The war has barely ended and already restrictions are being placed upon freedpersons in the former Confederate capital of Richmond, restrictions in which federal military officials play a notable role. Fields Cook (1817-1897) is a former slave who while a slave learned how to read and write, learned the precepts of Christianity through the kindness…
With the war over, former slaveowners who at one time were the elites of the South face a future devoid of privilege, power and riches. The thought of starting over without slave labor is daunting. And in the minds of many, living in a United States where blacks are free and equal to whites is…
Today in the nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. the Grand Review of the Armies takes place. Beginning at 9:00 a.m. sharp on a bright and sunny day, some 80,000 soldiers from the Union Army of the Potomac parade through the streets to the cheers of politicians, officials and citizens, including president Andrew Johnson, standing alongside…