Thank you for your contribution. I am certainly aware of the discrimination and treatment that USCTs faced during the war from both within the Union army and by Confederates on battlefields such as the Crater. In fact, I have complied quite a list of wartime sources from the Crater that point to very harsh treatment on the battlefield as well as an overall tendency on the part of whites to blame them for the defeat.

I can’t speak to your statistical analysis as I do not have the formulas you used or any sense of how you analyzed the evidence.I don’t believe that I have taken the position of “I don’t believe it” in regard to this question. Simply put, I am interested in how slaves operated in Confederate ranks and how their presence shaped the master-slave relationship. I am sorry if you have a problem with that, but I assure you that I am not engaged in some kind of morality play where the end goal is to vindicate one side over the other. My interests in history are different. If you choose to believe otherwise, so be it. Essentially, I agree with the NPS statement. We need serious research along the lines of what Peter Carmichael outlined in his guest post rather than the simple collection of sources as is the case with most Websites and books such as those published by Pelican Press.

“June 20, 2005

Much more information is available, especially from official, preserved government records, about the role of African American soldiers in the Union army. The numbers of those soldiers per se were undoubtedly greater than in the Confederate army. In addition, the federal government officially approved a recruitment policy for African Americans, including slaves (the majority of African Americans) into the Union army by 1863. The Confederate States did not officially approve the recruitment of African American slaves into the Confederate army until nearly the end of the war.

While some free African Americans served in the Confederate army, their role is not as well documented and preserved. In addition, many African Americans who served in some capacity in the Confederate army, often anonymously, were slaves. It is difficult to have precise information in the present about the ways in which they served, and the exact military role they played.

We hope over time to be able to include more information on all African Americans who served, both slave and free, including those who served in any capacity in the Confederate war effort. As some writers have pointed out even the official records preserved by the federal government have episodic references to this subject. It is a matter of collecting material from disparate sources to compile a portrait of the issue. It is a less well known part of Civil War history, because it was not as well documented, but it is a part of the overall history that we would like to include over time.

Marilyn W. Nickels, Ph.D.
Project Manager
African-American History Web Project
Office of the Chief Information Officer/NISC
National Park Service
1201 Eye Street, NW
Washington, D.C.
202/354-1449
202/371-1549 (fax)”

Additionally, Hari Jones, Director of the African-American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, DC, has his own research which further substantiates the service of Black Confederates in combat. The Harper’s Weekly illustration of Black Confederate pickets published on their front page issue of January 10, 1863, is sold in the gift shop there.

This “discussion” consists mainly of accepting any reference or opinion that disputes the existence and service of Black Confederates and dismissing, without viable justification, any contemporaneous evidence which supports their existence and service.

I would be interested in seeing how this “discussion” dismisses the NPS position of the Project Manager of the African-American History Web Project and the position of Hari Jones beyond simply saying, “I don’t believe it.” Facts and figures, folks, not personal prejudices.

Conversations with the descendants of Black Confederates who have first-hand information from the serving Black Confederates, as does Nelson Winbush, or a strong oral history as do the Great-grandsons of Silas Chandler, are a different matter.

The bottom line is this: if one discounts by simply saying, “I don’t believe it” all contemporaneous documentation regarding Black Confederates from all sources, including the Federal Official Records, as well as all family oral histories then dismissing the service of Black Confederates is easy – intellectually disingenuous, but easy.

Just as an aside regarding real historical investigation – something not often present on this thread – I have performed a statistical breakdown regarding the percentage of United States Colored Troops executed by the Union Army during the War. The figures show a disturbing trend of lethal racism:

USCT constituted about 4.7% of the total Union ground forces (187,000 of 4,000,000)

Of the 269 Union soldiers recorded as formally executed during the war USCT made up 21.2% (57) of the executions – a rate about 450% greater than their percentage presence in the Union Army.

USCT were executed at a rate of .03% (three one-hundredths of one percent) of total USCT in service.

There were 212 non-USCT executed. They were executed at a rate of .005% (five one-thousandths of one percent) of total Union soldiers in service.

14 USCT were executed for “Mutiny” – 24.6% of total USCT executed and 87.5% of total number of Union executions for “Mutiny” (16)
2 non-USCT were executed for “Mutiny” – less than 1% of total non-USCT executions

28 USCT were executed for “Murder” – 49% of total USCT executed and 41% of all Union executions for “Murder”
40 non-USCT soldiers were executed for “Murder” – 18.9% of total non-USCT executions

13 USCT were executed for “Rape” – 22.8% of total USCT executed and 62% of all Union executions for “Rape”
8 non-USCT soldiers were executed for “Rape” – 3.8% of total non-USCT executions

2 USCT were executed for “Desertion” – 3.6% of total USCT executed and .7% of total Union executions
146 non-USCT soldiers were executed for “Desertion” – 68.9% of total non-USCT executions

USCT were six times more likely to be charged, convicted and executed for capital offenses than non-USCT Union soldiers.

The warning signs for me were 1) it all sounded anecdotal rather than historical. and 2) the neo-confederate strategy of contradictory example (“black confederate”) and deflection (“Lincoln was a racist”) were similar to Intelligent Design argument, of which I am much more familiar.

It’s a shame I couldn’t find your blog a month ago, but LGM posted the link, I’m subscribed via RSS now and working my way through the archives. Thanks!

I have said nothing about Lincoln on this matter because he is not relevant. Lincoln chose to allow blacks to serve for a number of reasons and those reasons have been analyzed by numerous historians. I do not deny that thousands of blacks traveled with Confederate armies and on occasion may have picked up a gun, but they were not serving in any official capacity.

Again, simply collecting stories in one place is not serious research. The way you frame the issue is much too simplistic for me. Again, read Joe Glatthaar’s new book or Bruce Levine’s _Confederate Emancipation_ (Oxford University Press). Thanks again for writing.

Dallas Moses, a river boat pilot, DIED trying to capture the USS Waterwitch.

There are official reports of “Negro” Confederate sharpshooters (snipers), “well mounted” scouts, etc, etc, etc.

Nelson Winbush, a SCV compatriot of mine in Florida, it was his grandfather who was one of those slaves (later freed and still fought) who fought with Gen Forrest that he testified about in Congress!

Records show Confederate blacks being captured at Gettysburg and refusing to sign oath of loyalty to US government and spending up to 22 months in prison. I just visited Gettysburg’s new museum and there is no mention of this men who refused to betray their families. Why? Is it because people like you keep promoting this falsehood that black Confederate who fought are a “myth?”

There was NO black US troops at Gettysburg. Why? This was the first year Lincoln’s government even allowed blacks in army and the same year New York protested this fact. There were no such riots in the South.

Yet people like you claim this is “invalid?” It is in the OFFICIAL RECORDS that Williams quoted from. How is this invalid?

In Wakulla County Florida when the US landed troops and shelled a TOWN the only civilians killed were 5 black slaves.

Then you say “Lincoln’s views on race and slavery are not open to discussion right now as they have nothing to do with the issue at hand.”

You are trying to imply blacks did not “fight” for CS, and say Lincoln is not the issue? He started a war, people like you claim was over slavery. Frederick Douglas, a man who was there STATED there were thousands of blacks “with rifles on their shoulders and bullets in there pockets” marching in step with their Confederate comrades, at a time when racist Lincoln didn’t allow even free blacks to be in his army! And this has nothing to do with issue?! Y’all keep promoting this was a war about “just slavery” yet want to deny Lincoln views?

As for Ed Smith’s claim I challenge you to find a modern scholarly study that confirms his findings. You are not going to find it.

Lincoln’s views on race and slavery are not open to discussion right now as they have nothing to do with the issue at hand. I do understand, however, that it is important to the people who push this line of thought since their goal is some kind of moral parity between North and South. Let me be clear that I am not denying the idea of thousands of black Confederates because I have some hidden agenda that seeks to prop up Lincoln and the rest of the North on a moral platform. I am interested in what can be concluded based on available evidence.

If you are interested in some of the complexity behind this topic I recommend starting with the chapter on blacks and the Confederacy in Joseph Glatthaar’s new book, _General Lee’s Army_ (Free Press, 2008).

Source: This article appeared in the Washington Times some years back. It was written by Walter Williams, an economics professor at George Mason University, a nationally syndicated columnist, an African-American, and one of the most effective speakers I have ever heard!

Whoa!!! Just how old is Weary’s LIVING daughter? And if she’s under 100, how old was Weary when he fathered her?

Wanted to let you know your link to James M Miller Camp throws up a virus on that page. Using AVG for a virus scanner.