A huge battle fought by African Americans was the second attack on Fort Wagner on July 18th, 1863 as not mentioned in the textbook. Leading the way was the 54th Massachusetts regiment. This regiment was the North’s crack black unit, but it had not yet been involved in a major battle. The attack on Fort Wagner would be its first real test. The 54th black regiment managed to reach the walls of the fort, even maintaining their position for an hour before being pushed back with 25% casualties. The 54th Massachusetts regiment had amply proved its worth. Their attack on Fort Wagner was compared to Bunker Hill by one northern newspaper. Another battle not mentioned in the chapter is the massacre was Fort Pillow, where several dozen black soldiers were killed after they had already surrendered.
Again, as not being mentioned in the text book, women had disguised themselves as men to arm themselves and fight in the war. It is an accepted fact that the Civil War was a man's fight. Images of women during that civil war center on self-sacrificing nurses, romantic spies, or brave ladies upholding the home front in the absence of their men. Both the Union and Confederate armies had forbidden the recruitment of women. Women soldiers of the Civil War therefore assumed masculine names, disguised themselves as men, and hid the fact they were female. Because they passed as men, it is impossible to know with any confidence how many women soldiers served in the Civil War. Estimates place as many as 250 women in the ranks of the Confederate army alone.
As we hear about natives Americans only once in the chapter of the American Civil War, but what had happened to them during reconstruction, the chapters never explain. It leaves the readers confused on the very small section they have on natives Americans. The chapter also failed to say that just fewer than 3,600 Native Americans served in the Union Army during the war. Perhaps the best known of their number was Colonel Ely Parker, who served as an aide to General U. S. Grant, and was present at Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.
The text book, Bragdon et al.’s America: History of a Free Nation is loaded with endless information and it is somewhat multi-centric. However the chapters on the Civil war and Reconstruction are indeed not fully multi-centric, they do talk about African Americans but the information is limited, and also the Native Americans section is very brief. Much information about women, African and Native Americans needs to be added on in order for these chapters to become multi-centric. But then again to write history with it being fully multi-centric would take much time to write and it would have too much information for an average student to comprehend. Overall the text book Bragdon et al.’s America: History of a Free Nation is a great textbook to teach the outline of American history.
Bibliography
Rickard, J (3 September 2007), Battle of Fort Wagner, 11 and 18 July 1863 ,
Bragdon, Henry. McCutchen, Samuel. Donald, Ritchie. America: History of a Free Nation. McGraw Hill: 1998
Rickard, J (3 September 2007), Fort Pillow Massacre, 12 April 1864 ,
DeAnne, Blanton. 1993, Women Soldiers of the Civil War Vol. 25, No. 1
The Civil War Society's, 02/16/02. Encyclopedia of the Civil War, Native Americans in the Civil War,
http://www.civilwarhome.com/nativeamericans.htm
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_fort_wagner.html
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_fort_wagner.html
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_fort_pillow_1864.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1993/spring/women-in-the-civil-war-1.html
http://www.civilwarhome.com/nativeamericans.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/nativeamericans.htm