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__________________ 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
I had to look long and hard for an old thread on the subject that had not been locked.
It's not that the members of this board are not allowed to discuss this topic. It was the manner in which we debated it that got previous threads banned.
Sincerely,
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
Levine's Confederate Emancipation & Manning's What This Cruel War Was Over should be mandatory reading for anyone serious about the issue of black Confederate troops. Luckily, neither refuted anything I said in my article and I even revised my manuscript to include something said by Levine.
May I ask what article you wrote you are referring to?
Sincerely,
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
Black Confederate Sharpshooters. It was published in The Company of Military Historians Magazine. In hindsight, I should have prefaced it with my acceptance of the McPherson perspective (war was over slavery) and the rejection of the neo-Confederate argument that it wasn't (and hence their necessity of proving that "many" slaves willingly fought for the Confederacy).
...the Confederacy might have been a country of six or seven states. The Confederacy certainly wouldn't have the severe manpower shortages that occurred.
A Slave could never be a soldier. Maybe drive a supply wagon, cook, or tend to camp chores. Load boxcars on railroad sidings, fix rails, build fortifications, work in a
factory.
The Confederate government had a difficult time impressing slaves for war work; slaves continued as property of their slaveholder.
There was no stipulation on freedom for slaves, who served the Confederate army. Why would a slave, in any numbers, fight for the Confederacy.
In the lines, black Confederate soldiers would remain slaves; a mile or less from Union lines and freedom.
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