The Thread Collectors

The novel takes place during the American Civil War. The Civil War was a conflict between the Northern United States of America (“the Union”) and the Confederacy, a group of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union to form their own government. The schism had its roots in the issue of enslavement. The Southern economy relied on large-scale agriculture that utilized the labor of enslaved Black people, while the economy of the North was largely based on manufacturing and less reliant on enslavement. As abolitionist sentiment grew in the North, tensions between the North and the South increased, culminating in the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The war lasted from April 1861 to April 1965, when the Confederacy surrendered to the Union.

Though the Civil War is one of the most well-known conflicts in American history, most of the narratives in popular books center on white soldiers and civilians. In their Author’s Note, Edwards and Richman state that The Thread Collectors aims to “explore the Civil War experience through two underrepresented lenses” (311).

William, one of the novel’s main characters, is a Black man who serves in the 3rd Louisiana Native Guard, one of the first all-Black units of the Union Army. Black men, both enslaved and free, made up nearly 10% of the Union army’s ranks. Though service in the Union Army was marketed to Black men as an opportunity to escape bondage and fight for a better future, they faced severe racist discrimination within the army. The Siege of Port Hudson provides a key historical backdrop for this treatment. In this siege, the Native Guard was made to storm the Confederates in a poorly organized siege and suffered heavy casualties. Afterward, the bodies of Black soldiers were left to rot in the summer heat for over a month. As he experiences these events, William grapples with the complex nature of his service, fighting for his freedom alongside white men who often do not view him as equal. Edwards and Richman draw on additional historical events like the Contraband Act of 1861, which determined that people who escaped enslavement and went to Union lines would no longer be returned to their enslavers; fugitive enslaved people were declared “contraband of war” if their labor was used in any way to support the Confederacy and were declared free if so.

Though Jewish soldiers comprised a much smaller percentage of the Union army at 0.5%, they also contended with prejudice while fighting for their country. Richman’s chapters explore this lesser-known perspective through the eyes of Jacob Kling, an American Jewish man of German descent. Jacob’s experiences highlight the issue of antisemitism during the Civil War. One key example Edwards and Richman reference is General Orders No. 11 issued by Ulysses S. Grant in December 1862, which expelled Jewish Americans from areas under his control. Though the order was quickly rescinded, its inclusion in the novel illustrates how Jewish people were scapegoated as a common enemy to unite the Anglo-Saxon majority during a divisive war.

Through the characters of William and Jacob, Edwards and Richman highlight lesser-known aspects of the Civil War and offer unique perspectives on a turning point in American history. Their backgrounds—Edwards being Black and Richman being Jewish—inform their portrayal of these perspectives, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the Civil War.