This book refutes the historical slander that blacks did not fight for their emancipation from slavery. At first harshly rejected in their attempts to enlist in the Union army, blacks were eventually accepted into the service - often through the efforts of individual generals who, frustrated with bureaucratic inaction in the face of dwindling forces, overrode orders from the secretary of war and the president himself. By the end of the war, black soldiers had numbered over 187,000 and served in 167 regiments. Seventeen were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor. Theirs was a remarkable achievement whose full story is here told for the first time.

The 92nd Infantry (""Buffalo"") Division was the last segregated (all-black) U.S. Army division and the only black division to fight in World War II in Europe. The few media references to the division have reflected generally unfavorable contemporary evaluations by white commanders. The present work reflects an analysis of numerous records and interviews that refute the negative impressions and demonstrate that these 13,500 soldiers gained their share of victories under hardships no others were expected to meet. The photographs are on 16 pages of special, high-quality, glossy plates.