The Fire of Freedom
Abraham Galloway and the Slaves' Civil War
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Abraham H. Galloway (1837-1870) was a fiery young slave rebel, radical abolitionist, and Union spy who rose out of bondage to become one of the most significant and stirring black leaders in the South during the Civil War. Throughout his brief, mercurial life, Galloway fought against slavery and injustice. He risked his life behind enemy lines, recruited black soldiers for the North, and fought racism in the Union army's ranks. He also stood at the forefront of an African American political movement that flourished in the Union-occupied parts of North Carolina, even leading a historic delegation of black southerners to the White House to meet with President Lincoln and to demand the full rights of citizenship. He later became one of the first black men elected to the North Carolina legislature.
Long hidden from history, Galloway's story reveals a war unfamiliar to most of us. As David Cecelski writes, "Galloway's Civil War was a slave insurgency, a war of liberation that was the culmination of generations of perseverance and faith." This riveting portrait illuminates Galloway's life and deepens our insight into the Civil War and Reconstruction as experienced by African Americans in the South.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An illiterate but powerful orator, Abraham Galloway escaped from slavery to become a successful Union spy and, later, a Reconstruction-era state senator in North Carolina who, before his early death, advocated for the needs of the newly freed and for women's suffrage. Using Galloway's biography as a framework, Cecelski (The Waterman's Song) weaves North Carolina history with that of the period's African American leaders who lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights movement a full century later. In a few cases Galloway's life-saving penchant for secrecy necessitates admitted-but-believable supposition. However, substantial documentation of circumstantial supporting evidence is provided to flesh out events on both sides of the conflict. Cecelski obviously admires the brash biracial man who infiltrated a Union prison camp and rescued his mother from slavery, but he also reveals the personality quirks of someone so ambitious living with such peculiar social status. Substantial endnotes detail both the abolitionist infrastructure but also the realities of the Union's inconsistencies regarding the fates and handling of both fugitive slaves and black soldiers. Cecelski's marvelous story of a North Carolina slave who transcended his bondage with flair provides a meaningful way to commemorate the sesquicentennial Civil War anniversaries.
