This memoir by Freeman Sparks Bowley, a young white officer who served as a lieutenant in a regiment of U.S. Colored Troops in the Union Army, is the work of a superb storyteller who describes how his Civil War experiences transformed him from a callow youth into an honorable man. Describing in detail his relationship with the men in his company, Bowley extols the role of black soldiers and their officers in the Union victory. Bowley s service in the Union Army began when his regiment joined Grant s 1864 Overland Campaign. His courage was tested at the battles of the Wilderness and the...