The Sergeant: The Incredible Life of Nicholas Said: Son of an African General, Slave of the Ottomans, Free Man Under the Tsars, Hero of the Union Army

by Dean Calbreath

From his noble childhood in the kingdom of Borno to being kidnapped into slavery, the inspiring life-story of Nicholas Said is an epic journey that takes him from Africa and the Ottoman Empire through Czarist Russia and, finally, to heroic acclaim in the American Civil War.

In the late 1830s a young Black man was born into a world of wealth and privilege in the powerful, thousand-year-old African kingdom of Borno. But instead of becoming a respected general like his fearsome father (who was known as The Lion), Nicolas Said’s fate was to fight a very different kind of battle.

At the age of thirteen, Said was kidnapped and sold into slavery, beginning an epic journey that would take him across Africa, Asia, Europe, and eventually the United States, where he would join one of the first African American regiments in the Union Army. Nicholas Said would then spend the rest of his life fighting for equality. Along the way, Said encountered such luminaries as Queen Victoria and Czar Nicholas I, fought Civil War battles that would turn the war for the North, established schools to educate newly freed Black children, and served as one of the first Black voting registrars.

In The Sergeant, Said’s epic (and largely unknown) story is brought to light by globe-trotting, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Dean Calbreath in a meticulously researched and approachable biography. Through the lens of Said’s continent-crossing life, Calbreath examines the parallels and differences in the ways slavery was practiced from a global and religious perspective, and he highlights how Said’s experiences echo the discrimination, segregation, and violence that are still being reckoned with today.

There has never been a more voracious appetite for stories documenting the African American experience, and The Sergeant’s unique perspective of slavery from a global perspective will resonate with a wide audience.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Civil War, Russia

320 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2023

Reviews

[Kadin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good biography of an interesting character from history. Over the course of about 50 years, Said was there for many of history's biggest moments. Calbreath does pretty good to get as much information on Nicholas Said given the fact that there doesn't seem to be much documentation of his life. Definitely worth picking up.

[Martha Anne Toll]

Here’s my review of this book for the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...

[Tanya Castaneda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the courageous volunteer military participation by Black people in the Civil War - and the shocking and tragic injustices they faced by their military leaders and comrades on the Union side who were ostensibly fighting for freedom. Seen through the lens of a highly sophisticated, well-educated African man, this struggle is stripped bare and takes on epic significance. Finally, the protagonist’s subsequent service as a schoolteacher in the Reconstruction South illuminates his feeling for fellow mankind and desire to share his knowledge with others.

[Timothy McClain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating slice of history, and super complicated to recover and piece together. A man who as a boy was a slave in Africa and the son of the sultan's top warrior leads a young life of some privilege and rich education. Not at all like the version of American slavery. The early parts of the book laying out this portion of the main character's life were just so new to me that I had to read slowly, and sometimes reread, to keep track of what was happening. Eventually fortunes wane and the boy is reckless and kidnapped into what becomes a life of Mid Eastern/European/Russian/English version of servitude, but at a high station and with continued exposure to multiple languages and continued education. When he finally lands in the U.S. chasing down being betrayed, the Civil War is about the break out. He joins and survives a quite difficult second-class Army experience, only to remain in the South where he moves about teaching, lecturing and working on a slow developing biography. The diligence of the author in tracking down the arc of Nicholas Said's life, and separating fact and fiction, revive this important figure, and perspective on American history, and enrich our understanding of that part of U.S. history. A book to be savored and not rushed through. Enjoy.

[Sarah Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story about a man who experienced different versions of slavery, inequality, and racism across the world. Heartbreaking, informative read but necessary to do my part to attempt to prevent history repeating itself.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating biography.An incredible life indeed.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting person. I hope another book is written about Nicholas Said.

[Ernst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someone told me they didn't like biographies because they know how they end, but in this case we don't -- for years they thought the man who led this remarkable life ended up in prison, but that story is utterly without evidence. He may have returned to Africa, as he often intended, or ended up teaching school somewhere, or who knows?
We do have a remarkable story of an African American who walked across the Sahara in Arab slavery, went to Russia, England, Canada, and other places, showed a remarkable gift for learning languages, served in the 55th Massachusetts in the Civil War, and taught school in South Carolina after it ended. Moving stories of African American soldiers, arising early in the morning to attend to their duties, but nevertheless staying up to midnight because in the army they had their first chance to learn to read.

[Trina · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a remarkable life Nicholas Said led - born in Africa in 1830s, vanished in America 1880s, and what amazements he saw in between: “He witnessed firsthand the impact of jihads in the Muslim world, enslavement in Africa, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, unrest in Tsarist Russia, the golden age of European aristocracy, and the Civil War & Reconstruction in the United States.”
The author fills in most of the gaps in Nicholas Said’s autobiographical writing, for he was well-educated and fluent in French, German, Russian, Turkish, Italian, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, English, and his own native tongue. The Sergeant is presented as a true story, and provides a balanced account of a most unusual person. I only wish the first sentence of the book wasn’t so misleading—“Mohammed Ali ben Said was born to be a fighter.” It’s true his father was a legendary warrior in the kingdom of Borno (modern-day Nigeria), yet he himself opted out of officer class in the Union Army when the federal government refused to let Black soldiers lead their own troops, promote them, or pay them the same rate as White soldiers in the American Civil War. He was more of a pragmatist than fighter by nature, tho’ his experiences as a slave in Turkey and valet in Russia no doubt groomed him to be subservient or at least subdued his dreams of achieving glory on a battlefield. He did as he was ordered, and did well under fire when he joined up to fight in the US Army, but he also asked to be demoted after serving in the fabled all-Black Massachusetts 55th Infantry for a few months wresting some forts from Confederate hands down in So. Carolina and served ably as a surgeon’s assistant for the remainder of the war.
His biggest contribution to improving the condition of his race was more through education than fighting for civil rights. He remained in the American South after the war, where he scraped out a living as a lecturer and built schools where he could teach illiterate freedman and former slaves how to read & write so they could try to get ahead in life. No one knows what happened to him after publishing his memoirs. The author refutes the racist slanders circulating at the time that Nicholas Said ended up a convict in an Alabama penitentiary. He leaves it an open question. Perhaps Africa beckoned him home. Perhaps the KKK ran him out of town or strung him up one dark night. Or perhaps he went west as so many did and faded into obscurity.🏜️

[HollyLovesBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated this book for its look at the life of this extraordinary man. Said was a Black man born in Borneo Africa, as the child of slavery, but different from US slavery. He had a pleasant childhood until he was kidnapped away from his family. He was resilient and spent his life taking on new and bigger challenges. This book explores the various milestones throughout Nicholas Said's life.
I appreciate the work the author did in researching this history, made especially difficult by the limited written history in existence for Blacks at the time and for details changed by Said himself. I think by only critique of the book is that I wanted more! What I mean is that I wanted a deeper dive into the history at the time, building up more detail around the biographical details.
I am glad that I read this and it adds to my understanding of some of these historical events.

[Ross Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Calbreath has unearthed a truly fascinating figure for his first novel. Just a straight front-to-back telling of Nicholas Said’s extraordinary life story would be interesting enough, but this really very well researched novel goes much further, using our protagonist as a window into many different parts of the world at a time when there was a great deal of re-thinking about long standing views on race, culture and the ownership of human beings. He manages to give us the history and the context and the philosophy without any interruption to the storytelling. I kept putting off other things so I could get back to the book and find out what happens next. Amazing that this is his first novel. I hope we’ll see many more.

[Marc Ballon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pulitzer Prize-winner Dean Calbreath's "The Sergeant" is a tour de force. In it, the Fulbright scholar brings to life the little known Nicholas Said, the son of an African general and later a slave who ends up fighting with the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War. Calbreath's engaging prose, depth of research, and thoughtful analysis make this a must read for anyone interested in slavery, 19th century America and the incredible yet unlikely journey of one Nicholas Said. But don't take my word for it. Harvard's eminent scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. call the book "essential reading." I couldn't agree more.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary life that seems like it could only have happened in the 19th century, spanning Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and Civil War America, unearthed by Dean Calbreath (note, a former colleague of mine who gave me a copy of the book.)
Necessarily speculative in part due the gaps in the historical records but Calbreath’s wide research and fluent storytelling bring Nicholas Said’s story to life.

[Laurie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned so much from this book: a tour through elements of the 19th century as seen through the lens of one extraordinary man’s life. The American Civil War, the experiences of Black people in the north around that time, but even more interesting to me were the glimpses of life in Africa around that time including the slave trade within Africa.

[Emily Pickell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written biography about a fascinating person. I liked how the author explained historical events and people throughout the book. Through Said’s story we get to see the Kingdom of Borno in North Central Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Tsarist Russia and Europe before making our way to America, just in time for the Civil War. What a journey!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Nicholas Said who served as a sergeant in Co. I, 55th Mass Volunteers during the Civil War. He worked as a school teacher in Detriot and the Deep South before and after the war. His story starts in the West African country of Bornu now part of Nigeria. The end of his story is unclear, unfortunately.

[Herb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The true story of the life of an African man who travelled the world, going from slave to freed man, to Union Soldier, to teacher of former slaves after the Civil War. This guy lived an epic life. Well researched and very well-written. Highly recommended.

[Clyde jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable

I have never heard about this truly amazing person. His story should be talked about whenever American history and definitely black history is taught. The first Muhammad Ali, in America. This story is for those who are seeking the TRUE American history.

[John A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkably researched remarkable story

I’m in awe as to how Calbreath was able to research a single life that threaded through four continents, and a pivotal eighty years of world history. A colossal achievement. I could barely put it down.

[Azriel Martinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

More detailed review to come...

[Deep Frey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fascinating life story that I was not familiar with. I found the ending disappointing, not due to the writing, but by the racial prejudices of the reconstruction period. Interesting read...

[Luc · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly interesting history lesson

[Michael Shayeson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating true story of a truly remarkable man! Well written and a joy to read.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Incredible Life” is accurate.