sarah bird daughter of a daughter of a queen

Williams, as narrator, reveals a bravado fueled by her love of dashing Yankee soldier Wager Swayne, hero-worship of Sheridan, and pride in her heritage as the granddaughter of an African queen. Philip Sheridan, to her illicit enlistment in the Army-disguised as William Cathay-and service as a rifleman with the Buffalo Soldiers cavalry. It tracks her life from the time she’s taken from her family as “contraband” by the Union Army in the waning days of the Civil War, to her service as a cook’s aide to Gen. Mining the rich terrain of Civil War military history, the nation’s western expansion and clashes with Native Americans, and the fraught issues of gender and race relations, Bird frames an epic romantic tale around Williams. *If you like these these types of book you may also enjoy another one of my favorites: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.Bird’s rich historical novel (after Above the East China Sea) is a layered study of post-Civil War America from the imagined perspective of remarkable Buffalo Soldier Cathy/Cathay Williams, the first woman to serve in the legendary all-black cavalry and infantry. Above all, it brings us hope and courage and a look into a fascinating time period in America. It is at times humorous while at other times heartbreaking. All phases and observations of her life are so believable. We follow this strong woman as a slave, as a kitchen worker in General Sherman’s war camp, as a Buffalo Soldier and as an old woman. In her mind, she was never a slave, but as her grandmother kept telling her, “You are a daughter of a daughter of a queen”. Consequently, this warrior ancestry gets Cathay through some very difficult times.

The title comes from Cathay’s grandmother, who was a warrior African queen taken from her home and brought to America.

Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is her story. I can not even imagine what her life was like during that time. In 1866, a woman dressed as a man enlisted in the Army as William Cathay, serving her country until an illness revealed she was a woman two years later. Buffalo Soldiers served in the western United States from 1867 to 1896, mainly fighting Indians on the frontier. I really liked this book.Īccording to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Buffalo Soldier was a nickname given to members of the African American cavalry regiments of the U.S.

It is historical fiction based on the life of Cathay Williams, a former slave who also becomes a Buffalo Soldier after the Civil War. Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is a moving and tender story.

Sarah bird daughter of a daughter of a queen