It's a mystery to me why free blacks would choose to support the Confederacy, but there's evidence that some of them did. There was a free black community in Petersburg called Pocahontas, on Pocahontas island. There's still a sign marking it today, and apparently a little museum. I happened across a news article published during the war which claimed that a company of free blacks from this community presented themselves, desiring to serve the Confederacy "in any capacity." What little I was able to discover about them through further research seemed to indicate that the white man who was their "officer" ended up hiring them out to work on various fortifications and that sort of thing. They don't appear to have been allowed to enter the military. However, they did apparently support the Confederacy, and they got a fancy write up in the paper. There's a thread I started about this somewhere if I can find it which has the original article.
The interesting thing is that Pocahontas started as a haven for escaped slaves, and had Underground Railroad involvement. It doesn't seem to have been a likely hotbed of Confederate sentiment, but then it spontaneously fielded a company of free blacks. History is more peculiar than anyone could predict.
Here's more about Pocahontas:
http://rvanews.com/news/the-worlds-most-fascinating-place-pocahontas-island/126408
Supporting the Confederacy was really the only thing that free blacks could do, or at least, the only thing they could do out in the open.
Consider the case of the Louisiana Native Guards. The Guards, who were part of the Louisiana state militia, consisted of so-called free
“black Creole” soldiers. As noted
here, "On November 23, 1861 – after the start of the Civil War – the 33 black officers and 731 black enlisted men of the Guards marched along the banks of the Mississippi River next to their white counterparts in the Louisiana militia."
One would think that the state of Louisiana would happy to receive the help of anyone who would support their cause. But just two months after the Native Guards did their march, Louisiana passed an "Act to Reorganize the Militia" which stated in its first section:
Why would the state of Louisiana pass a law barring black men from military service? Just guess.
When New Orleans fell to Union forces in April 1862, men from the Native Guards were asked by the governor to help defend the French Quarter. They never fired a shot. Meanwhile Confederate forces fled north of the city.
Gen Benjamin Butler was dispatched to command the Union occupation of New Orleans. In testimony before the Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, he stated:
I had read carefully two of the daily journals of New Orleans published since the rebellion, and I ascertained that they had raised a colored regiment... and I got a hold of the order under which it was raised. I then found that one of the captains was a translator in the Provost Court of German Spanish and French, Mr. Sauvenet. I sent for him, and asked him—(he was a colored man, hardly a mulatto)—“You are a captain in the colored regiment?” “Yes, sir.” “Are the other captains of that regiment here?” “Yes, sir.” “Why didn't you go away with the rest of the Confederate forces, when they away?” “We didn't choose to go. The whole regiment stayed.” “You had white officers?” “Yes, sir.” (Sauvenet was probably referring to the field officers Lieut. Col. Henry D didn't and Maj. Henry Bizou, because all of the line officers were black.)
“But,” I (Butler) said, "how came you, free colored men fighting fighting here for the confederacy –fighting for slavery?” (Perhaps Butler was ignorant of the fact that free black creoles considered themselves a different “thing” from enslaved negroes, and that many of these black creoles were slave owners.) “Ah!,” he said, "we could not help it. If we had not volunteered, they would have forced us into the ranks, and we would have been suspected. We have property and rights here, and there is every reason why we should take care of ourselves.”
{Butler:} “Didn't you do it out of loyalty to the Confederate government?” "Not at all. There are not five men in the regiment fighting on the side of the Confederacy.””Are you willing to enlist on our side?” “Yes!”
…He (Sauvenet) brought in the captains and some of the lieutenants—15 or 16 I think and I found them all very glad to text service with us.
Eventually, the Union army raised three "Native Guards" regiments, although these consisted of both free blacks and former enslaved blacks. Note that, only a portion of persons from the Louisiana militia signed up with the Union army.
Now: was Mr Sauvenet correct when said that “There are not five men in the (militia) regiment fighting on the side of the Confederacy?” That, in my mind is doubtful. The fact is, as free people, those African Americans were part of a larger free culture, which was predominately white; and as such, many free blacks undoubtedly shared the values of free whites. In fact, many free blacks shared the genetics of free whites; those freemen had more of an affinity for their white cousins than their black ones. In places like Louisiana or Gulf Coast Alabama or Florida, or South Carolina, many free blacks did not even see themselves as "black." And indeed, they were effectively in a caste that was separate from free whites and enslaved blacks.
But another comment made by Sauvenet rings true: “Ah!... we could not help it. If we had not volunteered, they would have forced us into the ranks, and we would have been suspected. We have property and rights here, and there is every reason why we should take care of ourselves.” Free blacks, as members of this middle caste, were in a precarious position. Their black blood, whether a drop in content or much more, always made their racial allegiance dubious, and their degraded status inherent.
As Sauvenet put it, free blacks could not afford to appear disloyal. And if this service was the price of seeming loyal, so be it. Indeed, the same motivations that led free blacks to join the Louisiana militia, may have led them to join the Union army when it occupied their home city.
- Alan
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