Gabriel's Journey

Children's Literature - Barbara L. Talcroft

The third book in the "Racing to Freedom" trilogy, this historical novel about the Civil War follows thirteen-year-old Gabriel Alexander's journey in 1864 to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, leaving behind the horse farm where he earned his freedom from slavery and became a successful young jockey. His father is a sergeant in a newly-formed Colored Cavalry regiment; Gabriel longs to fight for his people's freedom, too. While his mother works at the camp as a laundress, Gabriel becomes groom to his white captain's spirited mount. He soon realizes that colored soldiers face racism in the Union ranks and must make do with much less than white cavalrymen. As the regiment is ordered out to capture a Confederate salt works, Gabriel learns about the horrors of war through a grueling march, a bloody battle, the death of friends, and betrayal by a commander. His love of horses (and the author's) shines through in heart-breaking scenes of fear and anxiety, the abandonment of wounded soldiers, the slaughter of blacks by Confederates, and the near-loss of Gabriel's father. Though the use of dialect is sometimes uneven, Gabriel's story, told in the first-person present voice, is still compelling. Notes and photographs at the end explain the historical background, perhaps unfamiliar to many young readers. Interestingly, Hart has incorporated into her narrative the names and fates of several real black Union cavalrymen and one Confederate guerilla. Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft