Meet Nimrod, a typical horse in the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. He’s big, black and brave, yet steady as a rock. But what’s his story, and how is he trained for his special military role?The Household Cavalry is a uniquely British institution, famous around the world for its outstanding pageantry and gallantry on the battle field. Its 250 horses, known as Cavalry Blacks, are central to its existence, and visitors to London flock to see these magnificent horses taking part in ceremonies and routine guarding activities. Little is known about how they are chosen, trained and what their duties – as full members of their regiment – entail. Here in words and pictures Juliet Blaxland fills in the background to their life and work, providing a fascinating insight into the world of the Household Cavalry horse.
The service of African-American soldiers during the Civil War is one of that conflict’s most stirring, if still not completely understood, aspects. In this comprehensive account—from recruitment into combat, and covering all the military, political, and social aspects of this story—John D. Warner recounts the history of the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, the only Black cavalry regiment raised in the North during the war. After Massachusetts made history with the 54th and 55th Infantry Regiments, its governor wanted to continue the experiment of training African-Americans as Union fighting men, this time as cavalry. Where the infantry regiments recruited largely free Blacks from the North, the 5th focused on escaped slaves who it was believed would be better horsemen. (But not solely: the regiment’s members included a son of Frederick Douglass and, interestingly, several Hawaiian islanders.) This gave the regiment a sharper edge: not only would the former slaves be fighting for themselves, but they would be fighting to liberate loved ones still enslaved. The 5th’s officers were drawn from Boston’s abolitionist elite, including Charles Francis Adams Jr., great-grandson and grandson of U.S. presidents, son of the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. In the spring of 1864, the regiment journeyed south and fought in Grant’s siege of Petersburg, where it joined attacks that nearly took the city in June. The 5th was then abruptly sent to Maryland to guard Confederate prisoners of war, until Col. Charles Francis Adams advocated for, and was granted, a return to combat duty. As part of the mostly Black XXV Corps, the cavalrymen found themselves at the vanguard of the Union army as it captured Richmond. On April 3, 1865, the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment was among the first units to enter the burning Confederate capital, at once a hellscape of destruction and a heaven for liberated slaves. Denied the rapid demobilization granted white regiments, the 5th ended the war in Texas on the Mexican border. In the spirit of the book One Gallant Rush and the movie Glory, Riders in the Storm covers—uncovers and indeed recovers—the story of the African-American cavalrymen of the 5th Massachusetts. Author John Warner has literal fingertip command of the primary sources, and after spending two decades researching letters, diaries, reports, newspapers, and more, he tells a story of resilience in the face of adversity, one that will resonate not just during the present moment of reckoning with race in the United States, but in the annals of American history for all time.
Chronicles the Civil War experience of a representative African American regiment The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois tells the story of the Twenty-ninth United States Colored Infantry, one of almost 150 African American regiments to fight in the Civil War and the only such unit assembled by the state of Illinois. The Twenty-ninth took part in the famous Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, joined Grant's forces in the siege of Richmond, and stood on the battlefield when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. In this comprehensive examination of the unit's composition, contribution, and postwar fate, Edward A. Miller, Jr., demonstrates the value of the Twenty-ninth as a means of understanding the Civil War experience of African American soldiers, including the prejudice that shaped their service. Miller details the formation of the Twenty-ninth, its commendable performance but incompetent leadership during the Petersburg battle, and the refilling of its ranks, mostly by black enlistees who served as substitutes for drafted white men. He recounts the unit's role in the final campaign against the Army of Northern Virginia; its final, needless mission to the Texas border; the tragic postwar fate of most of its officers; and the continued discrimination and economic hardship endured after the war by the soldiers.
"Charles L. Kenner's detailed biographies of officers and enlisted men describe the passions, aspirations, and conflicts that both bound blacks and whites together and pulled them apart."--Jacket.
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
