HE 1913 GETTYSBURG REUNION is one of those events I would love to visit if time travel were possible (P. 38). The chance to hear veterans talk over their, and his book is an oft-cited source for those arguing Black men were there. Blake’s descriptions, however, were vague, and he wrote that “negroes for the Union side” were in attendance. Were those men soldiers? Teamsters? It’s hard to say. Reunion images don’t show many African Americans, unless they were working there, such as the Black porter in the background of the photo on P. 40. Also, the speeches and tenor of the Gettysburg reunion made little mention of slavery or emancipation. The focus was on White reconciliation and a reunited nation—a whitewashed interpretation of the Civil War that held sway for decades. In recent years, new books, monuments, and tablets about the USCT experience (P. 8) have helped fill out the war’s complex story. We can no longer talk to USCT vets, but their voices are finally being heard.
