Booknotes: Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts

New Arrival:

• Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts: The Civil War Memoir of John W. M. Appleton edited by James Robbins Jewell and Eugene S. Van Sickle (Potomac Bks, 2025).

From the description: "In January of 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was born. On February 7, 1863, Massachusetts governor John Andrew commissioned Boston-bred John W. M. Appleton the first of the white officers in the most famous Civil War regiment of Black soldiers. Appleton immediately began recruiting enlisted soldiers for the company he would command, Company A."

According to James Jewell and Eugene Van Sickle, co-editors of Waging War for Freedom with the 54th Massachusetts: The Civil War Memoir of John W. M. Appleton, the Appleton memoir is "the most complete first-person account available about the service of the men in the 54th Massachusetts regiment." In terms of what kinds of topics Appleton favored in his writings, he "wrote candidly about his own experiences and the men who served with and under him, including troop punishments, combat, and combat injuries, including his own. He also described in detail the weather, climate, southern geography, and his interaction with civilians. Appleton served with the regiment from February 1863 through August 1864, when severe injuries forced him home a second time."

In the book's Preface, it is mentioned that there are presently twelve published first-hand accounts related to the 54th, but the editors believe that, out of all of them, Appleton's memoir "provides a more intimate window into the men and their experiences" (pg. xiii). Appleton's memoir was also not written for publication, or at least that's what he always maintained, so it has that going for it as well.

Appleton's writings span the regiment's most eventful service interludes, from initial recruitment and organization to coastal raiding in Georgia, the 1863 assault on Charleston's outer defenses, the 1864 Florida Campaign, occupation duty at Jacksonville, and return to Charleston siege operations. During the last, wound and heat-related disabilities finally forced Appleton's resignation from the army. He basically was with the regiment for all save the last thirteen months of its Civil War service.

Extensive editorial content from Jewell and Van Sickle supplements the Appleton memoir. Their general introduction is followed by nine chapters of Appleton writings, an additional chapter discussing Appleton's return home and postwar life, and an epilogue focused on the writing and preservation of the memoir. Among the volume's illustrations are a number of insightful battlefield sketches (from the Charleston campaigns) that reside in the Appleton archive. Extensive chapter introductions also add essential context for what follows. As expected, the material in the book is fully annotated. This volume certainly looks to be a must-have for anyone interested in exploring the 54th's history through the eyes of one of its officers.