Spend enough time in the confusion that is the black Confederate debate and you will come across a short list of talking points. One of the most popular references is to Ervin L. Jordan’s Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (A Nation Divided : New Studies in Civil War History), which was published [...]
black Confederates
Here is another example of a newspaper clipping on the subject of black Confederates with the compliments of Vicki Betts. [See here and here ] This is just the kind of evidence that certain parties love to tout as indisputable proof of the existence of black Confederate soldiers. I have to say that if I [...]
On Friday I posted a couple of newspaper notices on the subject of black Confederates from Vicki Betts. Here is one more from a Memphis newspaper for your consideration. MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [MEMPHIS, TN], May 14, 1861, p. 3, c. 2 Our Free Colored Men–What Shall Be Done With Them?–Editors Appeal: The proposition of the [...]
[Hat-Tip to Vicki Betts] Vicki was kind enough to send along these two brief newspaper notices. I’ve seen plenty of these references in the course of my research – just about every one is from early on in the war. Here is your chance to be a historian. What do you make of these brief [...]
A few days ago I mentioned that I was in contact with a 7th grade history teacher in Boston, who wanted to introduce the subject of black Confederates as part of a unit on the Civil War. Well, today the instructor reported back with a detailed overview of the lesson. I think it’s a wonderful [...]
Yesterday I had a wonderful phone conversation with a 7th grade history teacher from Boston. The subject of black soldiers in the Confederate army came up in his class as part of a discussion of USCTs. The teacher promised the class that he would look for information, which led him to my recent NYTs editorial. [...]
Brooks Simpson has chosen to wade into the mire that is the black Confederate “debate”. In his most recent post he surveys a short list of the standard primary sources that have been used to prove the existence of black men in the Confederate army. As Brooks notes, they are all problematic for any number [...]
For my second installment in this series I thought we would take a quick look at Ann DeWitt’s Black Confederate Soldiers site. It’s one of the more recent sites to appear and it is growing in popularity. Feel free to suggest websites that might be worth exploring at a later date. I apologize for the [...]
