From Bleeding Kansas before the Civil War to the Combahee River raid of 1863, and the battles of Olustee and Westport in 1864, James Montgomery was a man of action. Seen by many abolitionists as the heir to his comrade John Brown and-like Brown-at times willing to resort to morally dubious methods, Montgomery ultimately followed a more conventional path. Like many other Americans, he became a brave and capable combat commander in the Civil War, before returning to his farm, family and private life. While Brown died before the war started, and most other famous abolitionists held the pen as mightier than the sword, Montgomery and his comrade Harriet Tubman committed themselves, together and separately, to the Union war effort. Book jacket.