The book talks about slavery and what led up the Civil War. Even though many who fought did so because they wanted slavery to end, that doesn't mean that they were accepting Blacks as equal. One Union General, John Fremont, lost his command because he enlisted freed slaves in the Union Army in 1861.
As it because obvious that the war was not going to be over quickly, allowing Blacks to join the army became acceptable and a July, 1862 law allowed for this. The Emancipation Proclamation is discussed, plus the fact that it freed slaves only in the Confederate states, and not in the boarder states that had sided with the Union.
The movie Glory is about the 54th regiment which was all black but had a white commander. It's an incredibly good movie, although sort of gory in spots.
Anyhow, the book also points out how the Blacks fighting for the North didn't get equal pay for equal work, even back then.
A very interesting book.
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