Review: Black Cloud Rising, by David Wright Faladé

 I saw Black Cloud Rising: A Novel, by David Wright Faladé, in the new books section of my local library. This fiction book is based on true history, General Wild's African Brigade (56th Massachusetts Infantry, and the 36th and 37th U.S. Colored Troops) in the Civil War, and  then-Sgt. Richard Etheridge. The novel has Etheridge as the protagonist in December of 1863, when the brigade was hunting down rebel guerillas and bushwhackers in Eastern North Carolina and its Outer Banks, and working to protect Union loyalists and freed slaves.

The back cover says the author is also the co-writer of the nonfiction book "Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers" (although Amazon lists that book's authors as David Wright & David Zoby), so I will see if I can get that as an interlibrary loan. Etheridge's postwar history appears fascinating; he was appointed the first and only black station Keeper of the coastal Life-Saving Service (and recruited and led an all-black crew after the white life-savers he was supposed to command quit). 

I'm not sure how much of the book is true history and how much is fictionalized, although presumably nearly all of the dialogue and a number of interactions are imagined. It's fact that Etheridge was the son of a slaveowner and a slave, and that he had been taught to read and write before leaving and becoming a Union soldier. The novel portrays a lot of inner tension that Etheridge mostly keeps hidden from his father and half-brother (even long after the war, in the last few pages), complicated relationships with his mother and the woman he loves, give-and-take with the soldiers he commands and the officers he obeys (and sometimes counsels), and outright antagonism between him and the leader of the irregular swamp fighters allied with the Union troops, who despises Etheridge as a hypocrite who thinks he's better than other blacks (not the word he uses) because of his education and his white father. 

The novel includes battles, but really Etheridge's inner conflicts are the heart of the story. He spends a great deal of time mulling his words and actions, and the words and actions of his commanders. The military actions lead to more thoughts and dialogue, but the book is not about heroics and glory. It focuses more on struggling with decisions on how to act and how to think about oneself, one's place in the world and relations with other people. 

I found it an interesting story, as I had expected, due to my interests in history, military history, North Carolina (I'm from Wilmington, on the coast), the Civil War, and civil rights history. It was a thoughtful read rather than an exciting read, but I do recommend it for anyone interested in these issues.

Content warnings: Deaths, violence, racist language