Press Release–An We Ob Jubilee The First South Carolina Volunteers

Saucier, John. An We Ob Jubilee: The First South Carolina Volunteers. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing  2019. 320 pages, 268 pages of text. B/W illustrations, end notes, bibliography. ISBN 9781634991261, $22.99.

Thank you to Arcadia Publishing for sending along a complimentary review copy.

From the publisher website:

“Oh, praise an’ tanks! De Lord he come

To set de people free;

An’ massa tink it day ob doom,

An we ob jubilee.”

During the American Civil War more than 2,000 regiments of infantry, cavalry and artillery mustered to fight in the conflict. Re-discover a regiment very little is known about: The first black regiment in the Union Army, the first to fight against Confederate soldiers and the first to be brigaded with white regiments–the 1st South Carolina Volunteers.

If you are interested in the role of African American troops in the Union army during the Civil War this looks like a book you would enjoy.

If this book is of interest to you I would also recommend Army Life in a Black Regiment: and Other Writings (Penguin Classics), written by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the white Colonel who was the first commander of the regiment.

Graduate School Here I Come

After some starts and stops, mostly in trying to figure out how to pay for it, I have taken the plunge and will be starting graduate school in August. I will be in the Public History program at American Public University. This is both exciting and also a bit nerve wracking as I haven’t been in school in more years than I care to think about.

My first course is Historical Research Methods. Take a look at the books for the course in the photo to the left.

While I already have plenty to write about that I never seem to get to hopefully my course work will get me to focus and put more content here.