Silent Cavalry

Praise

“[A] remarkable book . . . [filled with] startling and nearly unknown stories.”—The Guardian

“Raines . . . has done great work debunking another Lost Cause myth to bring [the First Alabama] soldiers into the light.”—Los Angeles Times

“A fresh history . . . [and] a much-needed addition to the demythologizing literature of the Civil War.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Resonant and lyrical . . . Raines delivers a superlative study in what makes history ‘history.’ This genealogical detective story is both a delight to read and an important corrective.”—Publishers Weekly

“Crafting colorful portraits of heroes and, more especially, villains, Raines tells the story of how the members of the First Alabama Cavalry served as spies and arsonists for Sherman. . . . [The book’s] revelations about the part Southerners played in the Union armed forces should prove enlightening even for more casual readers.”—Booklist

“Howell Raines’s Silent Cavalry is an astonishing act of historical recovery amidst our recent plague of historical amnesia. Silent Cavalry is honest history and brilliant storytelling at its best.”—Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times bestselling author and University Distinguished Professor, Vanderbilt University

“Howell Raines is a legendary writer, editor, and social critic. It is my sincere hope that this compelling and submerged history is integrated into our understanding of our nation, and allows us to embrace new heroes of the past.”—Imani Perry, professor, Harvard University, and National Book Award–winning author of South to America

“Howell Raines has uncovered the remarkable story of white men from Alabama’s hill country who fought for the Union and, equally important, the century-long effort by Confederate sympathizers to erase them from history. . . . An invaluable addition to revisionist—as in, actual—history.”—Cynthia Tucker, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and co-author of The Southernization of America

“Silent Cavalry marks another chapter in Raines’s storied career of giving voice to the voiceless, highlighting the men and women who, without proper credit, did their part to make America a better, more equitable place.”—Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

“Remarkable . . . A massive story told in an intimate, personal way.”—John Archibald, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of Shaking the Gates of Hell

“Silent Cavalry is a rescue mission. Shedding new light on the dramatic hidden battlegrounds of the Lost Cause, Howell Raines has restored forgotten north Alabama contrarians to where they always deserved to be, where they always were—on the right side of history.”—Kyle Whitmire, Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist, Alabama Media Group