[Non-Sequitur]

Now, if there were these all black units were they composed of free black men or slaves being promised their freedom?

A mix. The southern congress didn't pass legislation allowing black combat soldiers, free or slave, until March 1865.

[nolu chan]

George W. Williams, a Union Negro soldier wrote:

"The South took the initiative in employing Negroes as soldiers, but they were free Negroes, and many of them owned large interests in Louisiana and South Carolina."

George W. Williams, A History of the Negro Troops in the War of the Rebellion. Harper & Bros, 1888, p. 81 quoted by Dr. H.C. Blackerby, Blacks in Blue and Gray, 1979, p. 5