the defenders were whites. Confederate president Jefferson Davis denounced the emancipation and recruitment of slaves as “the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man.”
The book is organized chronologically, but at times it jumps back and forth as Trudeau discusses the different theaters of the war. In some chapters Trudeau includes brief interludes to discuss relevant issues like unequal pay, but the story progresses smoothly, although the detail gets excessive at times. Up to Chapter 7, the story is written in a smooth narrative style, but as soon as you reach Chapter 7, it consists entirely of long excerpts from letters with brief summaries from the author. After that, the standard narrative resumes, but the change was random and a bit jarring, and did not serve to make anything more readable.
August 25, 2018
Very good book on an oft ignored portion of the War Between the States: the combat role of Black men.
This book covers, quite literally, every single engagement where the United States Colored Troops were involved. On the one hand, this is genuinely fascinating, especially when it illuminates military operations that are usually ignored by publishers. However, and this is the only criticism I can level, the author takes a chronological approach to his narrative, with very little warning if he is about to switch regions.
One minute, you're in South Carolina, the next Arkansas, back to South Carolina, and then you're up against Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokee, in Oklahoma, all without a word of warning.
Unless you are already steeped in the history of the War Between the States, you will be highly confused.
But don't let that turn you away from a truly excellent work.
This book tells the tale of the USCT in all it's glory, and showcases the ugly side of the War, both Southen rage against fighting former slaves, and Yankee racism, all in a beautifully written, fast paced, well researched narrative.
Perfect for any student of military history or the Civil War period in particular
Highly recommended.
This book covers, quite literally, every single engagement where the United States Colored Troops were involved. On the one hand, this is genuinely fascinating, especially when it illuminates military operations that are usually ignored by publishers. However, and this is the only criticism I can level, the author takes a chronological approach to his narrative, with very little warning if he is about to switch regions.
One minute, you're in South Carolina, the next Arkansas, back to South Carolina, and then you're up against Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokee, in Oklahoma, all without a word of warning.
Unless you are already steeped in the history of the War Between the States, you will be highly confused.
But don't let that turn you away from a truly excellent work.
This book tells the tale of the USCT in all it's glory, and showcases the ugly side of the War, both Southen rage against fighting former slaves, and Yankee racism, all in a beautifully written, fast paced, well researched narrative.
Perfect for any student of military history or the Civil War period in particular
Highly recommended.
September 23, 2010
I think it is an outstanding subject area that is well-researched; but, without first person accounts (due to high rates of illiteracy) it gets to be really dry accounts of each battle. I don't know how to make the narrative flow better, but I do know that reading about every engagement individually, and without context, gets really boring.
March 12, 2012
A comprehensive look at black soldiers in the Civil War, this book was engaging in parts and very dry in others. Good maps to follow while reading the text, but sometimes got bogged down due to more detail than needed. Overall a solid book, but not one of Trudeau's best.
May 20, 2022
Very good. These men fought for freedom. Lots of lessons in here for today's youth.
December 4, 2025
I have had this book on my shelf for years. Having been to the Honey Springs, OK Civil War battlefield in July 2019 and purchased a few books there, this book I found in a footnote of one of those books. I bought it and it sat on the shelves for a while.
This is a brilliant book about war as it occurs. This is also a book about injustice and perseverance. It is also a book which demolishes the Lost Cause. It is a book about the unknown and unsung who preserved the American union believing it could be something better. I am not sure how they would look upon it now, but this book at least ensures they are not forgotten.
War as it occurs is not the grand sweep and great clarity it is persented as in history. Most authors and historians do not realize this, because they simply have not been there and cannot understand it. No one can who has not lived through it. As a former US Army officer in the Cold War, and a US Army Contractor in OIF, I lived a year in the hell of war. This book brings that experience to the fore, not through the author's words, they are wise enough to stand back and let the soldiers tell their stories through primary source documents, and then they simply provide the tactical, operational, or strategic perspective therein. We hear from these men through their letters, through their families application for survivor benefits, through the voices of their white officers, sometimes even through the eyes of their rebellious enemies. But we hear from them. We hear about the US Civil War as it occured to them.
The injustice they endured is clearly portrayed. From volunteering with the belief they would be treated as equals, to being mustered for rear echelon fatigue duty used little more than as unskilled labor, to being paid 70% of what white soldiers were paid, to be treated as less than men by their own fellow soldiers, they shouldered this burden. They were sometimes tricked into serving, some were drafted, emancipated enslaved persons were illiterate. They got the worst medical care, some of the most exposed garrison assignments, and were relegated to combat in some of the most brutal theaters of that war, backwaters like the Trans-Mississippi theater where quarter was neither either asked nor given. Even in the primary theaters of the war, many were executed rather than being taken prisoner by white southern soldiers, often at the behest of white southern officers, offended by the truth an armed trained black soldier did to their worldview.
But they persevered, the perserverance they emboided clearly displayed. In combat assignments, which only detailed Civil War scholars touch on, theirs was a combat record at least equal to that of their white counterparts. From forlorn missions like Fort Wagner, to bungled campaigns like Olustee, to the ugliness of total war like Pocotaligo, to purposeless death like Palmito Ranch, these units paint a stellar picture of what their enemies denied, that these men could fight and emerge victorious on modern battlefields.
Soldiers use coping mechanisms during war. Some do not and break. I found compartmentalization a way to survive. Existing in a box inside the horror, and locking those things away othertimers. Not healthy, but you do what you do to make it through. Having grown up in an era dominated by the taint of Lost Cause mythology, my first rend in that veil was thanks to author Bruce Catton, whose interviews with living Michingan Civl War vest laid that myth to rest in his writings. One of the most offensive myths was that of all vets from both sides coming together afterwards, embracing and celebrating each other.
In this book it becomes clear that that is not the case. It made good press back in the day - late 1800's - to have octogenarians shaking hands in tattered uniforms at a long dormant battlefield, but it is a falsehood. While I certainly understand the motivations of those who lobbed mortars and rockets on the base I was stationed at in Iraq, I might have done the same myself with an invading force in my land regardless of politics, they are still the enemy. This book makes that clear, Confederate soldiers were the enemy and remained so after the war. Doing their best to impose the slave-holding culture rife with inequities following the war makes this clear.
This book is a must read for any US Civil War scholar.
This is a brilliant book about war as it occurs. This is also a book about injustice and perseverance. It is also a book which demolishes the Lost Cause. It is a book about the unknown and unsung who preserved the American union believing it could be something better. I am not sure how they would look upon it now, but this book at least ensures they are not forgotten.
War as it occurs is not the grand sweep and great clarity it is persented as in history. Most authors and historians do not realize this, because they simply have not been there and cannot understand it. No one can who has not lived through it. As a former US Army officer in the Cold War, and a US Army Contractor in OIF, I lived a year in the hell of war. This book brings that experience to the fore, not through the author's words, they are wise enough to stand back and let the soldiers tell their stories through primary source documents, and then they simply provide the tactical, operational, or strategic perspective therein. We hear from these men through their letters, through their families application for survivor benefits, through the voices of their white officers, sometimes even through the eyes of their rebellious enemies. But we hear from them. We hear about the US Civil War as it occured to them.
The injustice they endured is clearly portrayed. From volunteering with the belief they would be treated as equals, to being mustered for rear echelon fatigue duty used little more than as unskilled labor, to being paid 70% of what white soldiers were paid, to be treated as less than men by their own fellow soldiers, they shouldered this burden. They were sometimes tricked into serving, some were drafted, emancipated enslaved persons were illiterate. They got the worst medical care, some of the most exposed garrison assignments, and were relegated to combat in some of the most brutal theaters of that war, backwaters like the Trans-Mississippi theater where quarter was neither either asked nor given. Even in the primary theaters of the war, many were executed rather than being taken prisoner by white southern soldiers, often at the behest of white southern officers, offended by the truth an armed trained black soldier did to their worldview.
But they persevered, the perserverance they emboided clearly displayed. In combat assignments, which only detailed Civil War scholars touch on, theirs was a combat record at least equal to that of their white counterparts. From forlorn missions like Fort Wagner, to bungled campaigns like Olustee, to the ugliness of total war like Pocotaligo, to purposeless death like Palmito Ranch, these units paint a stellar picture of what their enemies denied, that these men could fight and emerge victorious on modern battlefields.
Soldiers use coping mechanisms during war. Some do not and break. I found compartmentalization a way to survive. Existing in a box inside the horror, and locking those things away othertimers. Not healthy, but you do what you do to make it through. Having grown up in an era dominated by the taint of Lost Cause mythology, my first rend in that veil was thanks to author Bruce Catton, whose interviews with living Michingan Civl War vest laid that myth to rest in his writings. One of the most offensive myths was that of all vets from both sides coming together afterwards, embracing and celebrating each other.
In this book it becomes clear that that is not the case. It made good press back in the day - late 1800's - to have octogenarians shaking hands in tattered uniforms at a long dormant battlefield, but it is a falsehood. While I certainly understand the motivations of those who lobbed mortars and rockets on the base I was stationed at in Iraq, I might have done the same myself with an invading force in my land regardless of politics, they are still the enemy. This book makes that clear, Confederate soldiers were the enemy and remained so after the war. Doing their best to impose the slave-holding culture rife with inequities following the war makes this clear.
This book is a must read for any US Civil War scholar.
November 3, 2025
Amazone
Inaccurate and Politically Correct View Of USCT In the War Between the States
4/10
Before delving into my review, I think it might be necessary to point out that I am in no way a racist and I am not trying to discredit black troops. Mr. Trudeau is presenting the popular and politically correct view that black troops were highly motivated and effective and that their failures are due primarily to the white troops around them.
The weight of evidence is against this assertion.
Almost every account of black troops in battle is skewed to portray them in a favorable light. A closer examination of individual battles leads to the rather obvious conclusion that black troops often did not fight well.
The author's brief summaries of the battles are not sufficient to explain the engagements in detail, resulting in the opportunity to misrepresent the black troop's accomplishments and performance in battle. The most famous battles involving black troops are not entirely as they are portrayed in this book and most others.
There are numerous examples
Milliken's Bend- black (and white troops) were attacked in a strong defence by a not-so-superior force, panicked and routed, and incurred three times as many casualties as their attackers.
Battery Wagner- the 54th (while certainly brave) got no foothold in the battery nor did they attack alone. Two white regiments with the 54th gained a position in the fort, lost it, and three more white regiments gained a foothold and were withdrawn. You only hear about the 54th, although they incurred about 250 of the 1,500 casualties.
The Crater is a similar story- many black troops (not all)panicked and plunged into the crater, leading to disaster after white troops had captured the line of works.
The author also misrepresents atrocities committed against black troops by Confederate soldiers. Some undoubtedly happened and these were nothing short of murder.
However, the accounts the author gives on Fort Pillow and Saltville tend to be one-sided and condemning towards the Rebels.
The weight of evidence (well documented in William Marvel's Battles For Saltville) places the number of murders at 5 to 8.
The Ft. Pillow "Massacre" has a similar story. Also, the author briefly mentions black troops murdering Confederate soldiers but trivializes it. (See Mobile 1865 by O'Brian for a good account of USCT murdering Rebels and even their own officers).
A previous reviewer claiming all Rebels were murderers is making a claim with no foundation in truth and that claim is outrageous, insulting, and makes the reviewer look very foolish.
I gave this book two stars for the amount of research done and the author's ability to cover the entire war while still covering the smaller engagements.
In short, the subject of black troops is much more interesting and controversial than Mr. Trudeau's one-sided account. A balanced and subjective account is yet to be written.
No one could call all black troops cowards and I don't feel anyone should question a soldier's bravery, especially if the accuser has not been in combat.
However, it is recommended that people interested in USCT find books on individual battles the black troops were in and decide for themselves how well black troops fought.
Accusing black troops of not fighting well will be construed by many to be racist, but it is a legitimate historical debate.
In this era of popular revisionist history, the real story of the USCT would seem distasteful to modern readers.
In this reviewer's opinion a careful study of black troops will lead to the (unpopular) view that they did not fight as well as white troops-for many reasons.
A discussion of those reasons needs to be done as it is not to be found in Mr. Trudeau's work.
Arkansas
February 4, 2021
As a Civil War buff I must admit I had never read a book that explained the role of African American soldiers in the war. There is a lot of credit that is due to these men who marched to war to literally fight not just for freedom but to prove they were men that would fight and die just as the white soldiers did. I believe Mr. Trudeau gave this book a very fitting title in the fact that these soldiers were not looked at as men but as experiments. They were men of war but to everyone else in society they were like men of war but would they fight. Fight they did and galantly. From Battery Wagner to Olustee and Petersburg all the way to Appomattox and beyond to the Mexican Border these men gave their all for a country that has yet to give them all they are due. There is no way you can read this book and not come away with a deeper respect and understanding of their story.
September 28, 2018
had no idea that the USCT fought alongside George Thomas in Nashville. you learn something with every book.
June 25, 2024
Slavery cannot be persuaded, slavery can only be defeated.
June 21, 2012
Unlike Trudeau's other books which cover a specific event, this time he covers the entire African American experience in the Civil War. While this causes the book to be somewhat disjointed as we cross battles, it is an impressive and extensive compilation.
From Louisiana volunteers to the celebrated 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry we explore the entire experience of Black soldiers, spanning engagements from Florida to Texas to Virginia.
It was sad but not surprising to read how badly these soldiers were treated as Prisoners of War. In addition their achievements were downplayed and their senior officers underestimated them. I wonder how we will celebrate the 150th anniversary on April 12th, 2014 of the Battle of Fort Pillow in Tennessee, when Confederate soldiers massacred over 200 Black soldiers after they surrendered.
A must-read for any serious amateur Civil War fan.
From Louisiana volunteers to the celebrated 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry we explore the entire experience of Black soldiers, spanning engagements from Florida to Texas to Virginia.
It was sad but not surprising to read how badly these soldiers were treated as Prisoners of War. In addition their achievements were downplayed and their senior officers underestimated them. I wonder how we will celebrate the 150th anniversary on April 12th, 2014 of the Battle of Fort Pillow in Tennessee, when Confederate soldiers massacred over 200 Black soldiers after they surrendered.
A must-read for any serious amateur Civil War fan.
August 13, 2010
It's like the movie Glory from the vantage point of the colored troops themselves. Trudeau read hundreds of letters the troops had written home and to black newspapers of the day (some of which are still in print) and put together an epic history of the Civil War. Much of it takes place in Florida. The author researched the engagements and tells of the battles fought by the "colored" troops as they fought for their freedom. The black (they weren't Americans yet) soldiers were not all illiterate, runaway slaves. Their letters tell their feelings, not their leaders feelings to their families and the colored readers of the newspapers they wrote to. Excellent. Would make a good movie, but I don't think Hollywood is interested.
June 28, 2013
A fantastic look into the lives of black soldiers through their own words. The maps are good and there are a lot of them.There are letters from these troops all throughout the book and I found myself sympathizing,greatly,with all these men had to go through to gain their freedom; that the emancipation proclamation didn't "free" them,but only gave them a better chance for them to free themselves.
In my eyes, the black soldiers who fought for the union, owned neither Lincoln, nor anyone else, for their freedom. They earned it. If anything, I, an American of Hispanic heritage, owe them for me being able to think of myself as an American, FIRST, born and raised in the south and proud of it 150 years later.
Before reading this book I would have never been able to see things in this way.
In my eyes, the black soldiers who fought for the union, owned neither Lincoln, nor anyone else, for their freedom. They earned it. If anything, I, an American of Hispanic heritage, owe them for me being able to think of myself as an American, FIRST, born and raised in the south and proud of it 150 years later.
Before reading this book I would have never been able to see things in this way.
March 5, 2008
True untold story of Black soldiers during the Civil War. Inspring and heartbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews