Posted on 02/26/2005 9:53:22 PM PST by SmithL
The month of February has begun and so has the celebration of Black History Month in the nation, schools and communities. Throughout this time, many noteworthy leaders, citizens, scientists and soldiers who fought in wars and conflicts will be recognized.
However, there is one group of African Americans who will receive no recognition again this year during this month. I am speaking of black Confederates who served and fought to defend their homeland from what they believed to be an armed invasion.
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The South was home to some 4 million who lived there and had roots going back more than 200 years. Deep devotion, love of homeland and strong Christian faith joined black with white Confederate soldiers in defense of their homes and families.
A conservative estimate is that between 50,000 to 60,000 served in the Confederate units. Both slave and free black soldiers served as cooks, musicians and even combatants. The first northern officer killed in battle was Maj. Theodore Winthrop, who was shot by a black sniper of the Wythe Rifles of Hampton, Va.
The most amazing fact concerning black Confederates is that they served within the Confederate units alongside their white brothers in arms while their Union counterparts were kept separate in all-black units led by white officers (as portrayed in the movie "Glory").
In fact, it was not until 1950 that the U.S. military integrated its units at the start of the Korean War.
On Jan. 22, H.K. Edgerton, a former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in North Carolina, was the keynote speaker for the annual Sons of Confederate Veterans dinner in Knoxville. Although his scheduled appearance to speak on southern heritage and black Confederates was published a week ahead in the local paper, not one representative of any established mainstream news media was present to record his comments.
Edgerton was the second African American to speak on black Confederates and other historical facts in the last five years whose comments were only heard by the attendees and went unpublished. Dr. Leonard Haynes, a professor at Southern University, stated: "When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the South."
For those who have been taught or misled to think the people in the northern cities were more tolerant and supportive of their black population, look up the Draft Riots of 1863.
Maj. Arthur Fremantle of the British Army was an observer for Queen Victoria and spent three months with the Army of Northern Virginia and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Freemantle kept a diary and had arrived in New York City just in time to personally observe and witness the worst riots in our history.
He included in his diary seeing gangs of white men chasing, beating and even hanging blacks. Some black men and women were even pulled from their homes and beaten. Police and militias were called out, and more than 1,200 people lost their lives during the three days of riots.
The rioters resented free blacks being excluded from the draft since they were not considered citizens. The motion picture "Gangs of New York" shows some of this violence.
In closing, I have written this article in the hope that it will ignite people to research, read, study and discover the true historical facts. For me to remain silent as an American citizen, Southerner, retired soldier and living historian and ignore the service and sacrifices of these forgotten soldiers is unacceptable.
I quote the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
If you think thats bad try talking about black slavemasters and the blacks who were elected to Congress just after the Civil War.
BTTT
That documentary they had on last week said that the slaves only fought for the confederates because they were forced to by their slave masters. And that as soon as Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation they all deserted and many went north to join the union army.
I wish I could go to a big library and search the archives to read the news from that time to see which is the truth of the past.
BTTT
I should also add that it told of how New York sided with the southern democrats.
Does anybody know if the original article, lists any of the sources/documentation for the subject at hand.
to say the least, I did not get much of an answer.
Not that I care that much, but my girls like to watch Nickelodeon and they have been going NUTS with this crap. Every program is followed by some garbage BHM faux history piece.
They wouldn't dare do a story on a Black Confederate soldier- let alone any Confederate soldier in a sympathetic light.
I read a lot of similar information in the Wyles special collection at UCSB when I was a student at Westmont College from 74-77. This is factual information. A lot of Blacks did desert after the EP was issued by Lincoln. But some still stayed loyal to the South out of cultural issues. For instance, Stonewall Jackson's, aide was a Black that was loyal to both him & the South until he died & the war was over. The fact of the matter is that the liberal press won't touch this on. I've only read one report of Black serving with Confederates in the past 3 yrs. by the liberal press. According to them it was all lies. But the evidence is there. I've read it & seen it.
Slavery in the North was just as prevalent as in the South, before and after the Civil War. The North simply called their slaves "Indentured Servants".... Kinda the same way Howard Dean says all the Democrats need to do is define their immoral platform by using language more suitable for their PC Base
bump
Talk about a monumentally bad decision - and not knowing where one's interests lie...!!
However, those blacks fighting for slavery (and regardless of what the apologists for the south proclaim, it WAS about slavery... are not dissimilar to those Muslims fighting for Saddam - in spite of the fact he has killed more Muslims than any other living person.
Its not unusual for the stupid and misguided to choose the wrong side in history. And its not unusual for them to be forgotten by history
Many slaves had a good relationship with their owners, and even took the family surname as their own on being freed.
It is politically expedient to not remind people that the wars in which large groups of people fought against others were fought over economic repression. From the Tea Tax and Stamp Act of the Revolutionary era to the tarrifs which effectively forced the South to trade with the North, economics are at the root of many conflicts.
Dig deeper, the truth awaits. The answers will make perfect sense if you understand why the colonies broke away from England.
While you dig, keep in mind that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel written by an ardent abolitionist.
Also, keep in mind that although many trimmings have changed, human nature is much the same. Hyperbole sold especially well in Northern markets, just as the wild-eyed stories of the "wild West" sold Harper's Magazine, and hype and gore sells Hollywood today. In reality, disease and suicide took far more soldier's lives in western forts than combat.
Truth becomes dispensible when there is a profit to be made, and the armies of victimhood swell their ranks with new recruits who are programmed with distortions and hyperbole, to the great benefit of their 'advocates'. The same tactics are used by just about any group which wishes to sieze power or wealth nefariously, from the Nazis to Islamists, to 'hate groups' of any ilk, regardless of race, creed, or nation of origin.
Good hunting!
They say the victors write the history .Certainly it seems the case here. I just think it's too darn bad the wrong side won way back when....
bump
It is a matter of historical fact that the first black unit of the Civil War was a Confederate unit, the Louisiana Native Guards.
But they weren't even the first black unit in American history - Andrew Jackson had a unit of free blacks with him in 1815 at the Battle of New Orleans.
The black Yankee units were all johnny-come-latelies (pun intended). The PC crowd hates it when these facts are mentioned, though.
"Ride With The Devil" Very un-PC movie in which a Black irregular serves with confederate Bushwhackers in Missouri.
The number of black combatants was infinitessimal as a % of all Confed. soldiers. All laborers in uniform were promised their freedom in return for service, which was a risk they willingly took. It is hardly what the article implies---that blacks couldn't wait to fight for good ol' massa.
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