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A soldier gets rations, pay, a uniform, and a musket. It wasn't always that everyone got all four, but the intentions and regulations were in place. If that drummer or bugler or teamster or cook got a uniform issued by the government, or pay, or rations, I'm content to call him a soldier.
The servant was very likely given clothing and food by his master. (If it is not government issue, it's not the same thing.) Union officers had an allowance for servants. Were these servants soldiers? A bit hard to call them that. Union laborers and teamsters were issued rations and pay. Were they issued muskets or uniforms? Were they soldiers? No. They were civilian employees.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Battalion by your reasoning the number of Black Confederates would be closer to four millions. The vast majority slave labor and the vast majority unwilling particiants. And I greatly suspect few were willing to fight to stay in bondage, especially after the EP.
__________________
Shane Christen
American Legion Post 352
SUVCW Camp Abernethy# 48
Lifetime NRA member
3rd MN VI
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Eccl 1:18
I read North and South Magazine and have read the editorials and letters about black Confederate soldiers. Levine engages the evidence presented about black Confederate soldiers and demolishes it with logic and research. Apparently unable to respond with their own evidence, their facts disproved, their arguments dismantled, advocates for the phantom legions of blacks in gray are left sputtering about "arrogance."
25th Tennessee Infantry, CSA
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
New York Times, 27 September 1861
Last edited by Battalion : 04-18-2008 at 06:07 PM.
Black Confederates vs. Black Confederate Soldiers.
How easy under the one title to claim all blacks, slave or free residing in the territorial confines of the Confederacy should count as "Black Confederates" even the ones who did not want to be slaves, but were forced to, even the freedmen who were constantly under watch and suspicion by White Confederates.
The other title, "Black Confederate Soldiers," is one is backed by evidence through that of a historical eye-dropper, almost one lone individual at a time.
It is a shame that those blacks, those men, who did serve as actual soldiers, for whatever reasons they thought important, that their service and sacrifice must be diluted in order to support the myth that the war was not for and about the preservation of slavery.
Unionblue
__________________ "The American people and the Government at Washington may refuse to recognize it for a time but the inexorable logic of events will force it upon them in the end; that the war now being waged in this land is a war for and against slavery." Frederick Douglass
"Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes." George Santayana
The other title, "Black Confederate Soldiers," is one is backed by evidence through that of a historical eye-dropper, almost one lone individual at a time.
25th Tennessee Infantry, CSA
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
Now, were Lawson and Scott privates, or musicians or cooks? I've seen blacks on muster rolls, but only once have I seen one listed as a private - and that was probably an accident as he was previously a cook.
Equally important is not just the data but the interpretation of the same data. Can a pattern be shown? If all those men listed by Battalion were cooks, musicians, manservants or teamsters, it doesn't mean they were soldiers by Confederate standards.
Now, were Lawson and Scott privates, or musicians or cooks? I've seen blacks on muster rolls, but only once have I seen one listed as a private - and that was probably an accident as he was previously a cook.
Equally important is not just the data but the interpretation ['spin'] of the same data. Can a pattern be shown? If all those men listed by Battalion were cooks, musicians, manservants or teamsters, it doesn't mean they were soldiers by Confederate standards.
25th Tennessee Infantry, CSA
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
Rufus Harris Enlisted as Private 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
New York Times, 27 September 1861
Last edited by Battalion : 04-20-2008 at 05:31 PM.
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
Rufus Harris Enlisted as Private 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Jeff Bruington Enlisted 25 July 1861. "Free negro."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
The other title, "Black Confederate Soldiers," is one is backed by evidence through that of a historical eye-dropper, almost one lone individual at a time.
25th Tennessee Infantry, CSA
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
Rufus Harris Enlisted as Private 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Jeff Bruington Enlisted 25 July 1861. "Free negro."
Benjamin Watson Enlisted as Private 15 September 1861 for 12 months. Age- 55 years. "Colored/Free negro."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
New York Times, 27 September 1861
Last edited by Battalion : 04-20-2008 at 01:32 PM.
The other title, "Black Confederate Soldiers," is one is backed by evidence through that of a historical eye-dropper, almost one lone individual at a time.
25th Tennessee Infantry, CSA
Anda Lawson Enlisted 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Alex Scott Enlisted as Private 26 July 1861 for 12 months. "Freeman of color."
Rufus Harris Enlisted as Private 30 July 1861 for 12 months. "A free man of color."
Jeff Bruington Enlisted 25 July 1861. "Free negro."
Benjamin Watson Enlisted as Private 15 September 1861 for 12 months. Age- 55 years. "Colored/Free negro."
Rufus Worley Enlisted 25 July 1861. "Free negro."
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
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