Publisher's Synopsis
A larger-than-life character, Spottswood Rice, born in slavery in 1819, fought to keep his family together during the American Civil War. Escaping a brutal slave owner, Benjamin W. Lewis of the Lewis Tobacco Plantation of Howard County, Missouri, he joined the Colored Troops of the United States Army in 1864. His wife, Arrah, escaped later with a few of their children. Two remained as slaves, held hostage for as long as the owners could keep them. Spottswood secretly learned to read and write and not only did he read the Emancipation Proclamation to his fellow slaves, but he was able to write to his daughters' slave owners, demanding their release.
This is the first biography in book form for this great man, covering every aspect of his life, from slavery, to soldier, and finally to minister. As a genealogist and historian, Jeff Nebeker-Johnson has been able to map out his life carefully and thoroughly.
