5 ‘‘Boys, I Only Did My Duty’’: New Bedford’s Black Soldiers in the Fifty- Fourth Massachusetts

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Figures ix
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction 1
6. 1 ‘‘A Burning and Shining Light’’: Prosperity and Enlightened Governance in Antebellum New Bedford 10
7. 2 ‘‘The Nearest Approach to Freedom and Equality’’: African Americans in Antebellum New Bedford 32
8. 3 ‘‘Suppression of an Unholy Rebellion’’: Wartime Mobilization on the Home Front 53
9. 4 ‘‘Citizen-Soldiers of Massachusetts’’: New Bedford’s Volunteers in the Civil War 77
10. 5 ‘‘Boys, I Only Did My Duty’’: New Bedford’s Black Soldiers in the Fifty- Fourth Massachusetts 99
11. 6 ‘‘Worthy Recipients’’: New Bedford’s Black Veterans and the Web of Social Welfare 119
12. 7 ‘‘Business Is Extremely Dull’’: Whaling and Manufacturing in Wartime New Bedford 138
13. 8 ‘‘The Position of Our City Has Materially Changed’’: Public Costs and Municipal Governance during the Civil War 164
14. 9 ‘‘The Great Hope for the Future’’: New Bedford in the Postbellum Era 184
15. 10 ‘‘On the Altar of Our Common Country’’: Contested Commemorations of the Civil War 201
16. Epilogue 219
17. Notes 223
18. Index 299