Civil war essay

Thomas Gorman
3/16/09

African American Soldiers in the Civil War

The civil war was one of the most horrific battles in American history. It was a battle against the Union, the north, and the confederate, the south. This battle also determined if the African Americans slaves were going to be free or not. If the union wins the battle, the slaves are going to be free but if the confederate won the slaves were going too remained in slavery. The African American slaves played an important part in the civil war.
The idea of African American slaves enrolling to join the army was news from Fort Sumter so Africans Americans to enlist in U.S. military units. They didn’t like the idea but because a federal law dating back from 1792 barred Negroes from bearing arms for the U.S. army. In Boston, disappointed would be volunteers met and passed a resolution requesting that the government modify its law to permit their enlistment.
The Lincoln administration argued with the idea of authorizing the recruitment of colored troops concerned that such a move would prompt the Border States to withdraw. When General John C. Fremont in Missouri and general David Hunter in South Carolina made public announcement that emancipated slaves in their military regions and permitted them to enlist. In 1862, the growing number of former slaves, the declining white volunteers, and the increasingly pressing personnel needs of the union army pushed the government into reconsidering the ban.
As a result, on July 17, 1862, Congress passed the second confiscation and militia act, freeing slaves who had masters in the confederate army. A few days later, slavery was abolished in territories of the United States. On July 22, President Lincoln presented the preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. After the union army turned back General Robert E. Lee’s 1st invasion of the north at Antietam, MD, and Emancipation Proclamation was subsequently announced black recruitment was pursed in earnest.
Tennessee, South Carolina, and Massachusetts filled the first authorized black regiment. Recruitment was slow until black leaders suck as Frederick Douglas encouraged black men to become soldiers to ensure eventual full citizenship. Even two of Douglass sons contribute to war effort. Volunteers began to respond and in May 1863 the government established the Bureau of Colored Troops to manage the growing numbers of black soldiers.
There was prejudice against the African American soldiers. Black units were not used in combat as extensively as they might have been. The soldiers served distinction in a number of battles. Black infantry men fought gallantly at Milliken’s bends, Port Hudson, Petersburg, VA and Nashville, TN. In July 1863, the 54th regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers lost two-thirds of their officers and half of their troops. By the end of the war 16 black soldiers had been awarded the Medal of Honor for their valor.
The black troops, however, faced greater peril than white troops when captured by the Confederate Army. In 1863 the Confederate Congress threatened to punish severely officers of black troops and to enslave black soldiers. As a result, President Lincoln issued General Order 233, threatening reprisal on Confederate prisoners of war for any mistreatment of black troops. Although the threat generally restrained the Confederates, black captives were typically treated more harshly than white captives. In perhaps the most heinous known example of abuse, Confederate soldiers shot to death black Union soldiers captured at the Fort Pillow, TN, and engagement of 1864. Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest witnessed the massacre and did nothing to stop it.
On July 17, 1863, at Honey Springs, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, the 1st Kansas Colored fought with courage again. Union troops under General James Blunt ran into a strong Confederate force under General Douglas Cooper. After a two hour bloody engagement, Cooper's soldiers retreated. The 1st Kansas, which had held the center of the Union line advanced to within fifty paces of the Confederate line and exchanged fire for some twenty minutes until the Confederates broke and ran. General Blunt wrote after the battle, "I never saw such fighting as was done by the Negro regiment, The question that Negroes will fight is settled; besides they make better solders in every respect than any troops I have ever had under my command."
The most widely known battle fought by African Americans was the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, by the 54th Massachusetts on July 18, 1863. The 54th volunteered to lead the assault on the strongly-fortified Confederate positions. The soldiers of the 54th scaled the fort's parapet, and were only driven back after brutal hand-to-hand combat.
"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pockets, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States." Frederick Douglass. These words spoken by Frederick Douglass moved many African Americans to enlist in the Union Army and fight for their freedom. With President Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the Civil War became a war to save the union and to abolish slavery.
African American soldiers participated in every major battle of 1864-1865 except Sherman's invasion of Georgia. The year 1864 was especially eventful for African American troops. On April 12, 1864, at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest led his 2,500 men against the Union-held fortification, occupied by 292 black and 285 white soldiers. After driving in the Union pickets and giving the garrison an opportunity to surrender, Forrest's men swarmed into the fort with little difficulty and drove the Federals down the river's bluff into a deadly crossfire. Casualties were high and only sixty two of the U.S. Colored Troops survived the fight. Many accused the Confederates of perpetuating a massacre of black troops, and the controversy continues today. The battle cry for the Negro soldier east of the Mississippi River became "Remember Fort Pillow!"
In January, 1864, General Patrick Cleburne and several other Confederate officers in the Army of the Tennessee proposed using slaves as soldiers since the Union was using black troops. Cleburne recommended offering slaves their freedom if they fought and survived. Confederate President Jefferson Davis refused to consider Cleburne's proposal and forbade further discussion of the idea. The concept, however, did not die. By the fall of 1864, the South was losing more and more ground, and some believed that only by arming the slaves could defeat be averted. On March 13, the Confederate Congress passed General Order 14, and President Davis signed the order into law. The order was issued March 23, 1865, but only a few African American companies were raised, and the war ended before they could be used in battle.
By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black soldiers served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war and 30,000 of infection or disease. Black soldiers served in artillery and infantry and performed all noncombat support functions that sustain an army, as well. Black carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters also contributed to the war cause. There were nearly 80 black commissioned officers. Black women, who could not formally join the Army, nonetheless served as nurses, spies, and scouts, the most famous being Harriet Tubman who scouted for the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers.