Forged in Battle

the long version

Against the tumultuous background of military combat, racial conflict, and struggle for national survival, this book brings to life the story and extraordinary performance of The United States Colored Troops on the battlefields of the Civil War. One hundred and eighty thousand African-Americans, enslaved in the South, discriminated against in the North, and widely regarded as inferior in both sections, became soldiers in the Union Army in a bold experiment born of necessity.