Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of racism, racial violence, enslavement, lynching, sexual assault, graphic wartime violence, antisemitism, and the death of a child. This guide quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word.

In Union-controlled New Orleans, an enslaved Black man named William says goodbye to his lover, a biracial woman named Stella, in a Creole cottage. William is planning to flee the city that night. Stella gives him a handkerchief with a violet embroidered on it; because of the materials shortage caused by the Civil War, she had to use thread pulled from the hem of her skirt. In return, William gives Stella a cowrie shell. He promises to come back for her soon. After William departs, Stella’s older sister, Ammanee, comforts her.

William makes the treacherous 10-mile journey to Camp Parapet, a former Confederate Army camp that the Union commandeered. Along the way, he is nearly caught by a pack of bloodhounds, but he evades them by hiding in the bayou. At Camp Parapet, he joins hundreds of other Black men who have fled enslavement for a chance to join the Union Army. As he waits to be assessed in the medical tent, he touches Stella’s handkerchief for comfort.