Barbara Tomblin's book illuminates a critical but long overlooked aspect of Civil War history: the crucial role played by US Naval forces operating along the southern Atlantic coast that helped transform and redefine the role and status of previously enslaved persons.
~Craig Symonds, author of Lincoln and His Admirals
Draws on slave narratives, diaries, and letters in a study of fugitive slaves, known as contraband of war, who found work in the U.S. Navy.
~Chronicle Review
Barbara Brooks Tomblin's meticulously researched, deftly organized and cogently written study illuminates the critical but often overlooked role played in the U.S. Navy in transforming and redefining the lives of thousands of previously enslaved persons.... [Tomblin] has recounted the courageous service of these black men with the enthusiasm and dignity they deserve.
~Gordon Berg, Washington Times
Bluejackets and Contrabands is a well conceived and executed study outlining an important chapter in the history of the contribution of blacks to the success of the Union cause during the Civil War.
~cwba.blogspot.com
[Tomblin]... conveys the often intricate stories in an easy style, letting the primary sources speak for themselves and fully conveying the complex and often tragic stories of the African Americans' role in the war.
~Book News, Inc.
This splendid study of interaction between the Union navy and escaped slaves along the South Atlantic coast during the Civil War provides a wealth of new information and insights.
~James M. McPherson, George Henry Davis Professor Emeritus of American History at Princeton University, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
In recent years, a number of books have appeared that have added significantly to our knowledge of the naval side of the Civil War. On is Barbara Brooks Tomblin's study of African Americans who escaped slavery in the South by means of the Union navy and their subsequent role in the war. While there is no way to accurately measure either the number of contrabands or their precise contribution to the Union war effort, we may conclude that both were considerable.... Thanks to Tomblin we at least have their stories and a sense of their contribution.
~Spencer C. Tucker, Journal of American History
In this wide-ranging, well researched and carefully documented study,... focuses on many of the aspects of the interaction between the Navy and the Blacks they encountered, as they fought to put down the great rebellion.
~Journal of America's Military Past
An essential read for anyone interested in the end of American slavery and the experience of the freedman, as well as the naval service during the Civil War, and the war as a whole.
~Book Reviews
The fresh approach to Civil War history makes this book one of the most innovative works in recent years and an important addition to the historiograohy on African Americans in the Civil War.
~The Journal of African American History
Bluejackets and Contrabands is a great example of combining military and social history into a highly readable form.
~Journal of Southern History
Bringing out of an undeserved obscurity the African-American element of the Civil War struggles on the side of the Union and in direct opposition to the Confederacy, Bluejackets and Contrabands: African Americans and the Union Navy is an extraordinary and impressively informative contribution to 19th Century African-American history in general, and Civil War histories in particular. Original, informative, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, no personal, professional, community, college, or university library American Civil War collection can be considered comprehensive or up-to-date without the inclusion of Barbara Brooks Tomblin's Bluejackets and Contrabands: African Americans and the Union Navy. This unique work of Civil War Scholarship is also available for the personal reading lists of students, academia, Civil War historians, Civil War scholars, Civil War buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in African-American history in a paperback addition and in a digital book format.
~Midwest Book Review
Tomblin's argument expands on a critical but long-overlooked aspect of the Civil War by examining the contributions the United States' Navy made not only to the Union war effort, but also to the freedom brough to previously enslaved persons along the South Atlantic Coast.
~Southern Historian
Tomblin has done an admirable job revealing a crucial but little-known aspect of United States naval history during the Civil War. Her work will be enlightening for both scholarly and general audiences.
~American Studies
