In Fighting for Freedom, the author uses primary source documents to reconstruct the story of a young Confederate soldier and his servant who join the Tennessee militia in 1861 and become part of the Tennessee Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The story reveals why they fought, how the servant ultimately gains his freedom, and what happens to them after the war.

The purpose of this book is to help readers—especially adults and educators—understand how research skills can be used to uncover and tell the stories of our ancestors. Notably, the servant in this story married the author’s first cousin three times removed.