Posted on 05/21/2005 1:31:37 PM PDT by CurlyBill
Contrary to popular historical education and Southern revisionists, there is much evidence that African-American's served their country not only in the Union army but also in the Confederate army and navy. This evidence is found in the diaries, journals, newspaper articles and documents written by soldiers, officers and politicians.
Many institutions have set about to dismantle these findings by declaring them as `revisionist,' however the proof that these written accounts exist at all shows that slaves were present in the service of their state and country.
It was the commanders in the field who saw the greatest potential in the use of the African-American slave long before the politicians would admit their value. On January 2nd, 1864 Major General Patrick Cleburne of the Army of Tennessee, circulated a petition among several officers calling for the enrolling and arming of slaves into the Southern Army.
The petition read in part, "As between the loss of independence and the loss of slavery, we assume that every patriot will freely give up the latter---give up the Negro slaves rather than become a slave himself." It was signed by three other generals, four colonels, three majors, one captain, and two lieutenants.
Politicians were horrified by the idea. Confederate Major General and political advisor to Jefferson Davis, Howell Cobb pointed out, "If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong." Davis had Cleburne's petition suppressed, yet the idea would not go away.
In February 1865, General Robert E. Lee wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis requesting authorization to fill his ranks with slaves, saying that they were already physically fit, and mentally conditioned to be well disciplined. In March, the Confederated Congress passed a bill that when to Davis' desk.
While it was awaiting his signature General Lee wrote the President again, "I do not know whether the law authorizing the use of Negro troops has received your sanction, but I respectfully recommend the measures be taken to carry it into effect as soon as practible." It was signed on March 13th and by the first of April, Colonel Otey, 11th Virginia Infantry, was assigned to duty in Lynchburg, VA, to recruit, muster and organize black units for the Confederate army.
Although this unit saw no action according to official accounts other records indicate they were drilling and standing by to defend the city. There are also historical documents indicating that thousands of slaves served in the Southern army as noncombatants in roles like cooks, teamsters and musicians.
And when called upon they would fight along side `freemen' who served in such outstanding state-militias like the 1st Louisiana Native Guard; Company A and F, 14th Mississippi Confederate Calvary; Company D, 35th Texas Calvary; or the 1,150 black sailors who served in the Confederate navy.
Finally, the first military monument in the US Capitol which honors African-American soldiers is the Confederate monument, erected in 1914. It depicts a black Confederate soldier marching in step with white Confederate soldiers. Also shown is a white soldier giving his child to a black woman for safety.
We may never understand everything about those five remarkable years, but we cannot ever stop trying. And it is time to realize that the historical record has been obscured to the truth on the part of the African-American's role in the Southern Army as a soldier and sailor and to bring these facts to light as both a matter of pride and education.
Talk about messing up a reparations claim.
Good catch, by the way, referring to the number of Blacks that owned slaves in pre-war Orleans Parish. That little nugget of info never sees the light of day.
I have heard that blacks were paid the same as whites in the confederate army, not so in the union army. granted confederate money probably was worthless anyway, but I guess it was the thought that counts :p
Hold on. I answered a post of yours using sound logic and acknowledgement of the law as my basis. Yet here you move this to the personal level by saying that my line of thinking is "stupid," and that I'm "emoting," even though what I said was dispassionate.
Imagine that.
Well, if you were in a state of cognitive dissonance, you wouldn't know it, would you? In fact, you could be in one now...
That's cute.
This article only talks about slaves that we can assume were forced to fight for the Confederacy. What is even less well known is that there were free blacks that fought for the CSA. In New Orleans during the Civil War there were quite a few black free tradesmen. When Union General Butler attacked New Orleans, residents defended the city composed of both white and black CSA soldiers. They were defending their city from attack. Butler occupied the city and imposed martial law, with its attendant rapes and pillaging of the fair city of New Orleans. He it was who said that any woman you see can be assumed to be a 'lady of the evening' and you could have your way with her. The false impression that New Orleans girls are tramps lingers to this day.
Re: "If you have evidence of that, post it."
and Re: "Again, if you have evidence of Union troops coming upon Blacks and being fired upon them, then post it."
From post #28 please see it for more details. Hear is a snip:
There is a good book on the subject written by a black professor at the University of Virginia by the name of Jordan. His book is Afro Americans and Black Confederates in Civil War Virginia. I am pretty sure it is still in print. His book was limited to the 4 years of the war and just in Virgina but what a gold mine. Lot of fascinating stories dealing with all aspects of slave life. He was trying to figure out why a slave would fight for the South.
His conclusion? It was their country same as the white man.
Really? I am not sure that the outcome of the Civil War actually advanced the cause of Blacks in America. Remember the Army was segregated as late as 1948. I firmly believe that slavery as an instituition was moribund and the Civil War aroused animosities and hardened positions.
"And when called upon they would fight along side `freemen' who served in such outstanding state-militias like the 1st Louisiana Native Guard; Company A and F, 14th Mississippi Confederate Calvary; Company D, 35th Texas Calvary; or the 1,150 black sailors who served in the Confederate navy."
A bigger paradox (sorry I couldn't resist) was the white slaves. Yes folks they were real, they were not a myth.
I just bought this book a few weeks ago. It's excellent. Fairly scholarly and well-researched, but not tedious. He is a black scholar himself, so he didn't have some League-of-the-South ax to grind.
People don't seem to understand this. Whether you're black or white, slave or free, you love the land in which you were born. You see an invading army burning and pillaging its way across the countryside, threatening to destroy your home, and you may well pick up a gun and fight, even if your position has not been wonderful.
Remember also that not all black slaves were suffering in the forests of Georgia. In northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, for instance, some of them had relatively light work (by the standards for all rural people of the period) and in many cases even farmed their own acreage or ran their own side businesses, without having to worry about where their clothing or food would come from, because the master would always provide it. That's not a bad deal, especially if you haven't been raised on ideas of equality and freedom, and it's not surprising that a lot of blacks didn't want to rock the boat. Some of them even objected to emancipation, as it required initiative, independence, and a willingness to take care of onesself in an age that offered no social safety net.
So in some respects it's not surprising that certain blacks may have taken arms against the Union.
"I feel the institution of slavery was a moribund one"
Probably so.Might have lasted another forty years or so at the most.Yet thats small consolation for those who had to live under that yoke and wait till slavery died a natural death.
All the people who say life was no paradise for Northern blacks are quite correct.That does NOT excuse the peculiar institution in the South,however.
And,yes,there were quite a few free blacks who owned slaves.Why is that a surprise?Blacks can be just as cruel and capricious to their own folks as whites can!Most of the slave owning blacks were mulatto offspring of white masters and slave women.They often inherited that attitude of"I'm better than those field n*****"since I have white blood.
Hell,you see that attitude TODAY among lots of blacks.Just go to any urban high school in the country!
Knock it off.
Something else to consider also. The whole world had just come out of a period of serfdom in which, essentially, everyone other than the "nobility" were slaves.
That slavery existed in the aftermath of that concept might have been considered a step upward.
Many of the people fighting, on both sides of the War Between The States, were the Irish and Scots. Why were they here? Because they were treated like property where they had been. Unwelcome property, at that!
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