I will be discussing FIVE FOR FREEDOM: The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army at the Montgomery County Civil War Round Table on Thursday evening, October 11.  The public is invited.

$25 includes dinner (reservation required), $5 donation if attending meeting only.  Dinner at 7. Program starts at 8.

For reservation, email bobclark3@aol.com

Meyer takes us 60 miles upriver from DC to the former arsenal town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, and flanked by high cliffs on both sides. The view from here, Thomas Jefferson wrote, is “worth a voyage across the Atlantic.” Today, it is certainly worth the hour’s drive up I-270 and U.S. 340.  There the National Park Service has restored many of the buildings to their 1860-era appearance. It would be fought over and change hands repeatedly during the Civil War. But there is much more to the story preceding the battles.

Over the years, Meyer has repeatedly visited and written about Harpers Ferry and the raid that sparked the Civil War. FIVE FOR FREEDOM, The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army is the largely untold story of the five African American men who were with John Brown at that fateful time – October 1859 – and have long been overshadowed by their martyred commander. But it is also about the world of chattel slavery into which they were born and raised, their families, their lives and deaths, and the aftermath – including Civil War service by their surviving siblings – down through the generations right up to today.

To understand the Civil War and its legacy requires an understanding of the forces that brought it about and the event that acted as a catalyst to disunion–and continue to haunt the land. Osborne Perry Anderson, John Anthony Copeland, Shields Green, Lewis Sheridan Leary and Dangerfield Newby are essential players in this drama, a story from the past that is relevant to the present.

To learn how and why I came to write about these men, their roots, their places in history and their legacy, please see the blog “We Pause for an Announcement” I posted when I submitted my manuscript in July 2017.

From its web site, here is a description of the Round Table:  “Our goal is to help educate the public about the Civil War and the period prior to the war and reconstruction. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds, all having an interest in the American Civil War.  Our membership is open to anyone who is interested and all are welcomed. For more than 30 years, the Round Table has brought leading historians, authors, and public and private officials together with members interested in this important period of American history. Fascinating presentations, spirited dialogue, and special trips to nearby historic sites are all part of the Round Table package.”