Trivia 11-8-18

[Trivia Master]

Approximately how many African-Americans, free and enslaved toiled for the Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign?

**The source gives a wide range; correct answers will be within that range.

credit: @hughes

 

[BlueNGrey]

This question begs controversy. Using the word approximately and then stating "the source" gives a wide range of correct answers makes an assumption that this specific source is required to used.

I found this...... It is from an article by Kevin Levin. I can't wait to see what comments are made regarding this "source".

"In our whole army there must be at least thirty thousand colored servants"

http://cwmemory.com/2013/05/22/slavery-traveled-with-the-army-of-northern-virginia/

 

[captaindrew]

I found two sources that gave a 30,000 estimate and one said somewhere between 10,000 to 30,000

 

[SWMODave]

Spread over 15 square miles around a small Pennsylvania town on the first three days of July 1863, involving more than 160,000 soldiers and huge numbers of camp laborers, including between 10,000 and 30,000 slaves forced to serve the invading Southern army, the conflagration caused a degree of slaughter like no other in American history.

Source

 

[FarawayFriend]

"Thousands" - is that reply still within the "wide range"?
"Thousands of slaves served in support roles for the Army of Northern Virginia, and as Lee's army marched north into Pennsylvania, they seized as many as 500 African-Americans"
https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-should-know-about-the-battle-of-gettysburg

Or maybe "thirty thousand" ?
"In our whole army there must be at least thirty thousand colored servants who do nothing but cook and wash—nine tenths of the ditching falls to our share—yet in all these thousands I have yet to hear of more than one hundred who have run away from their owners"
http://cwmemory.com/2013/05/22/slavery-traveled-with-the-army-of-northern-virginia/

As we are allowed this time to give an unprecise answer and as this is a serious source, my final answer will be "more than 6000" from this source:

"Thousands of African Americans were forced to support the operations of the Confederate army as teamsters, cooks, body servants, and laborers. In 1863, more than 6,000 accompanied the 71,000 soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania."
https://www.virginiahistory.org/col...erican-turning-point-civil-war-virginia-1/how

 

[KeyserSoze]

Complete guess but I'm going to go with 2000.

 

[ErnieMac]

Approximately 20000.
https://books.google.com/books?id=9...irginia#v=snippet&q=northern virginia&f=false

 

[Eleanor Rose]

65,000

Source

 

[Brenal]

"In our whole army there must be at least thirty thousand colored servants who do nothing but cook and wash—nine tenths of the ditching falls to our share—yet in all these thousands I have yet to hear of more than one hundred who have run away from their owners! "
http://cwmemory.com/2013/05/22/slavery-traveled-with-the-army-of-northern-virginia/

 

[MC44]

approximately 1,000?

 

[Ole Miss]

"Estimates range anywhere from 30 to 40 to several hundred, according to various first-person accounts. (Confederates didn't keep good records on this subject,"
https://www.theroot.com/did-black-men-fight-at-gettysburg-1790876264

Estimates vary as to how many blacks were caught in the Confederate dragnet during the Gettysburg campaign. Mr. Smith puts the figure at more than 1,000 -- especially if it includes those seized in Winchester, Va., Martinsburg, W.Va., and Rockville, Md.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/st...orth-a-military-disgrace/stories/201306300221

30 to 40 to over 1,000
Regards
David

 

[GS]

WOW! The answers are all over the board. I'll submit the first as my answer:

"As many as 500, some slave and some free, served in support roles for the Army of Virginia," per a writer for History.com.

Here is more definitive reasoning:

"There were no black combatants on either side at Gettysburg, only "noncombatants" in support roles: ambulance and supply-wagon drivers, hospital attendants, teamsters. Of those there were hundreds, Heiser explained, including, on the Southern side, personal body servants (i.e., slaves) tending to white officers. Paradis shows the same, arguing that black teamsters in particular faced hard, perilous conditions and at Gettysburg were vital to supplying the Army of the Potomac and helping the Army of Northern Virginia escape...It is impossible to identify the exact number of ex-slave and free blacks taken during the Gettysburg Campaign range anywhere from 30 to 40 to several hundred. Estimates are according to various first-person accounts. "
-- per Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as reported by John Heiser, Gettysburg National Military Park historian

And here is another source estimating support, but not specific to the Army of Northern Virginia:

"Nearly 180,000 Black Southerners, from Virginia alone, provided logistical support for the Confederate military. Many were highly skilled workers. These included a wide range of jobs: nurses, military engineers, teamsters, ordnance department workers, brakemen, firemen, harness makers, blacksmiths, wagonmakers, boatmen, mechanics, wheelwrights, etc." -- Sons of Confederate Veterans

 

[Zella]

Approximately how many African-Americans, free and enslaved toiled for the Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign?

**The source gives a wide range; correct answers will be within that range.

credit: @hughes

Hmm James M. Paradis's African Americans and the Gettysburg Campaign mentions on p. 50 a figure of over 10,000 African American teamsters for the ANV and approximately another 10,000 African American cooks and other laborers traveling south with the army during its retreat following the Gettysburg campaign. He says this total agrees with estimates from several historians and contemporary observers, including Freemantle.
https://books.google.com/books?id=9...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

I found another source--that of a Confederate artilleryman named Thomas Caffey--who estimated there at least 30,000 African cooks and launderers with the ANV in general.
http://cwmemory.com/2013/05/22/slavery-traveled-with-the-army-of-northern-virginia/

There's a further estimate that as many as 1,000 African Americans were captured by the ANV during the Gettysburg Campaign and then taken back to Virginia.
https://www.richmond.com/opinion/th...cle_41fe942b-567d-5aaf-8564-2ba611cdf079.html

I do not know if they would be included in an estimate of laboring for the army, though.

So, my guess based on my sources is going to be at least 20,000-30,000, though possibly more.

 

[DBF]

According a footnote in the book; General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse, by Joseph Glatthaar, there is a reference to another book by Kent Patterson Brown ("Retreat from Gettysburg" pages 49-50) and he has the figure at anywhere between "6,000-10,000 teamsters with Lee during the Gettysburg campaign were black". However this number would not include the number of cooks, washers, "servants" and any other jobs that were required. As stated in my next source:

In a book written by, Allen Guelzo's book "Gettysburg: The Last Invasion", he reprints an account by a Confederate artilleryman, Thomas Caffey, published in 1864 -

"In our whole army there must be at least thirty thousand colored servants who do nothing but cook and wash—nine tenths of the ditching falls to our share—yet in all these thousands I have yet to hear of more than one hundred who have run away from their owners!"

Mr. Guelzo continues on with this statement "Caffey wrote this before the Gettysburg campaign kicked off, but it is not a stretch to imagine such numbers accompanying the Army of Northern Virginia as it moved Maryland and Pennsylvania".

Since I am not sure what source is used for the correct answer I can only answer with the sources I found. As the questions states - "the source gives a wide range" so my sources range from 6,000 - 30,000.

1. https://books.google.com/books?id=p...ers went to gettysburg in Lee's army&f=false/
2. http://cwmemory.com/2013/05/22/slavery-traveled-with-the-army-of-northern-virginia/

 

[Deleted User CS]

According to Stephen Sears in his book, "Gettysburg" and Craig Symond in his book "American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg" the answer would be Forty. However, David G. Smith in his book, "Race and Retaliation: The Capture of African Americans during the Gettysburg Campaign" the answer would be several hundred captured in Pennsylvania alone to more than one thousand including black civilians captured in Maryland and Virginia during the early phase of the Gettysburg Campaign. David.

 

[MRB1863]

over 1,000

 

[WJC]

Approximately how many African-Americans, free and enslaved toiled for the Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign?

**The source gives a wide range; correct answers will be within that range.

credit: @hughes

According to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, "In 1863, more than 6,000 accompanied the 71,000 soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania."
<How Did Slaves Support the Confederacy? https://www.virginiahistory.org/col...erican-turning-point-civil-war-virginia-1/how>
This does not include the 500-1000 Blacks that the ANV rounded up as 'escaped slaves'.

 

[roberts]

10,000 to 30,000 per Allen Guelzo in Gettysburg: The Last Invastion

 

[skirmisher]

This seems a little difficult to answer given that there is not a clear answer. But I'll go with 10,000 based on this, citation "While the Confederate force numbered around 75,000 fighting soldiers on the eve of Gettysburg, historians estimate that as many as 10,000 slaves marched north with the army."
http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/s...nt-confederate-captures-of-african-americans/

 

[mofederal]

https://www.theroot.com/did-black-men-fight-at-gettysburg-1790876264

There were hundreds according to John Heiser. "There were no black "combatants" on either side at Gettysburg, only "noncombatants" in support roles: ambulance and supply-wagon drivers, hospital attendants, teamsters. Of those there were hundreds, Heiser explained, including, on the Southern side, personal body servants (i.e., slaves) tending to white officers." Paradis shows the same, arguing "that black teamsters in particular faced hard, perilous conditions and at Gettysburg were vital to supplying the Army of the Potomac and helping the Army of Northern Virginia escape."