For a new perspective of the issue:
Civil War historian Ervin Jordan notes that "Free blacks in the Confederacy had few rights. Nevertheless, they were 'the black pseudo-aristocracy' of the South. Their expressions of loyalty to the Confederacy stemmed from hopes of better treatment and fears of being enslaved. In several communities they formed rebel companies or offered other forms of support to the Confederacy. Their displays of loyalty protected them and provide context for understanding such newspaper reports as that of the Charleston Mercury, which stated in early 1861: 'We learn that one hundred and fifty able-bodied free colored men of Charleston yesterday offered their services gratuitously to the Governor to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts wherever needed along along our coast."
'Gratuitous service' can't equate to unpaid work for state governors who made your survival a realistic possibility!
Civil War historian Ervin Jordan notes that "Free blacks in the Confederacy had few rights. Nevertheless, they were 'the black pseudo-aristocracy' of the South. Their expressions of loyalty to the Confederacy stemmed from hopes of better treatment and fears of being enslaved. In several communities they formed rebel companies or offered other forms of support to the Confederacy. Their displays of loyalty protected them and provide context for understanding such newspaper reports as that of the Charleston Mercury, which stated in early 1861: 'We learn that one hundred and fifty able-bodied free colored men of Charleston yesterday offered their services gratuitously to the Governor to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts wherever needed along along our coast."
'Gratuitous service' can't equate to unpaid work for state governors who made your survival a realistic possibility!
Bringing the