Download African-American Soldiers in the American Civil

African-American Soldiers in the
American Civil War
By Amanda Moorer and Kiersten Pate
Federal Laws About Enlistment
• Federal laws from 1792
prevented African-Americans
from bearing arms for the
U.S. army.
• With the Navy, they had been
serving as shipboard firemen,
stewards, coal heavers and
even boat pilots since 1861.
• African-Americans had
served in the American
Revolution and in the War of
1812.
Reasoning Behind the Apprehension
• Needed support of the four border slave states and the
Northern Democrats
– May have turned against the Union if the Republicans had
moved against slavery in 1861.
• Lincoln was bound by the Constitution.
• He wanted to send freed blacks to Central America.
– “Colonization” had been supported by Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, Andrew Jackson, and even Harriet Beecher
Stowe,
• In August 1862, Lincoln brought five black ministers to
the White House and told them that slavery and the war
had demonstrated that it would be “better for us both,
therefore, to be separated.”
Lincoln's Position
• “slavery is an unqualified evil to the negro, to
the white man, to the soil, and to the State.”
– Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois. September 11, 1858
• “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
interfere with the institution of slavery in the
States where it exists. I believe I have no
lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination
to do so.”
– First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861
Rethinking Union Policy
• The war was nowhere near an end and white
volunteers were dwindling in number.
• Emancipation could weaken the Confederacy and
strengthen the Union.
• July 1862 Congress enacted two laws in response.
• Emancipation became:
– “a military necessity.... We must free the slaves or be
ourselves subdued.... The Administration must set an
example, and strike at the heart of the rebellion.”
Emancipation Proclamation
• Issued only after the major Union victory in the Battle of
Antietam.
• January 1, 1863.
• The slaves in rebel states were liberated “as an act of justice,
warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity.”
• The border slave states and parts of Confederate states
controlled by the Union army were exempt.
– Lincoln had tried earlier to persuade the border states to
accept gradual emancipation, with compensation to slave
owners from the federal government, but they had refused.
th
54
Massachusetts
• First black regiment: 1,007 black
soldiers and 37 white officers
• Many were not from Massachusetts
– one-quarter came from slave states
– others came from Canada and the Caribbean.
• Lead by Robert Shaw.
• First engagement: Fort Wagner, guarded
the Port of Charleston, in South
Carolina, on July 18, 1863, with 600
men.
• 1,700 confederate soldiers waited.
• Half died including Colonel Shaw.
• “I want you to prove yourselves,” he
said. “The eyes of thousands will look on
what you do tonight.”
Problems For Black Union Soldiers
• Paid $10 a month.
• Charged a $3 monthly fee for clothing.
• White soldiers were paid at least $13, with officers earning
more.
• The highest-paid black soldier earned about half the lowestpaid white soldier’s salary.
• Black regiments protested and refused to accept their inferior
wages for 18 months.
• In 1864, they finally received equal pay.
• Segregated units commanded by white officers and black
noncommissioned officers.
• Greater dangers when captured by the Confederate Army.
African-American Impact
• Less than one percent of the
northern population.
• By the end of the war they made
up 10 % of the Union Army.
• A total of 180,000 black men,
more than 85% of those eligible,
enlisted.
• 80 black commissioned officers.
• 16 black soldiers were awarded
the Medal of Honor for their valor.
Works Cited
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http://www.history.com/topics/the-54th-massachusetts-infantry
http://www.history.com/topics/emancipation-proclamation
http://www.history.com/news/2011/05/10/10-surprising-civil-war-facts/
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/facts.html
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/
http://discoverblackheritage.com/men-of-color-to-arms/
http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/lincoln_address1.html
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln3/1:13?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
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