" There were never 70,000 African-Americans who served. They were never even able to get one battalion of negro soldiers together."
The number may have been as high as 90,000, but you keep on spinning your Yankee myth. You sound just like Baghdad Bob ... " There are no Americans in Baghdad, they are lost out in the desert!" You obviously know nothing of the culture of the Antebellum South, nor of the relationships between black and white Southerners before Lincoln's invasion. You take all of your opinions from the shrill parrots of the Yankee Abolition movement (Harriet Beecher Stowe comes to mind), whom I might add, knew nothing of Southern culture other than that they hated Southerners. Before you start spewing the racist inuendos, I will state for the record that I am not a racist, I am a historian who seeks truth, and for every story there is always two sides. You need to develope a little common sense to figure out who has nothing to hide, and who needs to put a slant on things to justify their own moral high ground. Do some digging into hard facts, what you find might change your perception of historical events.
...but you keep on spinning your Yankee myth... The explain the following please:
SECTION 1. Whereas, The efficiency of the army is at times greatly diminished by the withdrawal from the ranks of soldiers to perform labor and duties which can as well be done by free negroes and slaves--
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That all free male negroes, between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall be held liable to perform any labor or discharge any duties with the army, or in connection with the military defences of the country, such as working upon fortifications, producing and preparing materials of war, building and repairing roads and bridges, and doing other work usually done by engineer troops and pontoniers, acting as cooks, teamsters, stewards and waiters in military hospitals, or other like labor, or similar duties which may be required or prescribed by the Secretary of War or the or the general commanding the Trans-Mississippi department, from time to time. And said free negroes, whilst thus engaged, shall receive rations and clothing, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and shall receive pay at the rate of eighteen dollars per month.
SEC. 2. That the Secretary of War and the general commanding the Trans-Mississippi department are each authorized to employ, for duties like those named in the first section of this act, as many male negro slaves, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, not to exceed thirty thousand in the States east of the Mississippi river, and ten thousand in the States west of the Mississippi river, as the wants of the service may require. And the said slaves, whilst so employed, shall be furnished rations and clothing as provided in the preceding section, and the owners paid such hire for their services as may be agreed upon; and in the event of the loss of any slaves whilst so employed, by the act of the enemy, or by escape to the enemy, of by wounds or death inflicted by the enemy, or by disease contracted whilst in any service required of said slaves, and by reason of said service, then the owners thereof, respectively, shall be entitled to receive the full value of such slaves, to be ascertained and fixed by agreement at the time said slaves are so hired, under rules to be prescribed by the Secretary of War.
SEC. 3. That whenever the Secretary of War or the general commanding the Trans-Mississippi department shall be unable to procure the services of slaves by hiring them, as above provided, in sufficient numbers, then it shall be lawful for the said Secretary or General to order the impressment, and to impress as many male slaves, within the ages named in the second section of this act, and for the purposes and uses above stated, not at any time to exceed thirty thousand in the States east of the Mississippi river, and ten thousand in the States west of the Mississippi river, as may be necessary: Provided, That slaves so impressed shall, whilst in the government employment, receive the same clothing and rations allowed to slaves hired from their owners, and in the event of their loss or death in the manner or from the causes above stated, their value shall be estimated and fixed as provided by the law regulating impressments, and paid as in the case of slaves hired from their owners, and the value of the hire of said slaves shall be fixed in like manner.
This was passed by the confederate congress in February 1864. If blacks had been serving in the confederate army prior to this then why was this legislation necessary? And if they had been serving as combat troops prior to this then why did this legislation limit them to service roles only?