The first work on foreign officers in the U.S. Colored Troops deals extensively with the relationship between black soldiers and white officers in these units. . . . An important contribution to the history of the Civil War and the issue of what they fought for, of the political and ideological stance of German ethnics, and of the history of black Americans in the era of emancipation. Walter D. Kamphoefner, Texas A&M University

While the experiences of ethnic minorities in the Civil War have received increased attention in recent decades, the varied and not always easy relations...