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Contact:
Shirley Smith
615-889-4289
shirleysmith@greatclassics.net
An important new book on the most glorious day in African American
military history
Dear Editor,
As you are planning your newspaper’s Black
History Month
coverage you should be aware of a new groundbreaking book on the role
of African American soldiers during the civil war. The book, UNCOMMON
VALOR: The Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of
the Civil War (Wiley, December 2005; $25.95/Cloth), tells the riveting
story of the battle of New Market Heights.
This battle is
arguably the single most important in African American military
history. More black soldiers won the Congressional Medal of Honor for
this battle than in any other single day of combat in an American war.
But
for more than 140 years the Civil War story of the black farmers,
laborers, and tradesmen who bravely risked their lives on a killing
field in Virginia remained largely untold. And while the battles of
Atlanta, Bull Run, and Gettysburg would be memorialized in history
books and in the minds of Americans, few have heard of New Market
Heights. This is truly unfortunate, because few battlefields should be
more hallowed, or dead more sacred.
In UNCOMMON VALOR,
Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Melvin Claxton and former
investigative reporter Mark Puls tell for the first time this powerful
tale of war, heroism, and liberation. Using personal diaries, letters,
and other firsthand accounts, the authors follow Christian Fleetwood, a
free twenty-three-year-old black man living in Baltimore, who, a few
days after Gettysburg, made the momentous and patriotic decision to
enlist. Many other African Americans, some free and some slaves, made
the same decision, willingly risking their lives to save a nation and
win freedom for their race.
UNCOMMON
VALOR brilliantly describes how Sergeant Fleetwood and his fellow
“colored” troops were torn between the righteousness of their cause and
the daily reminders of their second-class status, until they finally
had a chance to prove themselves at the Battle of New Market Heights.
Fleetwood and 13 of his comrades were awarded the Congressional Medal
of Honor for outstanding bravery in that battle.
Claxton and
Puls not only tell the story of New Market Heights, but also examine
its impact on the passage of the 1874 Civil Rights Act, which was
voided almost immediately by the U.S. Supreme Court. That court
decision, the authors point out, paved the way for nearly a century of
Jim Crow laws in the South. This book, hailed as “riveting” by the
Library Journal, is essential reading for anyone interested in the
fundamental underpinnings of race relations in America.
The
Authors are available for interviews for news stories, and copies of
the book can be made available upon request to reviewers. For further
information please contact Shirley Smith at the email address or
telephone number listed above.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
MELVIN
CLAXTON (Nashville, TN) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative
journalist with the Nashville Tennessean and Gannett News Service. He
is a former investigative reporter with the Chicago Tribune and the
Detroit News. MARK PULS (Detroit, MI) is a former investigative
reporter with the Detroit News. He is currently writing a book about
the Revolutionary War.
Review:
The following is a review of UNCOMMON VALOR from the Library Journal,
November 2005.
“Seeing
their race's future hanging in the balance, nearly 200,000 black men
like Christian A. Fleetwood of Baltimore shouldered arms on the Union
side during the Civil War. Detroit News investigative reporters Claxton
(a Pulitzer Prize winner) and Puls relate Fleetwood's service in the
U.S. Colored Volunteer Infantry from Gettysburg's aftermath in July
1863 through his unit's desperate fight in September 1864 at New Market
Heights, VA. The 24-year-old Fleetwood and 13 comrades there earned the
Congressional Medal of Honor. Working from firsthand accounts such as
diaries and letters, the authors re-create the suffering and sacrifice
of black men battling not only rebel enemies but abusive racism from
officers and soldiers on their own side. More the story of a unit than
of a man, the narrative encompasses a full range of black Civil War
service. This is a riveting read for general audiences that contributes
a personal face to scholarly treatments available from Ira Berlin, John
David Smith, and Noah Andre Trudeau, to name a few. Recommended for
black, Civil War, and military collections.-Thomas J. Davis, Arizona
State Univ., Tempe Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.”
UNCOMMON VALOR is available at local bookstores or online at: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471468231.html.
In Canada, call 1-800-567-4797
UNCOMMON VALOR:
A Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of the
Civil War
By Melvin Claxton and Mark Puls
Wiley
Publication Date: December 2005
$24.95/Cloth
ISBN: 0-471-46823-1
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