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BLACK SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR.   Term Paper ID:28538 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analysis of black combatants on the side of the North & the South. Reasons for choices, issues, aftermath.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analysis of black combatants on the side of the North & the South. Reasons for choices, issues, aftermath. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION There is a popular conception regarding the cause of the Civil War, that the war was fought over the issue of slavery and that the North was battling to free the slaves. In fact, while there were some in the North who desperately wanted an end to slavery, this was not the primary cause of the war, nor was the abolition of slavery the primary purpose of the war from the northern point of view. Historians generally agree on this as they agree on many of the underlying reasons for the Civil War, reasons which were on the one hand economic, involving economic differences between North and South, and on the other political, with Abraham Lincoln pursing the war primarily to defend and protect the Union. During the course of the war, a certain number of slaves fought for the Confederacy whether from Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. These soldiers were to receive the same allowances, clothing, pay,and rations as white soldiers. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia. The Slaveholders' Dilemma. A People's History of the United States. This act, in itself, as a historical fact, refuted the former theories of southern statesmen (Wesley 252-253). Veseywas a member of the AME church, and a number of black churches in the Southwere forced to go underground. Some of the fears of slave owners seemed to come true in the earlypart of the nineteenth century with the attempt on the part of DenmarkVesey to plot a revolt, and the suppression of that revolt in 1822 also ledto attempts to suppress the black church as a source of dissension. The Nat Turner revolt in 183 led tofurther restrictions on the freedom of blacks to move about and organize,but in any case, between 1822 and 1861 there was a substantial increase inthe number of black Christian congregations and church organizations in thecountry. Once the UnionArmy had reached that point, General Butler asked the leaders of the groupwhy they had accepted service "under the Confederate Government which wasset up for the purpose of holding their brethren and kindred in eternalslavery": The reply was that they dared not to refuse; that they had hoped, by serving the Confederates, to advance nearer to equality with the whites; and concluded by stating that they had longed to throw the weight of their class with the Union forces and with the cause in which their own dearest hopes were identified (Wesley 243-244). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.Franklin, John Hope and Alfred A. Among the means for effecting this werethe discipline of hard labor, the breakup of the slave family, the lullingeffects of religion, the creation of disunity among the slaves byseparating them into field slaves and the more privileged house slaves, andthe power of the law and threats of death (Zinn 34-35). While there wasa debate as to the value of conscripting such soldiers, there was also agrowing shortage of candidates in the white population. However, the proposal was rejected byother leaders in the South as something that would lead to "the totaldisintegration of the Army" (Ploski and Williams). New York: HarperCollins, 1994.Ploski, Harry A. BLACKS IN THE WAR Blacks participated in the Civil war as combatants on both sides ofthe war. Blacks would thus fight for the South to achieve personalfreedom and might even assume that taking this action would assure themfreedom no matter which side won. . Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood, 1972.Sowell, Thomas. The Proclamation did not apply to the border states or tothose sections of the Confederacy already in Union hands, but it would meanthat from that time on every Union victory would speed the destruction ofslavery. The black male in these narratives often shows a certain tendency tobe institutionalized, meaning that he has accepted the situation and doesnot fight against it. Rawick collects a number of slave narratives from the era andshows through them some of the reasons why a revolt did not come. The picture that emerges from thesenarratives is not of a group of people aching to be set free, for theyinstead seem to have been institutionalized by slavery so that they acceptit and participate in it as much because it is all they know as for anyother reason. Theirwar record was virtually ignored. The sheriff of each county was to report on the freeblacks in the area and was given the power to impress as many as wereneeded if not enough volunteered. After the era of slavery, blacks were relegated to the back of thebus on public transportation, to exclusively black neighborhoods inhousing, and were excluded from a variety of schools, colleges, and jobs.Racial tensions flared from time to time, but the real battle for equalitybegan with the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956. It was necessary to assuage slave owners whose slaves wereto be conscripted, so "amendments to this measure specified thatmanumission of slave soldiers would be granted only with the consent of thestate where they were stationed at the time they were discharged" (Jordan242). Inthat same year, the first organization of black Baptist churches, theProvidence Baptist Association, was formed in Ohio, and by 185 there were15 , black members of the Baptist Church (Ploski and Williams 1258). The defenses offered for slavery went beyondjustification to a statement that slavery was a good thing rather thansimply something to be tolerated. They based theirdefense of slavery on a prior defense of freedom. Critics of this proposal saw it as an admission to the enemy that theConfederacy was in trouble, and some also saw it as an abandonment of theprinciples of the Confederacy (Ploski and Williams). In fact, while there were some in the Northwho desperately wanted an end to slavery, this was not the primary cause ofthe war, nor was the abolition of slavery the primary purpose of the warfrom the northern point of view. It's a pity us aint got more folks lak him to guide us no dat us aint got no marster an' mistis to learn us (Rawick 83).The black male has substituted the slaveholder for any other possible rolemodel here, and even after slavery has been abolished this former slavefinds that he has no one else to look up to and learn from. Northernmanufacturers and growers saw the South as having an unfair advantage, andthe South jealously guarded that advantage against any abolitionist talk.Compromises were worked out by which slavery was outlawed in newterritories, but it was still allowed in the Southern states where it hadbecome an entrenched and seemingly necessary part of the economy. One thing I does know is dat a heap of slaves was worse off after de War. The Democraticparty itself was split into sectional halves over certain issue andactions, such as the Dred Scott decision in 1857, the constitutional crisisin Kansas in 1857, the Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois in 1858, JohnBrown's raid in Virginia in 1859, and the election of Lincoln in 186 (Nashand Jeffrey 481). Dey suffered 'cause dey was too triflin' to work widout a boss. Statesboro, Georgia: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.Genovese, Eugene D. and . The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. New York: Pantheon Books, 1969.Jordan, Ervin L., Jr. These body servants served asvalets and factotums for white officers. In the South, racism wouldbecome the attitude allowing for keeping blacks out of positions of power,and old rationales about their supposed laziness and untrustworthinesswould become reasons for overseeing them in both North and South. . Washington: He come to de state o' Mississippi once an' hel' a meetin' in Jackson. Jefferson Davis recognizes that the time might come when itwould be necessary, but he cautioned in 1864 that this time had not yetarrived: I must dissent from those who advise a general levy and arming of slaves for the duty of soldiers. FROM SLAVERY TO THE ARMY The southern intellectual's defense of slavery was derived from aview of freedom as the driving force in human progress. Slaves were taught discipline and were also impressed over and over withthe idea of their own inferiority and to "know their place." They weretaught to see blackness as a sign of subordination, to be awed by the powerof the master, to merge their interests with those of the master, and toignore their own individual needs. Works CitedBlauner, Bob. The higher the military rank of an owner, the most status the servant had in relation to other blacks in the camp (Jordan 186).The duties of these body servants were onerous and unending, and fewremained with the Confederate army after 1863 because of supply shortagesand a greater need for blacks in industrial and agricultural labor. . Theevents taking place in Kansas solidified the image of the Republicans as anorthern party while seriously weakening the Democrats. Lincoln would have preferred that slavery bedone away with by state law, and he tried to persuade the slave states toadopt this policy. They presented their social system as the surestand safest model for a worldwide Christendom (Genovese, The Slaveholders'Dilemma 11). I was a-wishin' from de bottom o' my heart dat de Yankees 'ud stay out o' us business an' not git us all 'sturbed in de min' (Rawick 81).At the same time, Johnson makes it clear why the black male seemed soaccepting of his situation and so unable to fight back or even to raise hisvoice in protest--there was a lack of leadership made all the more apparentwhen Johnson recounts the visit of Booker T. . Whites had participated inthe first phase, and they were being excluded more and more in the secondphase as Black Power became the watchword (Blauner 1-25). At the same time, some believed that without arming the slaves,there would not be enough combatants to protect the region. They identified freedomas the dynamic in a world progress they claimed as their own. Hostility toward blacks in the Southincreased, and blacks were disenfranchised, driven from office, andsegregated as never before. One of the legacies of the slave era was racism, overt racism,institutionalized racism, and legal racism. However, the need wasso great that free blacks were enlisted as soldiers in time and indifferent parts of the South. While they served withsatisfaction, there is no evidence that they took part in any importantbattles. From the point of view of many in the South of course, it seemed onlythat the slaves were being unusually well-behaved in the face of thiscrisis. There was racism in the South, but there was also racism in theNorth. The two regions had different philosophies ofgovernment. As more and more blacks fled the South, blackghettoes were created in the North, and segregation became a northernresponse as well (Sowell 128-13 ). The defense of slavery required two elements: 1) that economicinterest made it temporarily necessary for the well-being of all sectionsof the country; and 2) that racial inequality made it temporarily necessaryfor the safety of all sections of the country. In addition, many were conscripted by the South because of aprogram suggested by General Pat Cleburne, who raised the issue at anofficers' meeting in 1864: Since every slave, in Cleburne's view, was a potential free man, he constituted an ever-present source of rebellion within the Confederacy itself, as well as an instant collaborator with Union troops (Ploski and Williams).This population was now seen as a weakness, and to combat this weakness,Cleburne suggested that the South promise freedom to all slaves whoenlisted. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1995.Nash, Gary B. In any case,thousands of blacks were enlisted in the State Militias and the ConfederateArmy in the latter portion of the war. By 1963, the movement was concentrating on voterregistration and other issues of political equality. In February of 1862, theConfederate Legislature of Virginia considered a bill to enroll all freeblacks in the state for service in the Confederate forces. White reaction against what was seen as asituation imposed by the North was violent, with vigilante groups such asthe Ku Klux Klan fighting back, leaving the mass of black people living infear of such groups for generations. This allowed theDemocrats to make political capital of the issue. This was done in the period before thewar began so that within two weeks of the firing on fort Sumter, "severalcompanies of volunteers of color passed through Augusta on their way toVirginia to engage in actual war" (Wesley 245). INTRODUCTION There is a popular conception regarding the cause of the Civil War,that the war was fought over the issue of slavery and that the North wasbattling to free the slaves. Moss, Jr. Many praised these blacks afterthe war as "good and faithful servants": They were usually black males between the ages of sixteen to sixty who accompanied Confederate soldiers or officers, typically their masters or masters' sons, to the war. had no idea of any other freedom than freedomfrom work and free rations" (Spencer). In spite of the long years of controversy with its arguments of racial inferiority, out of the muddle of fact and fancy came the deliberate decision to employ Negro troops. The American People. . and Julie Roy Jeffrey (eds.). POSTSCRIPT The Reconstruction era after the Civil War was also a period when anumber of blacks rose to prominence in the South while that area was underoccupation by federal troops. Right den I knowed something' was wrong. Until our white population shall prove insufficient for the armies we require and can afford to keep the field, to employ as a soldier the Negro, who has merely been trained to labor, and as a laborer under the white man, accustomed from his youth to the use of firearms, would scarcely be deemed wise or advantageous by any . Prince Johnson from Mississippi expressed concernabout the coming Civil War and the fact that the North was interfering insouthern affairs: Jus' 'fore de war come on, my marster called me to 'im an' tol' me he was a-goin' to take me to North Carolina to his brother for safe keepin'. Considering theharsh punishments meted out to slaves attempting to escape, the vast numberthat did try and even succeeded shows a rebelliousness at odds with thepicture of a submissive population. They were seen as behaving "in the most exemplary mannereverywhere," and even when they came into Federal army camps, they "had nofight in them . The World the Slaveholders Made. In the North, discrimination was decliningduring the same era. He made mention 'bout puttin' money in de bank. The Negro Almanac: A Reference Work of the Afro-American. The North indeed counted on a slave rebellion as an assist to theNorthern effort, but such a revolt never came: It was deprecated, of course; it was not invited, but it was still looked for, and the Emancipation Proclamation was calculated upon as a means to inciting the Negroes to strike for their freedom (Spencer).George P. Now dey is got to work or die (Rawick 97).These blacks have become accustomed to the security of slavery, for theyalways had work and always were fed, housed, and clothed. & J. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994.Genovese, Eugene D. By 1936 there were 86 AME churches with nearly 8, members. The slaveowners used this system to maintaintheir labor supply and their way of life. Many ofthe black males note in their accounts that they are uncertain about therole of slavery in their lives. Fear of the slaves was understandable given the revolts that hadtaken place, the most recent being under the leadership of religious zealotJohn Brown, and the memory of this produced caution. Blacks wereimpressed for work in building fortifications and producing war materials,but the controversy over whether they should also be used as soldierscontinued. It would later freeslaves who would then be contained, or kept in the South. However, there isevidence that while there was no formal agreement to this effect, slaveswere used in combat: "However, the number of slaves and freed black men incombat units was totally insignificant in numbers" (Ploski and Williams). Theybelieved that freedom could not be extended to all but that it could beextended to increasing numbers of people and could be expected to lead to abetter life for those who remained subservient. From Slavery to Freedom. Williams. The system was both physical and psychological. Slavery was thus describedas a positive force that grounded the social order required to support thefreedom necessary for progress. These philosophies shifted with time until the South was theregion opposing government interference and the North was more willing toseek government control and protection. Fear of slave revolts was a permanentpart of plantation life, and there was an intricate and powerful system inplace to control the slaves. New York: HarperCollins, 198 . The proclamation had a subtle impact on the North, but itsimmediate effect was to aggravate racial prejudices. Eventually, though, the Confederate Congress could nom longer ignorethe very real need for manpower and so authorized the raising of 2 , black troops. Racism was long described asif it were a regional problem relegated largely to the Old South where thewhite population resented the loss of the Civil War and the freeing of theslaves. This fear itself generated violence andbloodshed. Attitudes of superiority were used to control the slave population.Some historians paint a picture of a slave population made submissive bythe conditions that existed as the slaves had their African heritagedestroyed and were made into helpless dependents in the New World.Historians more recently have found a different picture. The slaveholders came to aworld-view of their own in which they saw themselves as saviors ofdemocracy rather than as a challenge to it (Genovese, The World theSlaveholders Made 123). Somefree blacks became body servants for wages or other advantages. "The Employment of Negroes as Soldiers in the Confederate Army." The Journal of Negro History (July 1919), 239-254.Zinn, Howard. Some marsters was mean an' hard but I was treated good all time. Historians generally agree on this asthey agree on many of the underlying reasons for the Civil War, reasonswhich were on the one hand economic, involving economic differences betweenNorth and South, and on the other political, with Abraham Lincoln pursingthe war primarily to defend and protect the Union. Slavery did become a central issue with the issuance of theEmancipation Proclamation. (Wesley 247). From 1956 to 1963 themovement achieved great success in combating legal segregation of publicfacilities in the South. As the war progressed, he became convinced that thegovernment should make abolition an aim of the war for military purposesand to win the support of liberal opinion in Europe. He made a gran' talk. Some of the cleavages after 185 wereembodied in the developing Federalist Party representing the mercantileinterests of the North and the Republican Party representing the agrarianinterests of the South. He tol' us de firs' thing we had to learn was to work an' dat all de schoolin' in de world' wouldn' mean nothing' if us didn' have no mother wit. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1983.Spencer, Edward. The system was both subtle andcrude and involved every device that social orders use to keep power andwealth in their own hands. In pamphlets and books, the slaveholderspresented themselves as the most reliable carriers of the cause of progressin Western civilization. The Economics and Politics of Race. James Lucas of Natchez, Mississippi states, I guess slav'ry was wrong, but I 'members us had some mighty good times. He used the victoryat Antietam to make public his Emancipation Proclamation which said thatall slaves in areas in rebellion against the United States would from thistime on be free. Indeed, as Wesley further notes, the authorities in the South seemedto have prepared for the need for black troops and kept close track on freeblacks in particular. 4th edition. Originally, the coastal region wanted little governmentinterference, while the people of the interior wanted governmentprotection. The roots of separation between the North and the South can be tracedback to the early colonial period. Yet, the Confederacy could not know this in the beginning any morethan the North did, and so the possibility of armed slaves was a realconcern. Black Lives, White Lives. Freedom involveschoices and actions which many found themselves ill-equipped to handle.Just as the black male was unable to care for his family, he also wasunable to care for himself once the walls of slavery were removed and hewas exposed to the outside world. There was evena concern in the North about arming slaves, but the problem was of greaterconcern in the South: At the outbreak of the Civil War great fear as to servile insurrection was aroused in the South and more restrictive measures were enacted (Wesley 239).Free slaves had been allowed to enroll for military service by theauthorities in the period before the outbreak of war: It is said that some of these troops remained in the service of the Confederacy during the period of the war, but that they did not take part in any important engagements (Wesley 243).One such group cited by Wesley was billeted in New Orleans. The target now wasnot overt segregation but de facto segregation, and the methods that hadworked in the first phase--boycotts, sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides--did not have much effect in the second phase. Among the first to be part of the war werethe servants who accompanied their masters. During the course ofthe war, a certain number of slaves fought for the Confederacy whether fromcommitment or circumstances, just as some blacks fought for the North.Historians have sought to understand why some slaves fought for thoseconsidered their oppressors. . We might assume that blacks would fight on the side of the northbecause that was in their best interests, but some had reason to fight forthe South. Lots o' darkies made 'membrance o' dat an' done it. Blacks fought in both armies and showed that much of what was saidabout their lack of ability and their untrainable nature was false, yetafter the war, these ideas resurfaced as ways of keeping blacks undercontrol in the new, non-slavery environment. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983.Rawick, George P. This move was undertaken out of a form of desperation, just asthe critics claimed: Necessity forced the acceptance of the Negro as a soldier. Though the issue was settled inpiecemeal fashion over the years, the underlying conflict remained.Slavery was an issue, but it was not the only issue. "Annals of War." http://www.civilwarhome.com/negroenlistments.html.Wesley, Charles H. The very idea of arming slaves raised fears and had for some time.Abolitionists had charged that slavery was economically unsound because theworkers could not be expected to be efficient and because there was such awaste of physical and human resources in the plantation economy: The culture and civilization of the South suffered, moreover, for the master-slave relationship did not produce a gentility of spirit but brought out instead the baser aspects of the nature of both (Franklin and Moss 174).As a result, the South was turning into an armed camp where white peoplelived in constant fear of the uprising of the slaves, such as had occurredin the Nat Turner rebellion. 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