A book by a former Bermuda resident sheds new light on the role of African American soldiers in the Civil War.Kevin Grigsby’s ‘From Loudoun to Glory’ was released earlier this year. Mr Grigsby worked here for 12 years before moving back to Virginia in 2011.The ‘Loudoun’ in his book title refers to his home county of Loudoun, Virginia.“None of my ancestors were in the Civil War, that I know of,” he said. “But a family member told me a story about an African American Civil War veteran who was buried in the same cemetery as a lot of my relatives. This got my curiosity up. I thought that was an interesting story. I was familiar with the role of black soldiers in the Civil War, but it was eye-opening.”Mr Grigsby said when he was in school the role of African Americans in the Civil War was not highlighted at all. Like a lot of people he only really became aware of their participation as soldiers when the movie ‘Glory’ was released in 1989 starring Morgan Freeman. The movie was based on the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first formal unit of the US Army to be made up entirely of African American men.Hundreds of African American men from 17 to 60 years old from Loudoun County signed up for duty in the Union Army. Loudoun natives served in at least 50 of 170 black regiments.Mr Grigsby used enlistment records, veteran pension records and National Park Service records to research his book.He found stories such as that of Washington Alexander, a slave sold to a master in the Deep South. He signed up for the war newly freed, giving his home as Loudoun County even though he was no longer living there. At least 250 African Americans from Loudoun signed up to fight as soldiers and 12 joined as sailors. “Loudoun County was a little different in that it was in the south, but had a faction of Union loyalists,” said Mr Grigsby. “But this had no bearing on a lot of African-American signing up in the Union military. The majority of those Loudoun natives, who were black, enlisted outside of Loudoun and the DC area. A large number enlisted in DC, who had been residing in Loudoun, but many had been sold outside of the county and state and enlisted elsewhere. Many had also enlisted in Northern free states. No Loudoun natives enlisted in black regiments in the county. Bringing an end to the institution of slavery was the central factor for why African-Americans enlisted in the Union military.”Mr Grigsby said often the person enlisting was a slave one day and a soldier the next, with little training in between. When the Civil War first started African Americans were not allowed to officially enlist. It wasn’t until 1863 that this changed.“So the African American soldiers were going up against battle tested Confederate Regiments,” said Mr Grigsby. “The Confederate Regiments had been gaining experience since 1861 when the Civil War began. As I was researching this I was wondering how the guys from Loudoun even had a chance. Still, somehow they somehow managed to win. Their bravery was without question.”He only found evidence of 20 veterans returning to the county after the Civil War. This was not necessarily due to death, but possibly to veterans choosing to move away after the war. He found that those who did return did not necessarily keep the story of their participation alive in their family.“As an African American in the south you were not really in the greatest environment for that to be celebrated,” said Mr Grigsby. “At first there were new found freedoms, but as time went on those freedoms were taken away.”Mr Grigsby started writing the book while living in Bermuda. While doing his research he kept a look out for Bermudian soldiers taking part. One of them was Sergeant Robert J Simmons, who served in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Sgt Simmons fought in the Union assault on the Confederate Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Despite their valiant effort, the 54th suffered heavy casualties and Union forces failed to capture the fort. He died in a South Carolina prison after being taken prisoner during the assault on Fort Wagner.This is Mr Grigsby’s second book. His first, ‘Howardsville’, was about his family history in Howardsville, a town in Loudoun County. He said it was luck that allowed him to break through the slave barrier when tracing his genealogy.“One of my ancestors had been enslaved at this one plantation, but at one point he was loaned out to another plantation,” said Mr Grigsby. “That particular master kept a diary that spanned ten years into the early 1870s. She wrote a lot about my ancestor in that diary. That was like a gold mine to me.”Mr Grigsby now works as a social worker in Leesburg, Virginia.‘From Loudoun to Glory’ can be bought at www.lulu.com . ‘Howardsville’ can be bought at www.amazon.com . For more information contact Mr Grigsby at books.kevin@gmail.com .