Luray Author Sheds Light on Civil War Soldiers
Luray, Va.
An author living in Luray has released a new book about some of the black men who fought for the Union in the Civil War.
"It shows that both sides had good people that were willing to do the right thing when it came down to it and both sides had bad people too," says Kelly O'Grady.
O'Grady's book, "Soldiers Just Like You," picks up where the movie "Glory" leaves off after the first black prisoners of war were captured by the Confederacy in South Carolina.
Even in the Confederacy, the 60 black men captured were put on trial, which O'Grady says is one of the most important trials in the nation's history.
"It was an important sort of civil rights trial and I think that Martin Luther King taught us that the rule of law is really important and that we can change things by peaceful and by lawful means if a society adheres to the rule of law," says O'Grady.
He explains blacks did fight on both sides during the war, but he says a lot fewer fought for the South and they often only joined the Confederate soldiers because they were promised their freedom.
"It's not a moral equivalent at all that blacks fought for both the North and the South. It's not the same thing at all," says O'Grady.
His book is historical fiction because he says many of the court records were lost in fires and he felt it was the best way to portray the scene.
"I decided to really capture the emotion of the moment and I needed to do it as a fictional treatment and not just as a historian," explains O'Grady.
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