Through wonderfully detailed letters, recruit rosters, and pension records, Edythe Ann Quinn shares the story of thirty-five African American Civil War soldiers and the United States Colored Troop (USCT) regiments with which they served. Associated with The Hills community in Westchester County, New York, the soldiers served in three regiments: the 29th Connecticut Infantry, 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (11th USCT), and the 20th USCT. The thirty-sixth Hills man served in the Navy. Their ties to family, land, church, school, and occupational experiences at home buffered the brutal indifference of boredom and battle, the ravages of illness, the deprivations of unequal pay, and the hostility of some commissioned officers and white troops. At the same time, their service among kith and kin bolstered their determination and pride. They marched together, first as raw recruits, and finally as seasoned veterans, welcomed home by generals, politicians, and above all, their families and friends.

Edythe Ann Quinn is Professor of History at Hartwick College.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. The Hills in 1860

2. War Comes to Westchester and The Hills

Sidebar 1: Peekskill Men in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment
Sidebar 2: Aaron Halstead Jr., Landsman, U.S. Navy

3. Fourteenth Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery (Colored)

Sidebar 3: Food Issues for the USCT
Sidebar 4: Abusive Discipline of Black Soldiers

4. Twenty-ninth Connecticut Regiment, Infantry Colored Volunteers

Sidebar 5: Treating Pneumonia in 1864
Sidebar 6: Excerpts from 1st Lt. Henry H. Brown's Account of October 27, 1864
Sidebar 7: Medical Case of Pvt. John Purdy

5. Twentieth Infantry Regiment, USCT

Sidebar 8: Chaplain George W. LeVere
Sidebar 9: Battle of Port Hudson, May 27, 1863
Sidebar 10: Van Amburgh's Circus
Sidebar 11: Attack on Milliken's Bend, June 7, 1863

photo gallery follows page 112

6. Post-Civil War Years in The Hills

Sidebar 12: Valentine M. Hodgson and M. A. Hodgson, White Plains Pension Agents
Sidebar 13: "Colored Veteran Gets Pension"

Epilogue

Appendix A: Roster of the Hills Men in the Civil War

Appendix B: Letters Home: Civil War Letters of Sgt. Simeon Anderson Tierce

Letter dated November 24, 1863
Sidebar 14: Notes for Letter dated November 24, 1863
Letter dated February 15, 1864
Sidebar 15: Notes for Letter dated February 15, 1864
Letter dated February 22, 1864
Sidebar 16: Notes for Letter dated February 22, 1864
Letter dated March 11, 1864
Sidebar: 17: Notes for Letter dated March 11, 1864
Undated letter (written between March 27 and July 8, 1864)
Sidebar 18: Notes for Undated letter (written between March 27 and July 8, 1864)

Appendix C: Jacobs Williams of Harrison, Private, Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment

Appendix D: Allen Banks' Freedom Journey

Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author
Index