02746cam a2200409 i 4500 1164538313 TxAuBib 20161208120000.0 160728s2016||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2016032057 9780465096640 hardcover 0465096646 hardcover (OCoLC)945232329 DLC eng rda DLC YDXCP BTCTA BDX OCLCO OCLCQ OCLCF OCLCO JP3 OCLCO ABG IHX IGA OCLCO TxAuBib rda Egerton, Douglas R, author. Thunder at the gates : the Black Civil War regiments that redeemed America / Douglas R. Egerton. Black Civil War regiments that redeemed America. New York : Basic Books, [2016] ©2016. ix, 429 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 25 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Includes bibliographical references (pages 355-409) and index. The travelers -- The Brahmins -- Readville -- The Sea Islands -- Battery Wagner -- Hospitals and home fronts -- The siege -- Florida -- Liberation -- Occupation -- The veterans -- The legacy of the regiments. Almost immediately after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, abolitionists began to call for the raising of black regiments. The South and most of the North responded with outrage. Southerners vowed to enslave black soldiers captured in battle, while many northerners claimed that blacks lacked the courage to fight. Yet Boston's Brahmins, always eager for a moral crusade, launched one of the greatest experiments in American history. In Thunder at the gates, Douglas R. Egerton chronicles the formation and exploits of the 54th and 55th Massachusetts Infantry and the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry -- regiments led by whites but composed of black men born free or into slavery. 20161208. United States Army Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 54th (1863-1865.) United States Army Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, 55th (1863-1865.) United States Army Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment, 5th (1864-1865.) United States Army African American troops History 19th century. African American soldiers Massachusetts History 19th century. United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Participation, African American. United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Campaigns. Massachusetts History Civil War, 1861-1865 Participation, African American. TXKIP