A letter by a Federal officer:
Col. Giles Smith commanded the First Brigade and Col. T. Kilby Smith, Fifty-fourth Ohio, the Fourth. I communicated to these officers General Sherman's orders and charged Colonel Smith, Fifty-fourth Ohio, specially with the duty of clearing away the road to the crossing and getting it into the best condition for effecting our crossing that he possibly could. The work was vigorously pressed under his immediate supervision and orders, and he devoted himself to it with as much energy and activity as any living man could employ. It had to be prosecuted under the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters, protected as well as the men might be by our skirmishers on the bank, who were ordered to keep up so vigorous a fire that the enemy should not dare to lift their heads above their rifle-pits; but the enemy, and especially their armed negroes, did dare to rise and fire, and did serious execution upon our men. The casualties in the brigade were 11 killed, 40 wounded, and 4 missing; aggregate, 55. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
D. STUART, Brigadier-General, Commanding."
Congressional Testimony of Nathan Bedford Forrest before the Congress Joint Select Committee, Ku Klux conspiracy: Report of the joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, Made to Both Houses of Congress. 42nd Congress; 2nd session, Senate Report 41, Volume 13; Washington, D.C. (1872) Nathan Bedford Forrest who had many Black Confederates with him Nathan Beford Forrest
I said to forty-five colored fellows on my plantation that it was a war upon slavery, and that I was going into the army; that if they would go with me, if we got whipped they would be free anyhow, and that if we succeeded and slavery was perpetuated, if they would act faithfully to me to the end of the war, I would set them free . . . Eighteen months before the war closed I was satisfied that we were going to be defeated and, and I gave them their free papers, for I fear I might be killed . . . No finer Confederates rode with me. {Emphasis Added}
When Forrest surrendered, there were 65 Free Men of Color riding with his forces. It is noted that all of these men rode with Gen. Forrest until the end of the war and not one ever signed an Oath of Loyalty or was “reconstructed.”
Although I’m not seeing anyone on these boards stating that it was “all about slavery” (you do understand the difference between proximate cause and contributory cause, right?) the correct answer to your specific question could most likely be a resounding “yes”. Look at your own evidence.
Forrest tells his slaves that the war “was a war upon slavery” and that their future prospects and indeed their very lives depend upon the outcome. How could they think anything else?
Interestingly, even though individuals like Forrest and REL advocated emancipation in exchange for service, the official csa policy stubbornly refused to acknowledge the necessity - right up to the end.
There were a number of slave owners that were black. Free men of color, even where they were not permitted to own slaves directly, were able to own stock certificates. They formed companies, and their companies purchased slaves, often their wifes and children. After being purchased, such slaves were able to work for wages, pay off their debt to the company, and be free.
North Carolina had permitted free men of color to vote, and after 1835, changed the rules to forbid free men of color from voting. The slave power was all about changing the rules to assure the ascendency of the slave power.
Again, it doesn’t make any difference what the slaves thought about the war. They were the object, not the subject. What makes a difference is what the people who started the war thought. Pretend confederate vice president Alexander Stephens said in his infamous “cornerstone speech”
“Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”
You will note no exeption there for those who served with Bedford Forrest. After the war was over, the former confederates proceeded to murder and terrorize. Worse yet they propagandized so that the murder and terror would continue to the next generation.
If you think Whites are naturally superior, I invite you to try out for the NBA.