1863 summaries, and a few interesting patterns emerge. I need to dig more deeply into 1863 and 1864 than I have. I suspect there's more to find.
The big takeaway here is that there is more discussion of Southern arming of black men than specific reports from the field. There are reports from a couple of battles, and more sighting of black pickets and black artillerists and sharpshooters, and one state discusses arming slaves but then amends that to just employing them in military service.
The editorials are the story of the year, and they start the year as they have the two prior to 1863 discussing in general terms the pros and cons and likelihood of the South arming black men. But then near the end of July, a story emerges about Alexander Stephens supposedly threatening to arm slaves en masse in retaliation for the Union recruiting and arming black soldiers, and the focus of editorials shifts almost entirely to discussion of this possibility, and what would happen if the south armed hundred of thousands of slaves. One other near-editorial category also enters the picture, which I've labeled "the South did it first", and here's where the writers remind the readers of early arming of black men by the South, primarily in New Orleans, but instances are mentioned in other places as well. The Confederate 1st Louisiana may be gone, but they are not forgotten.
Take this as a snapshot of my current holdings. The categorization is not perfect, some articles could easily fit in more than one category. And as I said, I think there's more to be found.
Mass enlistment and arming of slaves, rumors and editorials (July-December) - 21 stories/51 articles
"The South Armed them First" - 18 stories/26 articles
1st Louisiana Native Guard - 8 stories/9 articles
Memphis/Nashville - 7 stories/14 articles
Great Bethel - 2 stories/2 articles
Mobile - 1 article
Militant Rumors/Reports (free or slave, sometimes unknown, "general" reports with no specific location given) - 17 stories/24 articles
Impressment/Conscription/Drafting - 12 stories/17 articles
Battles - 7 stories/30 articles
Franklin - 4 stories/21 articles
Gettysburg - 3 stories/9 articles
Editorials on Arming/Employing black men for military purposes (Jan-July 1863) - 9 stories/17 articles
Slave/unknown status labor - 5 stories/9 articles
black employment in the ranks (musicians, teamsters, cooks, other paid non slave) - 4 stories/7 articles
black artillerists - 3 stories/7 articles
black sharpshooters - 3 stories/4 articles
black pickets - 2 stories/24 articles
Official CSA Government discussion of arming slaves (state/national) - 1 story/2 articles
Guerilla action - 1 article