Adrift in Dixie: A Yankee Officer Among the Rebels (New Intro)

“Do with it as you like. We owe my brother’s life to the Negroes; and you can publish his journal, if you think it will do them any good.” This is one of the best true accounts of the kinds of aid given to escaped Union soldiers during the American Civil War by African-American slaves at the risk of their lives. Writer Edmund Kirke had just finished reading this account of a young Union officer's escape from imprisonment in the Confederate south and had told the author's brother that the work absolutely should be published. Henry Estabrooks was a lieutenant with the 26th Regiment, Massachusetts infantry, when he was captured at the Battle of Opequon (also known as the Third Battle of Winchester) on September 19, 1864. His escape during transfer from Libby Prison and harrowing 30-day journey back to Union lines was full of adventure. All along the way, people who had everything to lose by helping Estabrooks did so anyway for no other reason than he was a Union man and they felt he was fighting for their freedom. Many Civil War escape stories mention the aid given by African-Americans to thousands of Union escapees, but this one is unique for its detail. Estabrooks was given a furlough by Ulysses S. Grant upon his return and wrote these details down immediately during that time. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.