Ballard, Allen B

New York. 2000. October 2000. Simon & Schuster. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0684870312. 317 pages. hardcover. Jacket design By Patti Ratchford. Jacket illustration By Peter Fiore. keywords: Literature America Civil War History African American. FROM THE PUBLISHER - WHERE I'M BOUND, a stunning and engaging Civil War novel, is the first work of fiction to focus solely on the soldiers of an African-American regiment. Throughout the war, more than 180,000 African-American men fought for the Union Army. Many were escaped slaves, others were freed men; yet all voluntarily enlisted for one cause: freedom. For the first time in fiction, their experiences are successfully portrayed in a manner befitting the grandeur and scope of their contributions. Inspired by the true story of a black cavalry unit in Mississippi, renowned African-American historian Allen Ballard weaves factual events with the fictional account of an escaped slave, Joe Duckett, who flees to join the Northern Arm. When Duckett escapes his life of bondage to become a cavalry scout, he grows to be more than a free man - he becomes a hero. Duckett and his hard-riding regiment roam the Mississippi Delta, freeing slaves and keeping vital waterways open for the Union. As the war approaches its final, tragic days, Duckett embarks on his most dangerous mission yet: to return to the plantation from which he escaped in order to reunite with his wife and daughter. More than just an account of the Civil War, WHERE I'M BOUND is an affecting portrayal of the psychological effects of war. Through the character Duckett, some of war's greatest tragedies are painfully evoked - the agonizing separation from family, the horrendous mission of having to kill another man, and the cruelty and moral corruption that occur when men's passions are their greatest weapons against one another. inventory #28380 ISBN: 0684870312.