Reminiscences of My Life in Camp: With the 33rd United States Colored Troops Late 1st S. C. Volunteers

Susie King Taylor (1848-1912) was the only African American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences and the first African American to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia. Taylor spent four years-without pay or formal training–nursing sick and wounded members of a black regiment of Union soldiers. In addition, she worked as a camp cook, laundress, and teacher. Reminiscences of My Life in Camp not only chronicles daily life on the battlefront but also records interactions between blacks and whites, men and women, and Northerners and Southerners during and after the war.Taylor tells of being born into slavery and of learning, in secret, to read and write. She describes maturing under her wartime responsibilities and traveling with the troops in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. After the war, Taylor dedicated herself to improving the lives of black Southerners and black Union Army veterans.