The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle.

The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle. By Margaret S. Creighton. (New York: Basic Books, c. 2005. Pp. xxviii, 321. $26.00, ISBN 0-465-01456-9.)

By 1863 war had taken its toll, and both sides began to call for peace. Gettysburg offered such a chance. For the Confederates, a victory could secure European recognition and thus their future as an independent nation. A Union victory could turn the tide and result in a unified America. Inspired by Edward Everett's 1863 speech, Margaret S. Creighton's work, The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History: Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle, combines military and social history in order to explore the perceptions of German American soldiers, white civilian women, and African Americans of Gettysburg.

To that end, her work is divided into three parts. Part 1 investigates antebellum life in Gettysburg, introduces the narrative's eighteen main figures, and chronicles the significance attributed to the impending invasion. Gettysburg offered German American soldiers of the Eleventh Corps an opportunity to redeem their sullied honor while combating rampant xenophobia. For African Americans, the impending battle raised fears of re-enslavement. The women of Gettysburg, like the area's African Americans, recognized the battle's intrusion on the home front and expressed concern for the safety of their families.

Part 2 focuses on the battle as well as on its collision with the home front. On the battlefield, the Eleventh Corps waited for a glorious moment of redemption that failed to arrive. Most African Americans fled to safety further north. Others endured re-enslavement while some survived the battle with their freedom, if not their homes, intact. Women, through a combination of accommodation and resistance, managed with varying degrees of success to protect themselves and their families.

The final section investigates the postbellum era, the enduring influence of Gettysburg, and its changing memorialization. Following the battle, the residents were left to tend to the thousands of wounded, bury thousands more, and rebuild their own lives. Some African Americans returned to discover ruined farms and homes while others disappeared. Women busied themselves with nursing the wounded, simultaneously attempting to survive amid the battle-induced chaos. Shortly after the battle, Lincoln and Everett arrived to dedicate the Soldier's National Cemetery. From that day in November 1863, the memorialization of Gettysburg has evolved with new emphasis on women's contributions, the rehabilitation of the Eleventh Corps' reputation, and the acknowledgment of African American participation. Indeed, thanks to Creighton, Gettysburg is not merely the story of two great armies engaged in a struggle for the future of the nation. Gettysburg is also a personal story of the survival and despair of previously marginalized constituencies.

While The Colors of Courage successfully investigates previously unexplored aspects of Gettysburg, the fragmented nature of the book's structure tends to dull its extraordinary message. A tight analytical framework would have allowed the highly nuanced narrative to shine and provide tighter links between the discrete parts. Despite this major flaw, The Colors of Courage offers fresh and fascinating insights sure to secure it an enduring audience.

CHERYL A. WELLS

University of Wyoming