Peter Burchard

Peter Burchard was an American author, illustrator, and designer born in Washington, D.C., in 1921. He became known for writing history for young readers, especially books about slavery, abolition, African American history, and the Civil War.

Among his best-known works is One Gallant Rush: Robert Gould Shaw and His Brave Black Regiment, a book that became an important source for the 1989 film Glory. Publisher information also credits him with writing more than twenty fiction and nonfiction books for young readers and adults.

Burchard died in 2004 in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Across his career, he built a reputation for making difficult and important parts of American history accessible to a wide audience.