| Prefer to view this email on the web? Click here |
|
USCT news 
"Fourteen Days in May: T.J. Jackson's Wounding, Death and Burial," ends Sept. 30 at the Stonewall Jackson House in Lexington (VA). 
| ||||||||
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
June 2013 Civil War Traveler News
June 2013 Civil War Traveler News
Monday, May 13, 2013
The MYTH of the Black Confederate
·
As Gen. Ewell's longtime aide-de-camp, Maj.
George Campbell Brown, later affirmed, the handful of black soldiers mustered
in Richmond in 1865 were "the first and only black troops used on our
side."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/10/the_myth_of_the_black_confeder.html
Use all the negroes you can get, for all the purposes for which you need them, but don't arm them. The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong—but they won't make soldiers.
—Howell Cobb to James A. Seddon, 8 January 1865
SOURCE: From Vol. 3 of War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV. 130 vols. Washington, D.C., 1888–1901
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2010/10/the_myth_of_the_black_confeder.html
Use all the negroes you can get, for all the purposes for which you need them, but don't arm them. The day you make soldiers of them is the beginning of the end of the revolution. If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong—but they won't make soldiers.
—Howell Cobb to James A. Seddon, 8 January 1865
SOURCE: From Vol. 3 of War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV. 130 vols. Washington, D.C., 1888–1901
·
The Northern journals
say we have negro regiments on the Rappahannock and in the West. This is
utterly untrue. We have no armed slaves to fight for us, nor do we fear a
servile insurrection. We are at no loss, however, to interpret the meaning of
such demoniac misrepresentations. It is to be seen of what value the negro regiments
employed against us will be to the invader.
SOURCE: Jones, John Beauchamp (2011-03-24). A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital (Kindle Locations 4751-4753). Kindle Edition.
SOURCE: Jones, John Beauchamp (2011-03-24). A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital (Kindle Locations 4751-4753). Kindle Edition.
·
Many people distort the facts and inflate for their own agenda. The
truth be told, no one knows the numbers of black Confederates. But for claims
of 50 to 80,000, I don’t think so. I have seen no records reflecting numbers.
There are pension records from NC, SC, Va. which do have black teamsters,
manservant’s and so forth and yes a few armed so they did fight but in limited
numbers. They would be small to say the least. That being said, if only one
fought, then his story should be told.
The black Confederate solder fought for reasons only he knew. Was he fighting for the same as the white fighting for states rights as some claim? Perhaps he felt it was a win win situation. If the south won he louses nothing, if the north wins, he wins again. The problem is that I have found nothing stating that their service will provide them their release from bondage. I am sure that some Confederate Cabinet members would have pushed for that because of his service.
In 1865 the Confederate Congress after heated debates and by the slimiest vote, decided to receive blacks into the military but failed to provide or promise their freedom in exchange. In any event other than the small number of blacks who owned slaves, no black would have fought for the continuance of slavery but if there was the promise of freedom, well who knows.
The black Confederate solder fought for reasons only he knew. Was he fighting for the same as the white fighting for states rights as some claim? Perhaps he felt it was a win win situation. If the south won he louses nothing, if the north wins, he wins again. The problem is that I have found nothing stating that their service will provide them their release from bondage. I am sure that some Confederate Cabinet members would have pushed for that because of his service.
In 1865 the Confederate Congress after heated debates and by the slimiest vote, decided to receive blacks into the military but failed to provide or promise their freedom in exchange. In any event other than the small number of blacks who owned slaves, no black would have fought for the continuance of slavery but if there was the promise of freedom, well who knows.
Confederate soldiers is the existence of pensions that were
given by former Confederate states to qualified black citizens at various
points during the postwar period. For the uninformed or those working primarily
from a narrow agenda the existence of these pensions is proof positive of the
existence of black soldiers and the fantasy of a multiracial army. The pensions
have been used on numerous occasions by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and
other heritage types to justify new grave markers and other monuments to these
men. I am not interested in returning to this debate.
http://cwmemory.com/2013/04/12/the-social-and-cultural-significance-of-black-confederate-pensioners/
http://cwmemory.com/2013/04/12/the-social-and-cultural-significance-of-black-confederate-pensioners/
cwmemory.com
As we all know one of the most misunderstood aspects of the debate
surrounding t...See More
·
·
For any of you who want to think black were IN the CSA Army, go
read Jeff Davis speech about blacks in the Army on Jan 5, 1863. Go on, go read
it. If after you read his speech, and you still think there were blacks in the
CSA, you need therapy for being a mindless sheep, which most of you are anyway.
Yes, there were over a MILLION blacks forced to work for the confederates. Lee had 50-100 thousand in Richmond alone, building the fantastically large earth works that he and Davis would hide behind much of the war. Most of you morons have no idea what the earth works even were, but guess who built them? Here is a clue – not the white soldiers. The black SLAVES.
Wait — I will PUT part of Davis Jan 1863 speech here. Because this is one of the many things the South has apparently hidden, because it destroys nearly every pathetic Southern Myth – all of which you Southern Apologist take as gospel.
+++++++++++++++++++++ QUOTE BY DAVIS BELOW
Citizens of the non-slave-holding States of America, swayed by peaceable motives, I have used all my influence, often thereby endangering my position as the President of the Southern Confederacy, to have the unhappy conflict now existing between my people and yourselves, governed by those well established international rules, which heretofore have softened the asperities which necessarily are the concomitants of a state of belligerency, but all my efforts in the premises have heretofore been unavailing. Now, therefore, I am compelled e necessitati rei to employ a measure, which most willingly I would have omitted to do, regarding, as I always must, State Rights, as the very organism of politically associated society.
For nearly two years my people have been defending their inherent rights–their political, social and religious rights against the speculators of New England and their allies in the States heretofore regarded as conservative. The people of the Southern Confederacy have–making sacrifices such as the modern world has never witnessed–patiently, but determinedly, stood between their home interests and the well paid, well fed and well clad mercenaries of the Abolitionists, and I need not say that they have nobly vindicated the good name of American citizens. Heretofore, the warfare has been conducted by white men–peers, scions of the same stock; but the programme has been changed, and your rulers despairing of a triumph by the employment of white men, have degraded you and themselves, by inviting the co-operation of the black race. Thus, while they deprecate the intervention of white men–the French and the English–in behalf of the Southern Confederacy, they, these Abolitionists, do not hesitate to invoke the intervention of the African race in favor of the North.
================================ END QUOTE.
Then Davis goes on to say that Lincoln was SOOOO horrible, SOOO VILE for using blacks as soldiers — he will INVADE THE NORTH and capture all the blacks there. He will put all slaves ever freed BACK on the slave status — FOREVER.
Yes, there were over a MILLION blacks forced to work for the confederates. Lee had 50-100 thousand in Richmond alone, building the fantastically large earth works that he and Davis would hide behind much of the war. Most of you morons have no idea what the earth works even were, but guess who built them? Here is a clue – not the white soldiers. The black SLAVES.
Wait — I will PUT part of Davis Jan 1863 speech here. Because this is one of the many things the South has apparently hidden, because it destroys nearly every pathetic Southern Myth – all of which you Southern Apologist take as gospel.
+++++++++++++++++++++ QUOTE BY DAVIS BELOW
Citizens of the non-slave-holding States of America, swayed by peaceable motives, I have used all my influence, often thereby endangering my position as the President of the Southern Confederacy, to have the unhappy conflict now existing between my people and yourselves, governed by those well established international rules, which heretofore have softened the asperities which necessarily are the concomitants of a state of belligerency, but all my efforts in the premises have heretofore been unavailing. Now, therefore, I am compelled e necessitati rei to employ a measure, which most willingly I would have omitted to do, regarding, as I always must, State Rights, as the very organism of politically associated society.
For nearly two years my people have been defending their inherent rights–their political, social and religious rights against the speculators of New England and their allies in the States heretofore regarded as conservative. The people of the Southern Confederacy have–making sacrifices such as the modern world has never witnessed–patiently, but determinedly, stood between their home interests and the well paid, well fed and well clad mercenaries of the Abolitionists, and I need not say that they have nobly vindicated the good name of American citizens. Heretofore, the warfare has been conducted by white men–peers, scions of the same stock; but the programme has been changed, and your rulers despairing of a triumph by the employment of white men, have degraded you and themselves, by inviting the co-operation of the black race. Thus, while they deprecate the intervention of white men–the French and the English–in behalf of the Southern Confederacy, they, these Abolitionists, do not hesitate to invoke the intervention of the African race in favor of the North.
================================ END QUOTE.
Then Davis goes on to say that Lincoln was SOOOO horrible, SOOO VILE for using blacks as soldiers — he will INVADE THE NORTH and capture all the blacks there. He will put all slaves ever freed BACK on the slave status — FOREVER.
First and most important, people who try to press this agend
apply the word “soldier” to any person associated with the army, black or
white, free or slave, regardless of their position or role. This misleads the
reader, because it ignores most basic differences – social, cultural and legal
– that were fundamental to the South in the 1860s. That’s simply not the way
white Southerners, military and civilians alike, viewed their world. It was a
hugely different world, and it does not improve our understanding of it to
elide these very basic elements.
Yes there are numerous accounts in the press, mostly early in the war, of African Americans volunteering, or organizing, or drilling, but these accounts usually have a few things in common. They almost never (1) specifically designate the company or regiment, (2) never identify the officers in command, and (3) they’re almost always offered at second- or third-hand. There’s no way to follow-up or corroborate them. These supposed African American units seem to disappear from the Confederate press after an initial mention. Where are the descriptions in Southern newspapers of these units, in field, with the regular army? These units comprised of African American men invariably disappear after some brief item in the paper.
More important, where are the Confederate military reports, dispatches and memoranda that describe these units? Or, if you believe that Confederate companies and regiments were racially integrated, where are the letters and diaries that mention these men as fellow enlisted soldiers? There are virtually none, although there are plenty that talk about black servants around camp, including anecdotes where those men picked up a weapon in a tight spot. But even then, such incidents are described specifically because they’re unusual, underscoring that they are not fellow soldiers, as the soldiers themselves viewed them.
Confederate pension records are not definitive in determining a man’s wartime status, decades before. As you probably know, what we generally term “Confederate” pensions were issued by individual states, each of which established its own criteria and review process. Some states, like Mississippi, established separate programs specifically for former slaves/servants, while others seem to have allowed men who clearly were slaves and body servants to a receive pensions under the same program as enlisted soldiers. (The famous Holt Collier of Mississippi applied first as a servant, then as a soldier, then as a servant again.) I’ve even outlined a case, Richard Quarls, where a former slave was awarded a pension based on the service record of his former master, Pvt. J. Richard Quarles. Pension records can be helpful, but in and of themselves, they’re unreliable to definitively establishing a man’s role forty, fifty, sixty years previous.
James G. Hollandsworth, Jr. had an excellent essay on black Confederate pensioners in Mississippi History Now, that highlights some of the challenges working with these records.
“The Virginia Confed. Pension Records lists nearly 1000 approved pensions for Black Confeds. Of these approved pensions, “…387 are for men whose military records identify the regiment & company in which they served. …these pensions would not be granted without the attestation of an officer or senior non-commissioned officer.” “ I would ask, how many of those explicitly identify the applicant in question as a soldier, with rank, as opposed to a servant with the company or regiment? Slave/servant’s pension included those elements, as well, because whether the man was applying as a former soldier or servant, he still had to establish that he qualified under the relevant law.
The lost causers also state...
Multiplying these numbers by the 11 Confed. States, but leaving out of consideration the many Confed. volunteers from the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, & Maryland, we arrive at a rough estimated minimum total of 42,500 to 110,000 blacks serving as Confed. soldiers
I can easily believe that many (or more) African Americans went into the field as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, and in support roles generally. Some were free; most were slaves. And those men were essential to the larger war effort. On that, we can agree. But if you’re arguing that those tens of thousands were considered to be fellow soldiers at the time by white enlisted men and officers, by the C.S. government or the Confederacy generally, that’s a ludicrous statement.
First and most important, people who try to press this agend apply the word “soldier” to any person associated with the army, black or white, free or slave, regardless of their position or role. This misleads the reader, because it ignores most basic differences – social, cultural and legal – that were fundamental to the South in the 1860s. That’s simply not the way white Southerners, military and civilians alike, viewed their world. It was a hugely different world, and it does not improve our understanding of it to elide these very basic elements.
Yes there are numerous accounts in the press, mostly early in the war, of African Americans volunteering, or organizing, or drilling, but these accounts usually have a few things in common. They almost never (1) specifically designate the company or regiment, (2) never identify the officers in command, and (3) they’re almost always offered at second- or third-hand. There’s no way to follow-up or corroborate them. These supposed African American units seem to disappear from the Confederate press after an initial mention. Where are the descriptions in Southern newspapers of these units, in field, with the regular army? These units comprised of African American men invariably disappear after some brief item in the paper.
More important, where are the Confederate military reports, dispatches and memoranda that describe these units? Or, if you believe that Confederate companies and regiments were racially integrated, where are the letters and diaries that mention these men as fellow enlisted soldiers? There are virtually none, although there are plenty that talk about black servants around camp, including anecdotes where those men picked up a weapon in a tight spot. But even then, such incidents are described specifically because they’re unusual, underscoring that they are not fellow soldiers, as the soldiers themselves viewed them.
Confederate pension records are not definitive in determining a man’s wartime status, decades before. As you probably know, what we generally term “Confederate” pensions were issued by individual states, each of which established its own criteria and review process. Some states, like Mississippi, established separate programs specifically for former slaves/servants, while others seem to have allowed men who clearly were slaves and body servants to a receive pensions under the same program as enlisted soldiers. (The famous Holt Collier of Mississippi applied first as a servant, then as a soldier, then as a servant again.) I’ve even outlined a case, Richard Quarls, where a former slave was awarded a pension based on the service record of his former master, Pvt. J. Richard Quarles. Pension records can be helpful, but in and of themselves, they’re unreliable to definitively establishing a man’s role forty, fifty, sixty years previous.
I can easily believe that many (or more) African Americans went into the field as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, and in support roles generally. Some were free; most were slaves. And those men were essential to the larger war effort. On that, we can agree. But if you’re arguing that those tens of thousands were considered to be fellow soldiers at the time by white enlisted men and officers, by the C.S. government or the Confederacy generally, that’s a ludicrous statement.
Finally:
For the first few years of the war it was illegal to arm black Confed. soldiers, & commanders who used blacks did so illegally. Although evidence is lacking, the widespread use of blacks was probably not discussed, or was even denied, by Confed. politicians for reasons of political expediency, since to admit it would have raised the question of what the South was actually fighting for.
That’s a classic conspiracy theory rhetorical construct; the lack of evidence – in this case, the lack of direct evidence that Confederate commanders enlisted tens of thousands of African American soldiers illegally, and in secret – is itself evidence that it really happened.
Yes there are numerous accounts in the press, mostly early in the war, of African Americans volunteering, or organizing, or drilling, but these accounts usually have a few things in common. They almost never (1) specifically designate the company or regiment, (2) never identify the officers in command, and (3) they’re almost always offered at second- or third-hand. There’s no way to follow-up or corroborate them. These supposed African American units seem to disappear from the Confederate press after an initial mention. Where are the descriptions in Southern newspapers of these units, in field, with the regular army? These units comprised of African American men invariably disappear after some brief item in the paper.
More important, where are the Confederate military reports, dispatches and memoranda that describe these units? Or, if you believe that Confederate companies and regiments were racially integrated, where are the letters and diaries that mention these men as fellow enlisted soldiers? There are virtually none, although there are plenty that talk about black servants around camp, including anecdotes where those men picked up a weapon in a tight spot. But even then, such incidents are described specifically because they’re unusual, underscoring that they are not fellow soldiers, as the soldiers themselves viewed them.
Confederate pension records are not definitive in determining a man’s wartime status, decades before. As you probably know, what we generally term “Confederate” pensions were issued by individual states, each of which established its own criteria and review process. Some states, like Mississippi, established separate programs specifically for former slaves/servants, while others seem to have allowed men who clearly were slaves and body servants to a receive pensions under the same program as enlisted soldiers. (The famous Holt Collier of Mississippi applied first as a servant, then as a soldier, then as a servant again.) I’ve even outlined a case, Richard Quarls, where a former slave was awarded a pension based on the service record of his former master, Pvt. J. Richard Quarles. Pension records can be helpful, but in and of themselves, they’re unreliable to definitively establishing a man’s role forty, fifty, sixty years previous.
James G. Hollandsworth, Jr. had an excellent essay on black Confederate pensioners in Mississippi History Now, that highlights some of the challenges working with these records.
“The Virginia Confed. Pension Records lists nearly 1000 approved pensions for Black Confeds. Of these approved pensions, “…387 are for men whose military records identify the regiment & company in which they served. …these pensions would not be granted without the attestation of an officer or senior non-commissioned officer.” “ I would ask, how many of those explicitly identify the applicant in question as a soldier, with rank, as opposed to a servant with the company or regiment? Slave/servant’s pension included those elements, as well, because whether the man was applying as a former soldier or servant, he still had to establish that he qualified under the relevant law.
The lost causers also state...
Multiplying these numbers by the 11 Confed. States, but leaving out of consideration the many Confed. volunteers from the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, & Maryland, we arrive at a rough estimated minimum total of 42,500 to 110,000 blacks serving as Confed. soldiers
I can easily believe that many (or more) African Americans went into the field as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, and in support roles generally. Some were free; most were slaves. And those men were essential to the larger war effort. On that, we can agree. But if you’re arguing that those tens of thousands were considered to be fellow soldiers at the time by white enlisted men and officers, by the C.S. government or the Confederacy generally, that’s a ludicrous statement.
First and most important, people who try to press this agend apply the word “soldier” to any person associated with the army, black or white, free or slave, regardless of their position or role. This misleads the reader, because it ignores most basic differences – social, cultural and legal – that were fundamental to the South in the 1860s. That’s simply not the way white Southerners, military and civilians alike, viewed their world. It was a hugely different world, and it does not improve our understanding of it to elide these very basic elements.
Yes there are numerous accounts in the press, mostly early in the war, of African Americans volunteering, or organizing, or drilling, but these accounts usually have a few things in common. They almost never (1) specifically designate the company or regiment, (2) never identify the officers in command, and (3) they’re almost always offered at second- or third-hand. There’s no way to follow-up or corroborate them. These supposed African American units seem to disappear from the Confederate press after an initial mention. Where are the descriptions in Southern newspapers of these units, in field, with the regular army? These units comprised of African American men invariably disappear after some brief item in the paper.
More important, where are the Confederate military reports, dispatches and memoranda that describe these units? Or, if you believe that Confederate companies and regiments were racially integrated, where are the letters and diaries that mention these men as fellow enlisted soldiers? There are virtually none, although there are plenty that talk about black servants around camp, including anecdotes where those men picked up a weapon in a tight spot. But even then, such incidents are described specifically because they’re unusual, underscoring that they are not fellow soldiers, as the soldiers themselves viewed them.
Confederate pension records are not definitive in determining a man’s wartime status, decades before. As you probably know, what we generally term “Confederate” pensions were issued by individual states, each of which established its own criteria and review process. Some states, like Mississippi, established separate programs specifically for former slaves/servants, while others seem to have allowed men who clearly were slaves and body servants to a receive pensions under the same program as enlisted soldiers. (The famous Holt Collier of Mississippi applied first as a servant, then as a soldier, then as a servant again.) I’ve even outlined a case, Richard Quarls, where a former slave was awarded a pension based on the service record of his former master, Pvt. J. Richard Quarles. Pension records can be helpful, but in and of themselves, they’re unreliable to definitively establishing a man’s role forty, fifty, sixty years previous.
I can easily believe that many (or more) African Americans went into the field as body servants, cooks, teamsters, laborers, and in support roles generally. Some were free; most were slaves. And those men were essential to the larger war effort. On that, we can agree. But if you’re arguing that those tens of thousands were considered to be fellow soldiers at the time by white enlisted men and officers, by the C.S. government or the Confederacy generally, that’s a ludicrous statement.
Finally:
For the first few years of the war it was illegal to arm black Confed. soldiers, & commanders who used blacks did so illegally. Although evidence is lacking, the widespread use of blacks was probably not discussed, or was even denied, by Confed. politicians for reasons of political expediency, since to admit it would have raised the question of what the South was actually fighting for.
That’s a classic conspiracy theory rhetorical construct; the lack of evidence – in this case, the lack of direct evidence that Confederate commanders enlisted tens of thousands of African American soldiers illegally, and in secret – is itself evidence that it really happened.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)