ABSTRACT
Susie Baker King Taylor’s 1902 memoir is the only account of an African-American girl’s life on the frontlines during the Civil War. It relates her experiences while attached to the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, one of the first black regiments. Although Susie took on the challenging roles of a grown woman all through the war-she was teacher, nurse, laundress, and soldier’s wife-she was only 12 years of age when the first shot was fired on FORT SUMTER and 16 years when the surrender was signed at Appomattox.
