Stop by Wheatberry Books to meet authors Donna and William Burtch and talk about their book “W.G.”

William Gould "W.G." Raymond was an ordained abolitionist white officer appointed by President Lincoln to recruit the first federal African American Union Army troops after the Emancipation Proclamation. Hundreds of courageous Black men and former slaves came forth in early May, 1863, only to be forever erased from War Department records. This, seemingly due to a perceived slight and overstep.

An unjust and gaping omission in the epic story of African Americans fighting for their freedom is born. Racial tensions, national division, the insidious tentacles of opiates (W.G. included) and governmental infighting and spin. All could be lifted from today’s headlines, over 150 years later. This book forces history and truth to collide. All should come to know this man and those earliest pioneering African American soldiers.

W.G. Raymond’s 19th Century autobiography, Life Sketches and Faith Work, was pulled from the attic of the sibling co-authors’ aunt, in loose copied pages. W.G. was their 3x great grandfather. The pandemic nudged them to at last delve into his remarkable yet seldom discussed life. This book has been exhaustively researched. It corroborates W.G.’s autobiography and expands on his incredible life story.