Call it legal but offensive driving

Did you notice the date on that legislation? Less than 4 weeks before the end of the war? And also Section 5, which said that conscripted slaves would be returned to slavery unless individual states passed laws freeing them after service?

Not only did Jefferson Davis envision black Confederate veterans receiving bounty lands for their service, there would have been no future for slavery after the goal of 300,000 armed black CSA veterans came home after the war.

When did he envision that? Not 6 months before the legislation authorizing black troops was passed, Davis was suggesting that all slaves be expelled to the U.S.

In 1864, President Jefferson Davis approved a plan that proposed the emancipation of slaves, in return for the official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. France showed interest but Britain refused.

A quick look at the confederate constitution would show that Davis lacked the power to emancipate slaves, as did the confederate congress. So such a proposal, if true, was meaningless and was, in fact, a lie.

It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks.

There's no credible evidence that more than a handful of blacks fought for the rebels.

Consider:

FRIDAY, February 10, 1865.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SECOND CONGRESS-SECOND SESSION

EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES AS SOLDIERS

Mr. Wickham, of Virginia, moved the indefinite postponement of the bill. He was opposed to its going to a select committee. If it went to any committee it should go, in the regular channel, to the Committee on Military Affairs. He wished, however, this question of arming and making soldiers of negroes to be now disposed of, finally and forever. He wished it to be decided whether negroes are to be placed upon an equality by the side of our brave soldiers. They would be compelled to. They would have to camp and bivouac together.

Mr. Wickham said that our brave soldiers, who have fought so long and nobly, would not stand to be thus placed side by side with negro soldiers. He was opposed to such a measure. The day that such a bill passed Congress sounds the death knell of this Confederacy. The very moment an order goes forth from the War Department authorizing the arming and organizing of negro soldiers there was an eternal end to this struggle.-(Voice-That's so.)

The question being ordered upon the rejection of the bill, it was lost-ayes 21, noes 53. As this vote was regarded as a kind of test of the sense of the House upon the policy of putting negroes into the army, we append the ayes and noes-the question being the rejection of this bill authorizing the employment of negroes as soldiers:

Ayes-Messrs. Baldwin, Branch, Cruikshank, De Jarnette, Fuller, Garland, Gholson, Gilmer, Lamkin, J. M. Leach, J. T. Leach, McMullin, Miles, Miller, Ramsey, Sexton, Smith, of Alabama, Smith, of North Carolina, Wickham, Witherspoon, Mr. Speaker.

Noes-Messrs. Akin, Anderson, Barksdale, Batson, Bell, Blandford, Boyce, Bradley, H. W. Bruce, Carroll, Chambers, Chilton, Clark, Clopton, Cluskey, Conrad, Conrow, Darden, Dickinson, Dupre, Ewing, Farrow, Foster, Funsten, Gaither, Goode, Gray, Hartridge, Hatcher, Hilton, Holder, Holliday, Johnston, Keeble, Lyon, Pugh, Read, Rogers, Russell, Simpson, J. M. Smith, W. E. Smith, Snead, Swan, Triplett, Villere, Welsh.

If any number of black soldiers had been serving in the ranks of the CSA armies, how did it escape the notice of Congress?

It also escaped the notice of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and others:

Page 246, Confederate Veteran, June 1915. Official publication of the United Confederate Veteran, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Confederated Southern Memorial Association.

Gen. Howell Cobb, an unbeliever in this expedient, wrote from Macon, Ga., January 8, 1865: "I think that the proposition is the most pernicious idea that has been suggested since the war began. You cannot make soldiers of slaves or slaves of soldiers. The moment you resort to this your white soldiers are lost to you, and one reason why this proposition is received with favor by some portions of the army is because they hope that when the negro comes in they can retire. You cannot keep white and black troops together, and you cannot trust negroes alone. They won't make soldiers, as they are wanting in every qualification necessary to make one. :

Samuel Clayton, Esq., of Cuthbert, Ga., wrote on January 10, 1865: "All of our male population between sixteen and sixty is in the army. We cannot get men from any other source; they must come from our slaves... The government takes all of our men and exposes them to death. Why can't they take our property? He who values his property more than independence is a poor, sordid wretch."

General Lee, who clearly saw the inevitable unless his forces were strengthened, wrote on January 11, 1865: "I should prefer to rely on our white population; but in view of the preparation of our enemy it is our duty to provide for a continuous war, which, I fear, we cannot accomplish with our present resources. It is the avowed intention of the enemy to convert the ablebodied negro into soldiers and emancipate all. His progress will thus add to his numbers and at the same time destroy slavery in a most pernicious manner to the welfare of our people. Whatever may be the effect of our employing negro troops, it cannot be as mischievous as this. If it ends in subverting slavery, it will be accomplished by ourselves, and we can devise the means of alleviating the evil consequences to both races. I think, therefore, that we must decide whether slavery shall be extinguished by our enemies and the slaves used against us or use them ourselves at the risk of the effects which may be produced upon our soldiers' social institutions. My own opinion is that we should employ tl1em without delay. I believe that with proper regulations they can be made efficient soldiers. They possess the physical qualifications in an eminent degree. Long habits of obedience and subordination, coupled with the moral influence which in our country the white man possesses over the black, furnish an excellent foundation for that discipline which is the best guarantee of military efficiency. We can give them an interest by allowing immediate freedom to all who enlist and freedom at the end of the war to their families. We should not expect slaves to fight for prospective freedom when they can secure it at once by going to the enemy, in whose service they will incur no greater risk than in ours. In conclusion, I can only say that whatever is to be done must be attended to at once."

President Davis on February 21, 1865 expressed himself as follows: "It is now becoming daily more evident to all reflecting persons that we are reduced to choosing whether the negroes shall fight for or against us and that all the arguments as to the positive advantage or disadvantage of employing them are beside the question, which is simply one of relative advantage between having their fighting element in our ranks or those of the enemy."

Would Lee and Davis have had those points of view had there been any number of blacks in ranks?

There is no -credible- evidence of blacks in active rebel service.

"It's pure fantasy,' contends James McPherson, a Princeton historian and one of the nation's leading Civil War scholars. Adds Edwin Bearss, historian emeritus at the National Park Service: 'It's b.s., wishful thinking.' Robert Krick, author of 10 books on the Confederacy, has studied the records of 150,000 Southern soldiers and found fewer than a dozen were black. 'Of course, if I documented 12, someone would start adding zeros,' he says.

"These and other scholars say claims about black rebels derive from unreliable anecdotes, a blurring of soldiers and laborers, and the rapid spread on the Internet of what Mr. McPherson calls 'pseudohistory.' Thousands of blacks did accompany rebel troops -- as servants, cooks, teamsters and musicians. Most were slaves who served involuntarily; until the final days of the war, the Confederacy staunchly refused to enlist black soldiers.

"Some blacks carried guns for their masters and wore spare or cast-off uniforms, which may help explain eyewitness accounts of blacks units. But any blacks who actually fought did so unofficially, either out of personal loyalty or self-defense, many historians say.

"They also bristle at what they see as the disingenuous twist on political correctness fueling the black Confederate fad. 'It's a search for a multicultural Confederacy, a desperate desire to feel better about your ancestors,' says Leslie Rowland, a University of Maryland historian. 'If you suggest that some blacks supported the South, then you can deny that the Confederacy was about slavery and white supremacy.'

"David Blight, an Amherst College historian, likens the trend to bygone notions about happy plantation darkies.' Confederate groups invited devoted ex-slaves to reunions and even won Senate approval in 1923 for a "mammy" monument in Washington (it was never built). Black Confederates, Mr. Blight says, are a new and more palatable way to 'legitimize the Confederacy.'"

-- Wall Street Journal, May 8, 1997

AND:

"There seems to be no evidence that the Negro soldiers authorized by the Confederate Government (March 13, 1865) ever went into battle. This gives rise to the question as to whether or not any Negroes ever fought in the Confederate ranks. It is possible that some of the free Negro companies organized in Louisiana and Tennessee in the early part of the war took part in local engagements; but evidence seems to the contrary. (Authors note: If they did, their action was not authorized by the Confederate Government.) A company of "Creoles," some of whom had Negro blood, may have been accepted in the Confederate service at Mobile. Secretary Seddon conditioned his authorization of the acceptance of the company on the ability of those "Creoles" to be naturally and properly distinguished from Negroes. If persons with Negro Blood served in Confederate ranks as full-fledged soldiers, the per cent of Negro blood was sufficiently low for them to pass as whites."

(Authors note: Henry Clay Warmoth said that many Louisiana mulattoes were in Confederate service but they were "not registered as Negroes." War Politics and Reconstruction, p. 56) p. 160-61, SOUTHERN NEGROES, Wiley

There is -no- credible evidence that even a small number blacks served as soldiers in the rebel armies.

Walt

Perhaps it's a topic for those more steeped in the history and documentation of the times.
Part of what I quoted, was from here:
http://www.37thtexas.org/html/BlkHist.html

and the reference given for more info was this man, whose bio I have C&P:
Edward Smith- director, American Studies Program; assistant professor of anthropology

Area of Expertise: Civil rights movement; minorities in education; American Civil War; African American history; community organization; urban policy; Washington, D.C.

Additional Information: Smith is a third generation Washingtonian and the director of the American Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences, where he has taught since 1969. He is also a Civil War, African-American cultural heritage, and art history lecturer and study tour leader for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, the National Park Service, and the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. He has been a visiting classics tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, a visiting professor at the John Glenn Institute of Ohio State University, a lecturer for the James Madison Memorial Foundation, a guest curator for the National Building Museum and a lecturer for the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Smith has served as a consultant to numerous federal agencies, including the U.S. Senate, and in 1977 and 1978 he took a leave of absence from teaching to work at the White House as a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration. His writings have appeared in the Yale Review, the Washington Post, the Military Review, the Gettysburg National Battlefield Journal, the Wall Street Journal, Washington History, and the Lincoln Review and numerous other publications. He is the founder and codirector of the American University Civil War Institute, a frequent contributor to the “Civil War Page” of the Washington Times and is currently writing two books on the Civil War. Smith is also an honorary cabinet member of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum in Beauvoir, Mississippi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute of the Library of Congress, and is a member of Mount Vernon’s Advisory Council of George Washington Scholars. In 1991, he was awarded American University’s Distinguished Faculty Award. In 1997, he was selected for AU’s faculty award for “Outstanding Service to the University Community.” Also in 1997 the mayor of Dallas, Texas, awarded him a mayoral proclamation for his contributions to Civil War scholarship. Most recently was made a distinguished honorary member of the Virginia Sons of Confederate Veterans and an endowed scholarship has been named in his honor at the University of Richmond to further the study of the Civil War era and beyond.

He sure seems a credible source of information on Black history and the Civil War.

The rest of the info:
1. The "Richmond Howitzers" were partially manned by black militiamen. They saw action at 1st Manassas (or 1st Battle of Bull Run) where they operated battery no. 2. In addition two black "regiments", one free and one slave, participated in the battle on behalf of the South. "Many colored people were killed in the action", recorded John Parker, a former slave.

2. At least one Black Confederate was a non-commissioned officer. James Washington, Co. D 35th Texas Cavalry, Confederate States Army, became it's 3rd Sergeant. Higher ranking black commissioned officers served in militia units, but this was on the State militia level (Louisiana)and not in the regular C.S. Army.

3. Free black musicians, cooks, soldiers and teamsters earned the same pay as white confederate privates. This was not the case in the Union army where blacks did not receive equal pay. At the Confederate Buffalo Forge in Rockbridge County, Virginia, skilled black workers "earned on average three times the wages of white Confederate soldiers and more than most Confederate army officers ($350- $600 a year).

4. Dr. Lewis Steiner, Chief Inspector of the United States Sanitary Commission while observing Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson's occupation of Frederick, Maryland, in 1862: "Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number [Confederate troops]. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc.....and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederate Army."

5. Frederick Douglas reported, "There are at the present moment many Colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but real soldiers, having musket on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down any loyal troops and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the rebels."

6. Black and white militiamen returned heavy fire on Union troops at the Battle of Griswoldsville (near Macon, GA). Approximately 600 boys and elderly men were killed in this skirmish.

7. In 1864, President Jefferson Davis approved a plan that proposed the emancipation of slaves, in return for the official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. France showed interest but Britain refused.

8. The Jackson Battalion included two companies of black soldiers. They saw combat at Petersburg under Col. Shipp. "My men acted with utmost promptness and goodwill...Allow me to state sir that they behaved in an extraordinary acceptable manner."

9. Recently the National Park Service, with a recent discovery, recognized that blacks were asked to help defend the city of Petersburg, Virginia and were offered their freedom if they did so. Regardless of their official classification, black Americans performed support functions that in today's army many would be classified as official military service. The successes of white Confederate troops in battle, could only have been achieved with the support these loyal black Southerners.

10. Confederate General John B. Gordon (Army of Northern Virginia) reported that all of his troops were in favor of Colored troops and that it's adoption would have "greatly encouraged the army". Gen. Lee was anxious to receive regiments of black soldiers. The Richmond Sentinel reported on 24 Mar 1864, "None will deny that our servants are more worthy of respect than the motley hordes which come against us." "Bad faith [to black Confederates] must be avoided as an indelible dishonor."

11. In March 1865, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary Of State, promised freedom for blacks who served from the State of Virginia. Authority for this was finally received from the State of Virginia and on April 1st 1865, $100 bounties were offered to black soldiers. Benjamin exclaimed, "Let us say to every Negro who wants to go into the ranks, go and fight, and you are free Fight for your masters and you shall have your freedom." Confederate Officers were ordered to treat them humanely and protect them from "injustice and oppression".

12. A quota was set for 300,000 black soldiers for the Confederate States Colored Troops. 83% of Richmond's male slave population volunteered for duty. A special ball was held in Richmond to raise money for uniforms for these men. Before Richmond fell, black Confederates in gray uniforms drilled in the streets. Due to the war ending, it is believed only companies or squads of these troops ever saw any action. Many more black soldiers fought for the North, but that difference was simply a difference because the North instituted this progressive policy more sooner than the more conservative South. Black soldiers from both sides received discrimination from whites who opposed the concept .

13. Union General U.S. Grant in Feb 1865, ordered the capture of "all the Negro men before the enemy can put them in their ranks." Frederick Douglass warned Lincoln that unless slaves were guaranteed freedom (those in Union controlled areas were still slaves) and land bounties, "they would take up arms for the rebels".

14. On April 4, 1865 (Amelia County, VA), a Confederate supply train was exclusively manned and guarded by black Infantry. When attacked by Federal Cavalry, they stood their ground and fought off the charge, but on the second charge they were overwhelmed. These soldiers are believed to be from "Major Turner's" Confederate command.

15. A Black Confederate, George _____, when captured by Federals was bribed to desert to the other side. He defiantly spoke, "Sir, you want me to desert, and I ain't no deserter. Down South, deserters disgrace their families and I am never going to do that."

16. Former slave, Horace King, accumulated great wealth as a contractor to the Confederate Navy. He was also an expert engineer and became known as the "Bridge builder of the Confederacy." One of his bridges was burned in a Yankee raid. His home was pillaged by Union troops, as his wife pleaded for mercy.

17. As of Feb. 1865 1,150 black seamen served in the Confederate Navy. One of these was among the last Confederates to surrender, aboard the CSS Shenandoah, six months after the war ended. This surrender took place in England.

18. Nearly 180,000 Black Southerners, from Virginia alone, provided logistical support for the Confederate military. Many were highly skilled workers. These included a wide range of jobs: nurses, military engineers, teamsters, ordnance department workers, brakemen, firemen, harness makers, blacksmiths, wagonmakers, boatmen, mechanics, wheelwrights, etc. In the 1920'S Confederate pensions were finally allowed to some of those workers that were still living. Many thousands more served in other Confederate States.

19. During the early 1900's, many members of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) advocated awarding former slaves rural acreage and a home. There was hope that justice could be given those slaves that were once promised "forty acres and a mule" but never received any. In the 1913 Confederate Veteran magazine published by the UCV, it was printed that this plan "If not Democratic, it is [the] Confederate" thing to do. There was much gratitude toward former slaves, which "thousands were loyal, to the last degree", now living with total poverty of the big cities. Unfortunately, their proposal fell on deaf ears on Capitol Hill.

20. During the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913, arrangements were made for a joint reunion of Union and Confederate veterans. The commission in charge of the event made sure they had enough accommodations for the black Union veterans, but were completely surprised when unexpected black Confederates arrived. The white Confederates immediately welcomed their old comrades, gave them one of their tents, and "saw to their every need". Nearly every Confederate reunion including those blacks that served with them, wearing the gray.

21. The first military monument in the US Capitol that honors an African-American soldier is the Confederate monument at Arlington National cemetery. The monument was designed 1914 by Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish Confederate. Who wanted to correctly portray the "racial makeup" in the Confederate Army. A black Confederate soldier is depicted marching in step with white Confederate soldiers. Also shown is one "white soldier giving his child to a black woman for protection".- source: Edward Smith, African American professor at the American University, Washington DC.

22. Black Confederate heritage is beginning to receive the attention it deserves. For instance, Terri Williams, a black journalist for the Suffolk "Virginia Pilot" newspaper, writes: "I've had to re-examine my feelings toward the [Confederate] flag started when I read a newspaper article about an elderly black man whose ancestor worked with the Confederate forces. The man spoke with pride about his family member's contribution to the cause, was photographed with the [Confederate] flag draped over his lap that's why I now have no definite stand on just what the flag symbolizes, because it no longer is their history, or my history, but our history."

Resources:

Charles Kelly Barrow, et.al. Forgotten Confederates: An Anthology About Black Southerners (1995). Currently the best book on the subject.

Ervin L. Jordan, Jr. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (1995). Well researched and very good source of information on Black Confederates, but has a strong Union bias.

Richard Rollins. Black Southerners in Gray (1994). Excellent source.

Dr. Edward Smith and Nelson Winbush, "Black Southern Heritage". An excellent educational video. Mr. Winbush is a descendent of a Black Confederate and a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

This fact page is not an all inclusive list of Black Confederates, only a small sampling of accounts. For general historical information on Black Confederates, contact Dr. Edward Smith, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20016; Dean of American Studies. Dr. Smith is a black professor dedicated to clarifying the historical role of African Americans.

I am sure many would take any info availble to make their various points. I am solely interested in the truth, which is fascinating whomever it may happen to "benefit".

hy·poc·ri·sy
(h

-p

k

r

-s

)
n. pl. hy·poc·ri·sies

The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
An act or instance of such falseness.

He sure seems a credible source of information on Black history and the Civil War.

Fortunately, many of the original records survive:

"Mr. Wickham said that our brave soldiers, who have fought so long and nobly, would not stand to be thus placed side by side with negro soldiers. He was opposed to such a measure. The day that such a bill passed Congress sounds the death knell of this Confederacy. The very moment an order goes forth from the War Department authorizing the arming and organizing of negro soldiers there was an eternal end to this struggle.-(Voice-That's so.)

Gen. Howell Cobb, an unbeliever in this expedient, wrote from Macon, Ga., January 8, 1865: "I think that the proposition is the most pernicious idea that has been suggested since the war began. You cannot make soldiers of slaves or slaves of soldiers. The moment you resort to this your white soldiers are lost to you, and one reason why this proposition is received with favor by some portions of the army is because they hope that when the negro comes in they can retire. You cannot keep white and black troops together, and you cannot trust negroes alone. They won't make soldiers, as they are wanting in every qualification necessary to make one."

That statement makes an interesting contrast with this one:

"I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us some of most important successes, believe the emancipation policy and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt the rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes could not have been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers...So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any."

A. Lincoln

Walt

4. Dr. Lewis Steiner, Chief Inspector of the United States Sanitary Commission while observing Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson's occupation of Frederick, Maryland, in 1862: "Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number [Confederate troops]. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc.....and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederate Army."

Ah yes, Dr. Steiner wrote a phamplet, which also contained:

"The most intense hatred seems to have been encouraged and fostered in the men's hearts towards Union people, or Yankees as they style them; and this word Yankee is employed with any and every manner of emphasis possible to indicate contempt and bitterness. The men have been made to believe that "to kill a Yankee" is to do a duty imperatively imposed on them. The following incident will illustrate this:

A gentleman was called aside, while talking with some ladies, by an officer who wished information as to shoes. He said he was in want of shoes for his men, that he had United States money if the dealers were so foolish as to prefer it, or he would procure them gold; but if they wouldn't sell, he was satisfied to wait until they reached Baltimore, where he had no doubt but that shoes in quantity could be procured. No reply was made. Changing the subject, he inquired how the men were behaving. The answer was very well; there was no complaint, although some few had been seen intoxicated on the street. "Who gave them the liquor," said the officer. "Townsmen who sympathize with you and desire to show their love for you." "The only way to do that," said the officer, "is to kill a Yankee: kill a Yankee, sir, if you want to please a Southerner." This was uttered with all imaginable expression of vindictiveness and venom."

A clergyman tells me that he saw an aged crone come out of her house as certain rebels passed by trailing the American flag in the dust. She shook her long, skinny hands at the traitors and screamed at the top of her voice, "My curses be upon you and your officers for degrading your country's flag." Her expression and gesture as described to me were worthy of Meg Merilies.

The Confederates have been seizing horses from our farmers, tendering Confederate scrip in payments. They allege military necessity injustification of this seizure. Military necessity is a convenient cloak for any outrage whatever."

Three of the buildings on the hospital grounds were taken possession of by the Confederates for the accommodation of their sick. These soon threw themselves on the beds, with their filthy clothing and boots. In a few hours a marked contrast could be noticed between the neatness of the wards containing the Union soldiers and those occupied by the rebels."

The experience of one week with the Rebel Army satisfies me that the men are in a high state of discipline and have learned implicit obedience. When separated from their officers they do not show the same self-reliance that our men possess,—do not seem able to discuss with intelligent ease the political subjects which claim every man's attention at this time.

All of them show a lack of energy and spirit, a want of thrift and cleanliness, which are altogether paradoxical to our men. A constant fear of their officers is associated with their prompt obedience of orders. Many, while they expressed their contempt for "the Yankees," would lament the war and express a desire to throw down their arms and return to their homes, if they could only do this without molestation. Jackson's name was always mentioned with a species of veneration, and his orders were obeyed with a slavish obedience unsurpassed by that of Russian serfs.

The men generally looked sturdy when in ranks, yet a cachectic expression of countenance prevailed, which could not be accounted for entirely by the unwashed faces that were, from necessity or choice, the rule. Those who have fallen into our hands show worn-out constitutions, disordered digestions and a total lack of vital stamina. They do not bear pain with any fortitude, and their constitutions seem to have very little power of resistance to disease. The rate of mortality in the rebel sick and wounded is double or treble that found in the Hospitals containing our men."

Sunday, September 14th.—Major-General Banks' corps d'armee, commanded by Brigadier-General A. S. Williams passed through town this morning on its way to the front. The men were in the best possible spirits, all eager for the fray. They are fighting now for and among people who appreciate their labors, and who welcome them as brothers. Brigadier-General Gordon said that "the reception of the troops by the citizens of this place was equal to a victory in its effects upon the men of his command."

The veteran troops were all in vigorous health, and the new levies made up of strong, athletic men, whose intelligent faces beamed with strong desire to press rapidly upon the retreating foe. We had never greater reason to be proud of our army."

-- Dr Lewis Steiner, United States Sanitary Commission.

Now, the USSC was not a government organization, and Dr. Steiner was not a military officer. For instance, his 64,000 rebels were actually only about 45,000. But his comments are interesting.

He called Antietam a great Union victory also.

There is no credible evidence that more than a handful of blacks fought for the rebels.

Walt

1. The "Richmond Howitzers" were partially manned by black militiamen. They saw action at 1st Manassas (or 1st Battle of Bull Run) where they operated battery no. 2. In addition two black "regiments", one free and one slave, participated in the battle on behalf of the South. "Many colored people were killed in the action", recorded John Parker, a former slave.

Here is a Link listing the Confederate Order of Battle for First Bull Run. In addition to explaining why the Richmond Howitzers are not included, can you please identify which regiments were the Black ones?

Post #32 is one of the finest I have ever seen on this site and I have been here since the beginning. Very, VERY well said.

This isn't my research.
I linked to a page, so go read it there, where they show the sources.
Like I told Whiskey-guy, I'm not gunning for anyone.
longtermmemory posed a question about slaves serving in exchange for freedom. The googling I did turned up the first document I posted. There were some interesting lines in it about black recruiting, so I posted the other stuff, and in my other post, listed the bio of who is apparently the main source. If it's all a fabrication, I find it odd there are so many books and other media on the topic, but anything is possible. Some other time if I have the inclination I'll do some more searching.
I will say if you google for "Richmond Howitzers" you'll find plenty of references to 1st Manassas.

So you aren't sure how much, if any, is true?

Well, short of spending months or years researching, it would be disingenuous of me to claim I knew particularly one way or another.
This article seems to give a fairly objective view of the controversy:
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/10/22/blackconf22.shtml

Historians fight a civil war over black Confederates
By Associated Press
CHATTANOOGA -- Past the rack of pistols at the Tennessee Civil War Museum and the video on firing a cannon is a grainy 1861 photo of Andrew and Silas Chandler.

Both wear Confederate gray. Both hold swords in their right hands and guns in their left. Both are about to go into battle.

But this is no ordinary picture of Southern loyalists. Silas is black and Andrew is his white master.

The photo is part of a display -- maybe the only one of its kind in a museum nationwide -- stating at least 35,000 blacks fought in the 1.2 million man Confederate army.

It's a politically loaded claim many historians say is wrong.

"The numbers are vastly overinflated," said William Blair, director of the Civil War Era Center at Pennsylvania State University.

"There are people who want to distance slavery as the cause of the war. This feeds nicely into that whole view."

Craig Hadley, who designed the privately owned Chattanooga museum, which opened last year, believes critics are trying to bury a sensitive topic.

"Nobody wants to acknowledge these people because they 'fought on the wrong side,' " said Hadley, a Southern Adventist University professor.

Historians agree that some blacks enlisted as Confederates, even though the South banned them from the army until the desperate few months before the war ended. No one knows for sure why they joined up.

Some may have thought of themselves as Southerners first or believed they would be given money, land or even their freedom in exchange for fighting, said historian Ervin Jordan, author of Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia.

Some may have felt loyal to their owners or pretended to be loyal to join the troops and plot their escape, he said. Others may have been influenced by talk of undisciplined Union soldiers mistreating blacks on their march.

And free blacks who owned land may have wanted to protect their property.

The Louisiana Native Guards, a group of prosperous free blacks in New Orleans, volunteered in 1861 to fight for the Confederacy.

But after the North took control of the city a year later, the regiments reversed course, volunteering for the Union.

"The bottom line is most white Southerners did not trust black Southerners but they were willing to consider the use of blacks in the military to save the Confederacy from defeat," Jordan said.

The research gets murkier when historians try to count the number of black Confederates. Estimates range from a few hundred to more than 50,000.

Thousands of free men and slaves served the Southern army as laborers, cooks and musicians and may have been armed. Many were so-called body servants -- slaves like Silas Chandler who traveled with their owners as personal attendants and often carried guns for protection.

John McGlone, president of Southern Heritage Press and an editor of the journal Black Southerners in Gray, is among those who believe such laborers should be counted as soldiers, even if their masters forced them.

"When you do get a battle commencing it all becomes a big blur," said McGlone, a history lecturer at Motlow State Community College in Tullahoma. "Often, they got involved in battles even though their normal role was support."

But many historians find this approach illegitimate, saying armed forces always make a distinction between soldiers and support crew.

"I would say that while the distinction was blurred around the edges, it was still a distinction," said Civil War historian James McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom.

Adding to the confusion are sparse war records in which some soldiers are identified by nothing more than their initials.

There are eyewitness accounts of black combatants. But newspaper reports often were biased, written by journalists who never saw battles, McPherson said.

Documents from burial details also were unreliable, as crews often reported finding "negro corpses" when the bodies simply had turned black after hours in the sun, McPherson said.

Jordan traced the origin of one account of Southern troops at Gettysburg with a "colored flag bearer" and discovered the eyewitness actually had written of a "flag bearer bearing the colors."

Records of pensions awarded to hundreds of black Confederate veterans raise more questions. Blacks applied as laborers, but Jordan said he came across documents where blacks had crossed out "soldier" since they officially had been banned from combat and written "body servant."

Major historical sites including the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Va., the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., and Gettysburg National Military Park have no exhibits on black Confederate soldiers and no plans to add displays.

"It would be something that we would probably address if there was evidence there were substantial numbers," Gettysburg historian Scott Hartwig said.

"There have been a lot of people who have written about it recently and the evidence has been very flimsy."

Jordan, who is black, believes Civil War museums should be sensitive to the feelings of the black community.

"My attitude about blacks who were loyal to the Confederacy is I don't condemn them nor do I praise them," he said. "My goal is to explain them."

Hadley, who is white, said reaction to his Chattanooga exhibit ranges from praise to virulent condemnation. He expected as much when he developed the display and hopes it will generate more discussion.

"It's not something we need to be politically correct about," Hadley said. "We love to talk about the Civil War in general terms like the whole war was about ending slavery. The war was a whole lot more complex than that."

~~~~~
And this articles seems to corroborate the "little bit of both" angle:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb1996/n02051996_9602053.html

Black Confederates

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 -- Confederate Maj. Gen. Patrick
Cleburne was a born fighter. A division commander in the
Army of Tennessee, Cleburne hated to lose.
In 1864, Union forces, with their virtually unlimited
resources of men and materiel, were grinding the Confederacy
toward defeat. Cleburne saw an untapped Southern resource he
wanted to use before it was too late.
Cleburne made a revolutionary proposal to Army
Commander Gen. Braxton Bragg: Arm Southern slaves and have
them fight for their freedom with the Confederate army.
What mattered to Cleburne was not the institution of
slavery, but the establishment of the Confederate States of
America. He believed logical men would see the only way to
overcome the tremendous Union advantages in men and materiel
was to arm the slaves.
But there was nothing logical about slavery. Bragg, his
corps commanders and selected division commanders in the
Army of Tennessee listened to Cleburne’s proposal in shocked
silence. The whole idea was repugnant to them. Still, Bragg
forwarded Cleburne’s proposal to Confederate President
Jefferson Davis.
Davis killed the idea and in fact was so worried about
the effect of such a proposal on morale that he suppressed
any mention of it. Cleburne’s novel idea did not see the
light of day until 40 years after the war.
But African Americans did serve with Confederate
armies. And eventually they even bore arms for the
Confederacy.
Early in the war, "Free Negroes" tried to enlist in the
Confederate army. Black militia units, most notably in
Louisiana, rushed to join in the war. The Confederate
government did not accept the black militia units for army
duty. None of the units appear to have been in combat, but
many may have performed what is called combat service
support today.
Thousands of African Americans marched off to war for
the Confederacy. Many accompanied their masters, and there
were isolated instances throughout the war of these "body
servants" -- as these slaves were called -- taking up arms
when their masters went into combat.
Many other slaves served as laborers for the
Confederate army. During the Atlanta campaign of 1864, for
instance, Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston used thousands of
slaves to prepare fortifications as his army sparred with
that of Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman.
Thousands more slaves served the Confederate army
driving horse-drawn supply wagons. The Confederate fighting
force was white, but much of its support was black.
But sheer Union numbers facing the Confederacy meant
arming the slaves and giving them freedom was almost
inevitable. The Northern population was 20 million. Of the
South’s 9 million people, one-third were African American.
By late 1864, it was becoming apparent to even the most
optimistic Southerner that the North was winning. The fall
of Atlanta and Sherman's subsequent March to the Sea, Union
victories in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and Lt. Gen.
Ulysses S. Grant’s death grip on Richmond and Petersburg,
Va., meant time was running out for the Confederacy. The
last hope expired when Northern voters re-elected Abraham
Lincoln president.
Now desperate, Jefferson Davis embraced an idea he
thought revolting a year earlier. The Confederate Congress
began looking at bills allowing the enlistment of African
Americans into the army in early 1865. Confederate Secretary
of State Judah P. Benjamin spoke at rallies around Richmond.
He said 680,000 African-American males were ready to fight
for the Confederacy: "Let us say to every Negro who wants to
go into the ranks, 'Go and fight, and you are free ... Fight
for your masters, and you shall have your freedom.'"
Representatives from the Deep South were especially
keen on getting blacks to enlist -- theirs was the land
Sherman was laying to waste. Some in the Confederate
government saw the measure as an admission the Confederacy
was wrong about slavery from the beginning.
"If we are right in passing this measure we were wrong
in denying to the old government [the United States] the
right to interfere with the institution of slavery and to
emancipate slaves,” Virginia Sen. Robert M.T. Hunter said.
“Besides, if we offer slaves their freedom ... we confess
that we were insincere, were hypocritical, in asserting that
slavery was the best state for the Negroes themselves."
In February 1865, the Confederate Congress, after
months of stalling, passed an act allowing black
enlistments. Immediately, Virginia started enlisting slaves
to fight for the Confederacy.
White officers commanded these battalions. They drilled
and marched in downtown Richmond. Recruiters hit the areas
around Richmond and Petersburg, but they moved too slowly
for Rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee. He took officers from the Army
of Northern Virginia and started recruiting blacks
immediately.
But time ran out. On March 31, Union forces broke the
Confederate lines at Petersburg. Lee was compelled to
evacuate Richmond and Petersburg. His only hope of carrying
on the fight was to escape to North Carolina and link up
with Confederate forces there.
Records from the time are incomplete, but several
thousand African Americans may have served as soldiers for
the Confederacy. Anecdotal evidence implies at least some
went into combat against Union forces.
On April 4, a Confederate courier observed black
Confederates defending a wagon train near Amelia Court
House, Va. When Union cavalry approached, the black soldiers
formed up, fired and drove them off. The cavalry re-formed,
charged and took the wagon train.
Later, near Farmville, Va., white refugees saw black
Confederates building and preparing to man fortifications.
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Va., on April
9. The enlistment of black Confederate soldiers was the
dying gasp of the South.

"The bottom line is most white Southerners did not trust black Southerners but they were willing to consider the use of blacks in the military to save the Confederacy from defeat," Jordan said.

That pretty much sums it up. Blacks were not authorized to be enlisted in supporting roles until 1864. They were not authorized to be enlisted in combat roles until a few weeks before Lee's surrender. In neither case were slaves offered freedom for their service.

Thousands of African Americans marched off to war for the Confederacy.

Not with weapons.

Walt

And I have to believe that those who hold this emblem so dear are aware of the risks - the chance that others will see them, see the flag, and wonder if they're a white supremacist or a prejudiced wacko.

Or maybe...they are taking a risk that although you're a hypersensitive freak, perhaps you'll get over yourself, Wendy.

During the peak of slavery, only 7% of Southern Families owned slaves.

93% never owned slaves.

I'm not convinced that the confederate flag symbolizes slavery.

There are sweat shops in NYC to this day.

During the peak of slavery, only 7% of Southern Families owned slaves.

Slave ownership devolved on 50% of whites in LA, MS and SC, and on @ 33% in the other so-called seceded states.

"My Dear Sir:

"While in Charleston recently I adverted, in conversation with you, to some considerations affecting the question of slavery in its application to the several classes of population at the South, and especially to the non-slaveholding class who, I maintained, were even more deeply interested than any other in the maintenance of our institutions, and in the success of the movement now inaugurated for the entire social, industrial, and political independence of the South. At your request, I promised to elaborate and commit to writing the points of that conversation, which I now proceed to do, in the hope that I may thus be enabled to give some feeble aid to a cause which is worthy of the Sidneys, Hampdens, and Patrick Henrys, of earlier times.

When in charge of the national census office, several years since, I found that it had been stated by an abolition senator from his seat, that the number of slaveholders at the South did not exceed 150,000. Convinced that, it was a gross misrepresentation of facts, I caused a careful examination of the returns to be made, which fixed the actual number at 347,255, and communicated the information, by note, to Senator Cass, who read it in the Senate. I first called attention to the fact that the number embraced slaveholding families, and that to arrive at the actual number of slaveholders, it would be necessary to multiply by the proportion of persons which the census showed to a family. When this was done, the number was swelled to about two millions.

Since these results were made public, I have had reason to think that the separation of the schedules of the slave and the free was calculated to lead to omissions of the single properties, and that on this account, it would be safe to put the number of families at 375,000, and the number of actual slaveholders at about two millions and a quarter.

Assuming the published returns, however, to be correct, it will appear that one half of the population of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana, excluding the cities, are slaveholders, and that one third of the population of the entire South are similarly circumstanced. The average number of slaves is nine to each slaveholding family, and one half of the whole number of such holders are in possession of less than five slaves."

-- J.E.B. DeBow, 1860

DeBow was the head of the 1850 census.

Walt

Slave ownership devolved on 50% of whites in LA, MS and SC, and on @ 33% in the other so-called seceded states.

Wow, that runs contrary to everything I had been taught about slavery. 50% seems rather impossible since it required a modicum of wealth and property to maintain slaves. That would mean that half of all southerners were of sufficient wealth to own slaves, which seems somewhat of a stretch.

I'll admit that I am no means an expert on the subject, merely subject to enecdotal claims ... but I probably should educate myself more on the matter.

I'm still not convinced that the confederate flag = a love of slavery (there were other quibbles between the north and south), and even then ... the freed slaves were somewhat segregated even when the fled north. They weren't exactly welcomed with open arms by the Yankees. Even in the Union-Succeeded state of West Virginia, my collegue's grandmother told me stories of how black folks were not allowed in their towns, unless they wanted rocks thrown at their heads.

And this was a state that succedded from the Confederacy.

I don't believe that the war was all about love for Black folks.

And yes, "It's a black thing, you wouldn't understand" is racist.

Please explain why you believe the above t-shirt slogan is racist.

I don't believe that the war was all about love for Black folks.

People in the north cared little for blacks either, although many abhorred slavery.

They came forward to fight for Union and progress and later, freedom.

Walt

hey came forward to fight for Union and progress and later, freedom.

Understood. But the confederate flag as a symbol of slavery is somewhat specious.

Pennsylvania and West Virginia fought under the Union Flag, and (at least according to hatewatch-type sites), these two states had, and had to this day, KKK membership numbers that would make the average Alabama resident blush. Should we ban the Union flag on license plates? I don't know.

That whole period in history was rather dicey from the point of view of blacks, and maybe every symbol from the Civil War era should be banned.

Although it is oft-repeated that the war was primarily about slavery, and I don't believe that is historically accurate.

If the north and south agree on everything EXCEPT for slavery, dare I opine that the war would never have taken place.

The confederate movement was made up of many ideals other that just slavery, and some people, rightly or wrongly, still identify with certain aspects of the confederate philosphy.

I don't agree with it, and you don't agree with it ... but i'm not sure that should be banned because of that.

Heck, I still see people with "Clinton/Gore" bumper stickers on their older cars and that certainly offends me, but i'm not going to suggest that they be outlawed.