One year 11 months after the EP. The war was still on. But almost all hope of victory was fast fading from the Confederate view.
Lee’s army was penned in Petersburg, Sherman was about to start his march across Georgia. In one month, Hood’s Army of Tennessee would be crushed outside of Nashville. The city of Savannah would surrender to Sherman. Flour was 500 Confederate dollars a barrel, if you could find it. 95% of Southern ports were sealed off due to the U.S. Navy blockade. Two million slaves were now free because of the Union Army. The South was down to offering emancipation in exchange for Diplomatic recognition. Davis proposed enlisting 40,000 slave to support the Confederate Army. With a couple of months the Confederate Congress would consider enlisting slaves as soldiers. These acts are a pretty good indicator of how low the Confederacy had sunk.
Lee’s army was penned in Petersburg, Sherman was about to start his march across Georgia. In one month, Hood’s Army of Tennessee would be crushed outside of Nashville. The city of Savannah would surrender to Sherman. Flour was 500 Confederate dollars a barrel, if you could find it. 95% of Southern ports were sealed off due to the U.S. Navy blockade. Two million slaves were now free because of the Union Army. The South was down to offering emancipation in exchange for Diplomatic recognition. Davis proposed enlisting 40,000 slave to support the Confederate Army. With a couple of months the Confederate Congress would consider enlisting slaves as soldiers. These acts are a pretty good indicator of how low the Confederacy had sunk.
You say "penned" in Petersburg. I'd say they were entrenched there blocking the Union Army and the Union Army had been unable to dislodge them. The whole point about allowing Blacks to serve in the Confederate Army was something the Confederate Congress had drug its heels on. It was always limited in scope. Several states allowed it from early on and Confederate officers in the field had been simply ignoring the Confederate Congress' dictate on that for years. They offered to abolish slavery in exchange for diplomatic recognition and they turned down multiple offers of compensated emancipation from the federal government.....and in anticipation of the inevitable no, I'm not going to look it up. Y'all are all out of those for this thread. Look it up for yourself - yes, it happened. Just as the original 7 seceding states turned down slavery forever by express constitutional amendment. Obviously, slavery was not what the Southern states were fighting over just its not what the Northern states were fighting over.