After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans

By Donald R. Shaffer
Illustrated, notes, bibliography, appendix, index, hardcover, 304 pp., 2004. University Press of Kansas, 2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, KS 66045, $34.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Jonathan A. Noyalas
Jonathan A. Noyalas is a history professor at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Va., and the author or editor of four books on Civil War era history.

Review:
On May 31, 1897, Booker T. Washington addressed a crowd in Boston on the occasion of the unveiling of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' monument to the 54th Massachusetts. To Washington the sculpture was an inspiration as it not only represented the 54th's heroism, but the gallantry of all black soldiers.

Despite the roles served by nearly 200,000 African American troops in the Civil War, when the war ended black veterans realized that regardless of their sacrifices they would not enjoy parity with white society. Even though racism permeated the nation, black veterans continued the fight in the postwar years to realize emancipation's promise. This struggle is the topic of Donald R. Shaffer's splendid volume After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans.

Shaffer follows the current trend in academic history by examining the veterans' experiences in gendered terms. The book's premise is that veterans embarked on a mission to assert their "manhood" after the war.

To some Shaffer's use of "manhood" may seem limiting; however, the term's use is inclusive of postwar objectives such as "money, power, pride, dignity, respect, self-control, citizenship, autonomy, bravery, physical prowess, fraternal solidarity, and patriarchal authority."

To answer the question of how veterans sought their manhood the author utilized a large cache of primary documents including Works Progress Administration narratives and service records from the National Archives. Shaffer's random sampling of 1,000 "ordinary" black soldiers and 200 veterans who "engaged in notable activities" following the war presents the first real glimpse into the struggles and triumphs of black veterans.

After providing an overview of black military involvement in the conflict, Shaffer divides After the Glory into seven thematic chapters examining topics such as the transition to civilian life, political suffrage, families, social welfare, camaraderie among veterans and memory.

The book is truly a historical roller coaster as the author reveals a complex series of obstacles and occasional triumphs in the quest for manhood.

For example, the author paints a very grim picture in "The Postwar Transition" of veterans' successes finding work. African Americans, regardless of military service, confronted barriers in the labor market as they competed with whites. Shaffer lucidly argues that those veterans who could not find work decided the best way to realize their manhood was through land ownership.

Although Shaffer explains veterans were treated the same as other African Americans, he notes that veteran status meant something in the black community and occasionally in the larger political realm. For example, when South Carolina wrestled with the issue of black suffrage at its 1895 constitutional convention black delegates argued that blacks should receive political equality because of their military service. The pleas did not work, but they did prompt some white delegates to momentarily consider exempting black veterans from poll taxes and literacy tests.

While it appeared that at every turn white society rejected veterans there was one place outside of black communities where blacks truly hoped to achieve their manhood - in the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Although the G.A.R. was supposed to know no race the author succinctly states that "inequality was still a fact of life in the G.A.R."

Shaffer notes numerous cases of blacks who petitioned predominantly white G.A.R.s for membership, yet despite their service they were rejected. Of course Shaffer points out that predominantly black G.A.R. posts provided an opportunity for veterans to assert their manhood.

Soundly researched and written, After the Glory is a significant scholarly achievement. Shaffer's work is the first of its kind and has forged a new path in the historiography, suggesting avenues for further examination of the war's impact upon a contingent of the population that helped achieve victory and solidify emancipation's promise.