Peter Burchard was an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, free-lance designer, and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

. He wrote the book One Gallant Rush

One Gallant Rush

One Gallant Rush is a book by Peter Burchard, which was the basis for the film Glory. Based on letters written by Robert Gould Shaw, One Gallant Rush is about the 54th Massachusetts Regiment and their progress in the American Civil War. The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry regiment was one of...

, upon which the film Glory was based.

World War II

Burchard served on convoys in the North Atlantic during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. During this time, his drawings were published by Yank

Yank, the Army Weekly

Yank, the Army Weekly was a weekly magazine published by the United States military during World War II. The idea for the magazine came from Egbert White, who had worked on Stars and Stripes during World War I. He proposed the idea to the Army in early 1942, and accepted a commission as Lieutenant...

magazine.

Books

Burchard primarily wrote children's books about slavery, abolitionism

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

, and the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. His works include:

Juvenile

• Balloons: From Paper Bags to Skyhooks
• Jed
• North by Night
• Stranded
• Bimby
• Chito
• Pioneers of Flight
• Rat Hell
• Frederick Douglass