George Kirkland: From $1,200 Freedom to Union Army Hero

George Kirkland

How does a young man born into chattel slavery transform into a Union soldier who gives his life for the nation’s freedom? George W. D. Kirkland lived that exact, heartbreaking reality. As the only child of Elizabeth Keckley—the formerly enslaved seamstress who became a confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln—his short life connected the … Read more