What do you think?
Rate this book
We Look Like Men of War
From the bestselling author of The Lost Regiment series comes a factually based narrative of the black military experience in the Civil War.
We Look Like Men of War
"I was born a slave, as was my father before me, but I shall die a free man...."
Thus begins the poignant story of Samuel Washburn, born a slave in 1850. A young master's cruelty leads to an unforeseen confrontation, which forces Sam and his cousin to flee the plantation. They run north to freedom, only to return south to fight for the greater cause.
Though still a boy, Sam becomes a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment" and sees action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, as well as at the bloody Battle of the Crater in July of 1864.
Sam's voice offers a unique and insightful perspective on the carnage of the War Between the States and the toll it took on both young and old, black and white.
We Look Like Men of War
"I was born a slave, as was my father before me, but I shall die a free man...."
Thus begins the poignant story of Samuel Washburn, born a slave in 1850. A young master's cruelty leads to an unforeseen confrontation, which forces Sam and his cousin to flee the plantation. They run north to freedom, only to return south to fight for the greater cause.
Though still a boy, Sam becomes a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment" and sees action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, as well as at the bloody Battle of the Crater in July of 1864.
Sam's voice offers a unique and insightful perspective on the carnage of the War Between the States and the toll it took on both young and old, black and white.
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
William R. Forstchen
116 books1,745 followersWilliam R. Forstchen (born 1950) is an American author who began publishing in 1983 with the novel Ice Prophet. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War and the History of Technology.
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 8, 2020
A historical fiction story about a colored regiment fighting in the Civil War. The author did an excellent job I feel very humble after reading this book.
December 3, 2009
I've read a fair amount of historical fiction, but I think this is the first book I have read about the black regiments in the Civil War. The story is told through the eyes of Sam Washburn who was born as a slave and escapes with his cousin to the North and then joins the Union Army. He is too young, so he becomes the regimental drummer although he later takes up arms against the South.
I thought this book was very interesting.
I thought this book was very interesting.
August 8, 2025
I have read some historical novels which one learns of many things that were never told. I of course had never heard of total military company of blacks during any war so this is very interesting & I have to say proud they were there. A very interesting facts relating to the Civil War, wanting to read more about our worst time in history with so much tragedy & anger. So many stories of horror that can make you shutter.
April 22, 2021
Another great book by Forstchen. The dramatized retelling of historical events through the eyes of an escaped slave fighting for the Union in the Civil War is not just entertaining, but also enlightening.
July 31, 2015
This is the story of Samuel Washburn, born a slave in 1850. After the death of his master, Mr. Washburn, the terrible death of Sam's own father, and the loss of Sam's mother, who was sold down the river to a different state, his world began to fall apart. His late master's son's cruelty culminated in an unforeseen and very unfortunate confrontation, which impelled Sam and his cousin to flee the plantation. They ran north to freedom, only to return to the South to fight for a greater cause, the liberation of all slaves in the Confederacy and the return of the Confederacy to the Union.
Though still only a boy, Sam became a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment," and saw action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, and at that bloody Battle of the Crater in July 1864.
This story, told in Sam Washburn's own voice, gives a unique perspective on the slaughterhouse that was the War Between the States and the hideous toll it took on both young and old, black and white. But it also shows us, with stark and unforgiving clarity, the even worse toll that slavery took on both master and slave, the hideous assaults on the dignity and spirit of slaves, and the warping of the minds of those who owned or sold or captured slaves. Slavery corrupts both master and slave, and even after the Civil War was over with, in the American South the maltreatment of former slaves as well as poor whites continued and worsened year by year as the Ku Klux Klan kept both groups of people from ever "rising above their station" and made their lives hell. It took the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights movement in general to bring that hell on Earth in this country to a well-deserved end. It was men and women like Sam Washburn, yearning for freedom, fleeing slavery, and returning to fight to free others, working unknowingly in concert with President Abraham Lincoln, the saintly Harriet Ross Tubman and other conductors of the Underground Railway, and the martyred abolitionist John Brown to achieve that end. People like these changed history for us all, and set us on a path to the stars. It is up to us to continue on that path for the sake of us all.
Though still only a boy, Sam became a regimental drummer with a "colored regiment," and saw action in the Wilderness campaign at Fredericksburg and Petersburg, and at that bloody Battle of the Crater in July 1864.
This story, told in Sam Washburn's own voice, gives a unique perspective on the slaughterhouse that was the War Between the States and the hideous toll it took on both young and old, black and white. But it also shows us, with stark and unforgiving clarity, the even worse toll that slavery took on both master and slave, the hideous assaults on the dignity and spirit of slaves, and the warping of the minds of those who owned or sold or captured slaves. Slavery corrupts both master and slave, and even after the Civil War was over with, in the American South the maltreatment of former slaves as well as poor whites continued and worsened year by year as the Ku Klux Klan kept both groups of people from ever "rising above their station" and made their lives hell. It took the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Freedom Riders, and the Civil Rights movement in general to bring that hell on Earth in this country to a well-deserved end. It was men and women like Sam Washburn, yearning for freedom, fleeing slavery, and returning to fight to free others, working unknowingly in concert with President Abraham Lincoln, the saintly Harriet Ross Tubman and other conductors of the Underground Railway, and the martyred abolitionist John Brown to achieve that end. People like these changed history for us all, and set us on a path to the stars. It is up to us to continue on that path for the sake of us all.
September 25, 2016
The largest explosion in America occurred during the Civil War, at Petersburg, in 1864. This had lasted until the first atomic bomb was dropped during the closing years of World War II.
William R. Forsychen has taken a Civil War veteran, named Samuel Washburn, and recounts his story of this event as he prepares to march in a parade. Samuael, recounts his time as a slave, his father a freeman who was murdered, and mother sold off. Samuel then runs away and joins the 28th United States Colored Troops of the Northern Army. They prepared for fighting in the Battle of the Crater as it became later known. A battle that would have ended the Civil War much sooner, if not for the general's hesitation of using colored troops to fight as the first outfits into battle. Either for the fame of ending the war or the shame of letting colored troops be thrown into battle and being killed for nothing if the plan did not succeed.
This is a novel of the Civil War what the negro soldier faced in the Civil War. It also tells the story of the Crater from the Black Regiment's side. It is an excellent book fir anyone that likes history. I would also recommend it to any young person.
William R. Forsychen has taken a Civil War veteran, named Samuel Washburn, and recounts his story of this event as he prepares to march in a parade. Samuael, recounts his time as a slave, his father a freeman who was murdered, and mother sold off. Samuel then runs away and joins the 28th United States Colored Troops of the Northern Army. They prepared for fighting in the Battle of the Crater as it became later known. A battle that would have ended the Civil War much sooner, if not for the general's hesitation of using colored troops to fight as the first outfits into battle. Either for the fame of ending the war or the shame of letting colored troops be thrown into battle and being killed for nothing if the plan did not succeed.
This is a novel of the Civil War what the negro soldier faced in the Civil War. It also tells the story of the Crater from the Black Regiment's side. It is an excellent book fir anyone that likes history. I would also recommend it to any young person.
January 15, 2014
We Look Like Men of War is told from the perspective of the main character, Samuel Washburn who grows up a slave, runs away, and joins the fight as a drummer boy for the Union troops.
This novel excels at setting the stage for an understanding of the history surrounding this fictionalized account, including the politicking going on about how and where to use colored troops. We Look Like Men of War was also quite an easy read and I felt like I was looking through the eyes of the main character.
The one thing I didn't like about the book was the general lack of character development. That's okay, but I have come off a strong streak of character-driven novels.
Buy if you are a US Civil War history buff.
Borrow if you are looking for a fun story that helps you gain an understanding of the perspective of a black slave during the US Civil War.
Pass if you live for character-driven novels.
This novel excels at setting the stage for an understanding of the history surrounding this fictionalized account, including the politicking going on about how and where to use colored troops. We Look Like Men of War was also quite an easy read and I felt like I was looking through the eyes of the main character.
The one thing I didn't like about the book was the general lack of character development. That's okay, but I have come off a strong streak of character-driven novels.
Buy if you are a US Civil War history buff.
Borrow if you are looking for a fun story that helps you gain an understanding of the perspective of a black slave during the US Civil War.
Pass if you live for character-driven novels.
June 15, 2010
I loved this book because it really brought a more forgotten part of history to life. The story, written by an expert on the subject, follows a young black soldier in the Civil War. It describes his fight for freedom from his days as a slave on a plantation, through his glory days fighting as an American soldier, and briefly touches on his post-war life.
November 6, 2012
This should be a must read for anyone interested in the history of the United States of America. The author should be commended for the fine job he has done with this book. I really cannot say too much, other than that I hope those that are looking at reviews to determine if this book is worth their time will just go out and pick this book up.
March 4, 2013
An interesting little book about the impact of color on a battle in the civil war. William Forstchen is well equipped to tell it well and make it live. It is a painful chapter and goes a long way to helping you glimpse the bigger sweep of the civil war through the prism of this one battle and the decisions and opinions and mistakes that led to this needless catastrophe.
May 21, 2012
I loved the last battle... all the generals got drunk instead of attending the attack... What a Hoot!
April 18, 2015
Really 4 1/2 stars
March 9, 2016
it was a good book and is very historically accurate it has a do start to it but it has alot of bad words in it
June 9, 2016
While Fiction it could have happened. The History is real and the characters might have been. Type book I loved at 13 and continue to love today
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews