New Book by UAlbany Professor Tells Untold Story of Civil War
In his new book, Where I'm Bound, University at Albany history professor Allen Ballard tells the story of a runaway slave who becomes a hero in the Northern Army of the Civil War. Just published by Simon & Schuster, it is the first work of fiction based exclusively on an actual black regiment of the Civil War.
Ballard will read from his work on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Performing Arts Center, on the University's Uptown Campus, as part of the NYS Writers Institute Visiting Writers Series. The Mount Calvary Baptist Church Choir will sing spirituals of the period interspersed throughout the reading.
The novel tells the story of an escaped slave, Joe Duckett, who becomes a cavalry scout. It follows Duckett and his men as they travel the Mississippi Delta region, freeing slaves and defending waterways that were important to the Union troops. As he attempts to find and free his family in the final days of the war, Duckett encounters many hardships, including being captured by the rebels and repeatedly clashing with his ex-master in skirmishes that are at times brutal.
With factual events intertwined into a work of fiction, it was inspired by the true story of Alfred Wood, a soldier who was a member of the Third U.S. Colored Cavalry. Many of the events portrayed in the lives of the slave characters were derived from actual slave narratives. In addition, the battles that are described all happened much as Ballard portrays them.
The book combines vivid scenes of action, a strong dose of history and a narrative that includes a love story. Ballard spent four years researching and writing this, his first published work of fiction. He got its title from an old spiritual of the same name.
Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. said of Where I'm Bound: "Almost impossible to put down, the novel is mandatory reading for anyone wishing to understand why black Americans feel the way they do about Confederate symbols -- flags and monuments -- stemming from that war. I heartily recommend it to all Americans."
Throughout the Civil War, more than 180,000 African-American men fought for the Union Army. Many were escaped slaves but others were freed men. Ballard said he wanted to write the book in a way that would make it interesting to everyone. "Historical fiction, well done, is one of the greatest ways of influencing people and letting them know where they came from," he said.
A native of Philadelphia, Ballard is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College in Ohio and earned his Ph.D. in government from Harvard University. He is the author of two non-fiction books, The Education of Black Folk and One More Day's Journey. Prior to joining the Albany faculty, he taught government at City College of New York and was dean of faculty for the City University of New York.
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*September 26, 2000
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