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I wrote a paper once about minorities in the Confederate armies. Here it is for any who are interested: ------------------------------------------------------------ Red and Yellow, Black and White: The Contributions of Minorities to the Confederate Cause------------------------------------------------------------ Many people today are unaware of the service of minorities in the Confederacy, often because numerous historians overlook the issue. But despite the lack of attention they receive, their existence remains a well documented fact. Thousands of ethnic minorities served the Southern cause in one way or another throughout the course of the war and aided the war effort in every conceivable way. It is time they receive more recognition. The largest minority group to support the Confederacy was the black population. Though many of blacks obviously favored the Union, many others clearly did not and were devoted instead to their native states. Dr. L. L Haynes, an African-American educator from Louisiana, allows: “Johnny Reb was not just a white man, he was black too.” (qtd. in Kennedy) It is estimated that there were between 40,000 and 65,000 Confederates of color, free and slave, and an estimated 13,000 saw combat (Rollins 121; Williams). When the South seceded and the war began, patriotic fervor swept up both blacks and whites. In Lynchburg, 70 free blacks enlisted to fight for the defense of Virginia soon after she seceded, in Hampton 300 blacks volunteered to serve in artillery batteries, and in Nashville and Augusta companies of blacks volunteered for service (Rollins 2-3). In New Orleans the free colored population declared their love for the State of Louisiana and fifteen hundred men signed up to offer their services in defense of their home state (Rollins 38-39). Black southerners donated money to the cause and balls were held by free colored folks throughout the South to raise money for soldiers and thousands of dollars, clothes, blankets and etc. were sent (Rollins 4). William Ellison, a free black man and the third largest slave owner in South Carolina, sent his son off to join an artillery unit and changed his crop from cotton to foodstuffs for the army (Johnson 133). Although blacks were not officially allowed to enlist and fight as soldiers in the Confederate army as they did in many Native Guard units, many slipped in anyhow. Oftentimes recruiting officers were not very particular and the only question they would ask is “Will you fight?” As a result, thousands of blacks ended up serving as privates in the Southern army. They bragged that “The Soufren colored man can whip a norfern nigger and de Yankee to back him.” (qtd. in Rollins 4) Concerning the blacks that served under him during the war, General Forrest remarked that “better Confederates did not live.” (qtd. in Rollins 95) Unlike the Union army, the Confederate army paid black southerners the same pay as the rest of the soldiers, provided them with the same rations, and allowed them to march side by side with the rest of the army, even if this was not yet authorized by the Confederate government (Johnson 171). Horace Greeley, the famous abolitionist, wrote, “For more than two years, Negroes have been extensively employed in belligerent operations by the Confederacy. They have been embodied and drilled as rebel soldiers and paraded with white troops at a time when this would not have been tolerated in the armies of the Union.” (qtd. in Johnson 172) A Union surgeon caught behind Confederate lines as Lee’s army moved through Maryland also remarked in his diary about such black southerners: Wednesday, September 10 At 4 o’clock this morning the Rebel army began to move from our town, Jackson’s force taking the advance…. The most liberal calculation could not give them more that 64,000 men. Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in the number… They had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc. They were supplied, in many instances, with knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, etc., and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederacy army…. (qtd. in Rollins 10) Most of these men were not on any official muster rolls, so the official documentation is very thin. Many served without the benefit of uniforms or official Government sanctions, at least until late in the war. But this, however, this did not prevent them from joining in the struggle. Later on in the war, the Confederate government finally began to officially enlist black southerners, but not many of these new, all-black units saw service before the war was over. An even larger number of blacks were with the army as body servants accompanying their masters, and many were promised their freedom for their service. They preformed every job conceivable. They served as cooks, teamsters, trench diggers, medical assistants, fifers and drummers, and camp musicians. They cared for the horses, pitched and struck tents, and washed clothes. Many of them even managed to see fighting by accompanying their masters into battle. On June 10, 1861, at the battle of Big Bethel, it is recorded that a colored body servant shot down the first Union officer of the war (Johnson 152). Another veteran recalled that the regimental cooks would march into battle right behind their masters. It is recorded that at Seven Pines a cook and minister with an Alabama regiment became excited in the midst of everything and took up a rifle and went into the battle. He was heard to yell to the regiment, “De Lord hab mercy on us all, boys, here dey come agin! Dar it is,” he exclaimed as the Federals fired over their heads, “just as I taught! Can’t shoot worth a bad five-cent piece. Now’s de time, boys!” and as the Alabamians returned fire and charged, he was heard shouting, “Pitch in, White folks—Uncle Pomp’s behind yer. Send all de Yankees to de ‘ternal flames, whar dere’s weeping and gnashing of-sail in Alabama; stick ‘em wid de bayonet, and send all de blue ornery cusses to de state of eternal fire and brimstone!” (qtd. in Rollins 14). Even when captured, many black servants remained loyal to the cause. One black southerner captured at Gettysburg refused to join his captors and “fight ‘ginst my government.” Two black North Carolinians captured with their master were offered to be released in Boston by the Yankees. However, they responded, “We is seches [secessionist] niggers ourselves, sah! We rader stick to our massah, sah.” (qtd. in Barrow 24) Another master and slave were captured and sent to Point Lookout Prison, and there were asked to sign an oath of loyalty to the Union. The master signed, but the slave did not. When asked why he refused to sign, the slave replied: “Massa has no principles.” (qtd. in Rollins 11) Because of such loyalty to the cause exhibited by many black servants there are several monuments in the South dedicated to them. Blacks also spied for the Confederacy. They would cross into the Union lines and then come back with accurate details of the numbers and dispositions of Federal troops. The Yankees did not suspect them because they supposed all blacks to be on their side. Blacks with Southern sympathies would take advantage of this often. When the Yankees picked local blacks to be their guides, it was not uncommon for them to be led down the longest paths, or into ambushes. However, the Yankees often killed guides suspected of playing such tricks (Johnson 154). Besides serving in the army, huge numbers of blacks supported the South’s infrastructure. They planted and harvested crops, built defense works around nearly every Southern city, served in the hospitals, and worked in the factories. One historian estimates that about half of the workers in Richmond’s Tredegar Iron Works, the largest and most important in the Confederacy, were black (Rollins 4). Without these services, the Confederacy would not have lasted a day. Such service and loyalty, however, often irked the Yankees. One black Winchester resident became a local hero after being jailed because of his refusal to work for the Federals. He was forced to chop wood with an iron ball and chain attached to his arms and legs but stubbornly vowed to support the Confederacy to his last breath (Jordan 58). When the war was long over, many black confederate soldiers and servants were given pensions by the Southern states in recognition of their service. The Federal government was not so kind. They provided tombstones for all the war dead, and money for burial costs and tombstones for all Union veterans (white and black) and for white Confederate veterans, but refused to do so for the confederates of color. Thus, many black confederates lie in unmarked graves lost to memory (Rollins 111). But the memory of their honorable service must never be forgotten or ignored. As Dr. Leonard Hayes, an African-American professor at Southern University reminds us, “When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you’ve eliminated the history of the South.” (qtd. in Williams) Jews also served in the Southern army. It is estimated that there were approximately 25,000 Jews in the South when the war started, and about 3,000, or 12%, volunteered for service (Rosen 61-62). They served at three times the rate of Northern Jews, of whom only 4% went off to fight (Johnson 176-77). “The Jews of the Confederacy had a good reason to be loyal to their section,” Rabbi Korn concluded. “Nowhere else in America—certainly not in the ante-bellum North—had Jews been accorded such an opportunity to be complete equals as in the old South.” (qtd. in Rosen 54) Rabbi Max Michelbacher of Richmond’s Congregation Beth Ahabah in wrote a prayer distributed to Jewish Confederates. One paragraph of it reads: “O Lord, God, Father, Give unto the officers of the Army and of the Navy of the Confederate States, enterprise, fortitude and undaunted courage; teach them the ways of war and winning of victory.” (qtd. in Johnson 177) Jewish Johnny Rebs served in every part of the war. A commander of one of the chief artillery batteries in the bombardment of Fort Sumter was Jewish (Rosen 2). The Confederacy’s quartermaster general, Abraham Myers, was Jewish, and Fort Myers Florida is named for him. The officer entrusted with guarding and distributing the last of the Confederate gold was also Jewish (Johnson 177). Speaking of Jewish soldiers, General Thomas Waul wrote: “As soldiers they were brave, orderly and well-disciplined and in no respect inferior to the gallant body of which they formed a prominent part.” He also stated, “I neither saw nor heard of any Jew shirking or failing to answer to any call of duty or danger.” (qtd. in Rosen 213) The most prominent Jew in the Confederacy was Judah P. Benjamin. During the course of the war he served first as Attorney General, then as Secretary of War, and finally as Secretary of State, becoming the first Jewish cabinet member in North America (Crocker 333). Some historians called him “the brains of the Confederacy.” Charles Roland described him as “the President’s most intimate friend and counselor,” and Varina Davis called him her husband’s “right arm.” (qtd. in Rosen 77) President Davis himself said Benjamin was “the ablest and most faithful member of his advisory counsel.” (qtd. in Rosen 352) He also became the only Jewish American to appear on currency (Rosen 77). In the North he was despised not just for being a Confederate, but also for being Jewish. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts claimed that Benjamin was part of a “foul and wicked plot to…overthrow the government of his adopted country which gives equality of rights even to that race that stones prophets and crucified the Redeemer of the world.” Andrew Johnson referred to him as “a sneaking, Jewish, unconscionable traitor.” (qtd. in Rosen 70) Later, after Lincoln’s assassination, people in the North accused Jefferson Davis and Judah Benjamin of being the leaders of the plot. Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William H. Seward, claimed that Booth had conferred with Benjamin, and that Benjamin had encouraged and subsidized him (Rosen 320). Sure that he would never get a fair trial, Benjamin fled to Europe before he could be captured. Years after the war, a Jewish Confederate named Moses Ezekiel, dedicated himself to the task of preserving the memory of the Confederacy. He made several monuments, including the famous Confederate Monument at Arlington, which, interestingly enough, also shows a black soldier marching in step with the rest of the army (Rosen 368). One of the few reminders of Southern Jews themselves is the Jewish Confederate cemetery in Richmond, which is the only Jewish military cemetery outside of Israel (Brody). Though small, it serves as a perpetual tribute to the memory of Jewish Johnny Rebs throughout the South. In addition to blacks and Jews, and number of Indians also fought for the South. The so-called Five Civilized Tribes—the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, sided with the Confederacy. In October 1861, the Cherokee Nation issued the Declaration by the People of the Cherokee Nation of the Causes Which Have Impelled them to Unite Their Fortunes With Those of the Confederate States of America, part of which reads: Whatever causes the Cherokee people may have had in the past to complain of some of the Southern States, they cannot but feel that their interests and destiny and inseparably connected to those of the South. The was now waging is a war of Northern cupidity and fanaticism…against the commercial freedom of the South, and against the political freedom of the states, and its objects are to annihilate the sovereignty of those states and utterly change the nature of the general government. (qtd in Woods 71) Their support delighted the Confederacy, and they were promised their own state, and not a mere reservation (Woods 70). They formed units such as the Cherokee Mounted Rifles and Mounted Reserves (“War Within a War”). Native Americans also made up a large part of Thomas’s Legion. They served in many operations, mostly in the western theater of the war. The most famous Cherokee Confederate was Stand Watie. His Cherokee name was Degataga, which means “he stands.” (“Stand Watie”) He formed the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles and led them in the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas in 1862. Soon after, he was given command of a brigade and led them in eighteen engagements. In 1864, he became the only Indian on either side to be appointed general. The next year, in June, he became the last Confederate general to surrender a standing army on the field (“Stand Watie”). Several thousand Indians battled Federals during the course of the war, mostly from the Cherokee and Creek tribes. Unfortunately, many of them found that their war did not end in 1865, as it had for the rest of the nation. Many of the same generals who had torched the South continued their military careers in the West, driving the Indians from the Plains (Johnson 175). A few other minorities not mentioned above also fought in the Southern Army. A number of Mexicans from Texas joined, and there were at least two Confederates of Asian decent. They were the sons of Eng and Chang Bunker, the original Siamese twins, who had married sisters and settled in North Carolina (Johnson 176). The records and accounts of the services of these many minority groups are enough to fill quite a few books. The existence of so many minorities in the Confederate forces often goes against people’s perception of the war and what it was about. However, perceptions are not always consistent with reality, and it is time that more people re-examined their assessment of history. To ignore the many contributions of racial and religious minorities is to eliminate the history of the South. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Works Cited: Barrow, Charles Kelly, J. H. Segars, and R. B. Rosenburg, eds. Black Confederates. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1995 Brody, Seymour. “The Only Jewish Military Cemetery Outside of Israel is in Richmond, VA.” 15 December 2008. 10 October 2009. “Civil War—A War Within A War.” Cherokee Nation. Crocker, H. W. III. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2008 Interpretation Staff, “Colonel Stand Watie.” 23 October 2003. National Park Service. 10 October 2009. Johnson, Clint. The Politically Incorrect Guide to The South. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2006 Kennedy, James Ronald and Walter Donald. The South Was Right! Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1994. Rollins, Richard, ed. Black Southerners in Gray: Essays on Afro-Americans in the Confederate Armies. Redondo Beach, CA: Rank and File Publications, 1994. Rosen, Robert N. The Jewish Confederates. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2000. Williams, Scott K. “Black Confederates in the Civil War.” Copyright 1998-2003. 10 October 2009. Woods, Thomas E. The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2004.