AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO SERVED THE CONFEDERACY

After the Civil War broke out, abolitionists argued that enlisting black soldiers would help the North win the war and would be a massive step in the fight for equal rights. President Lincoln did not adopt this policy.  He believed, as did his cabinet, that arming African Americans, especially the former or escaped slaves, would force the critical, so far loyal border states to secede.  This reaction would cripple the Union’s war effort and ultimately lead to defeat for the North.  Federal law, dating back to 1792, barred blacks from bearing arms in the army, even though this law was temporarily waived during the Revolution and the War of 1812.

          General John C. Fremont of Missouri and General David Hunter of South Carolina issued orders that emancipated slaves could join the army and carry weapons.  These orders would never go into effect since higher-ups in the chain of command vetoed them.  By 1862, the North, feeling a manpower shortage, opened the army to Afro-American enlistment.  (The South would make plans to do the same near the end of the war, but the war was lost before the first 100,000 finished basic training.)  By the war’s end, the Union Army consisted of approximately 179,000 African Americans, about 10% of the army.  The statistics show that 19,000 more served in the Navy.  Notably, this paper highlights that Northern black volunteers primarily served the Union war effort as carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters.  They were considered to have made a vital contribution to the war effort.  Considering that a Union regiment was never greater than 1000 men and officers, it is helpful to review the following information concerning Afro-American regiments in the Union Army (i.e., combat troops fighting under all-white officers):