The way to create a “myth” is to set up a strawman, attribute it to your opponent, and then knock it down. Gates gives the game away when he says: “No black rebel units ever fought Union forces, although many slaves fought alongside their owners...” Perhaps someone has claimed that there were black companies, brigades, etc., BUT I have never seen such a claim. What I have seen are claims that blacks fought on the Confederate side. So even Gates is admitting that many slaves fought alongside their owners against the invading Yankees. Moreover, I suspect that it is likely many men considered “black” today, but who were of mixed race, fought in the ranks.
The only myth in the story is the suggestion that slavery was the only or main “cause” for the support of the war.
Please note that the same group of leftists also have to explain away the “slave narratives” that were compiled during the 1930’s.
No one should mourn the end of slavery, but slavery and the War Between the States are far more complicated and interesting than the typical Northern “triumphalist narrative” that passes for history in the minds of most.
Looks like you're not above creating myths and strawmen of your own. Look around the Internet and you'll find claims of thousands, tens of thousands of Black Confederates. You'll find a few such claims on this very thread and on other FR Civil War threads. If you said that those supposed Black Confederates were slaves forced to dig ditches and build bridges or slaves and servants who occasionally picked up a gun to defend their masters, the posters who make those claims of thousands of Black Confederates would argue that you were wrong.
So what are they implying? That thousands of African-Americans volunteered or wanted to volunteer to serve in the Confederate forces? That they fought in their own Black units or in integrated ones? That seems to be where those who make the exaggerated claims of thousands of Black Confederates are headed. Again, take a look at some of the posts on this very thread.
Now that it's clear that the evidence for these claims is very skimpy, you may see people backing down. But you have to give Gates his due: people who talk about thousands of Black Confederates are talking about more than an occasional manservant or driver or porter who participated in a battle. Sometimes they say that there were many Black or integrated units. Some times they just let people assume it. But there most certainly were claims that "Black Confederates" involved more than a few slaves firing guns in a few battles.
The only myth in the story is the suggestion that slavery was the only or main “cause” for the support of the war.
Now that is a straw man. A main cause or root cause isn't necessarily the "only" cause. The two are very different. It's crystal clear that without slavery we wouldn't have gotten that war at that time with those sides. That doesn't mean that everybody was fighting for or against slavery or that nobody else had any other reason for picking up a gun. It just means that you can't talk about the American Civil War without talking about slavery. Believe me, some people have tried -- some people are still trying -- and they just aren't telling the whole truth.