...BTW, here's the info from the muster-in roll of Company I. Note the certificate of the Confederate mustering officer ("accepted them into the service of the Confederate States")-
I see that. Good point. We can see though that it is the "copyist" who has "signed" the Confederate mustering officer's name and not the Confederate mustering officer himself (being identical handwriting to the rest of the form), but even as a mere copy it stands as a record of that officer having accepted an enlistment, if not a negro enlistment in this specific case.
If muster cards specifying negro enlistment are common, that would be a "proof" that blacks were regularly enlisted into CS service despite the clear order from Richmond not to do so (til the last few days of the war). Makes one wonder: were those hundreds of negro enlistments ever registered at CS headquarters in Richmond? ...as they would have if official. Good question.
Anyway, if official CS enlistments of blacks were common, that would support the post-war proclivity of Confederate Apologists to push the "Black Confederate" thing, hoping in turn that it therefore supports the Lost Cause precept that the war wasn't over slavery (i.e."Our slaves themselves were a-volunteerin' to be fightin' the Yankees!).
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