Download Black enlistment in Civil War

The Fight for
Black
Enrollment
U.S. Civil War
Presentation created by Robert L. Martinez
By the end of the war, more than
186,000 black soldiers had joined the
Union Army.
- 93,000 from the Confederate states.
- 40,000 from the border slave states.
- 53,000 from the free states.
Congressional Medals of Honor
Twenty-four black soldiers were
awarded the meritorious Congressional
Medals of Honor.
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States.
http://www.wikinfo.org/wikephp?title=Medal of Honor
Casualties
38,000 Black soldiers died during the
Civil War Conflict (30,000 of infection
and disease.)
http://www.tsgraves.com/images/bugler_taps.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/beachbumgreetings/498517609/
White Sentiment
When the war began, most white northerners
were not interested in fighting to free slaves
or in giving rights to black people. For this
reason, the government turned away African
American volunteers who rushed to enlist
after Ft. Sumter.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doory/47550929/
A Federal law dating from 1792 barred
Negroes from bearing arms for the U.S.
Army (although they had served in the
American Revolution and in the War of
1812.)
http://www.artisansofthevalley.com/af/af_nedhectoryimage.jpg
In Boston, disappointed would-be volunteers
met and passed a resolution requesting that
the Government modify its laws to permit
their enlistment, but Lincoln upheld the laws
barring blacks from the army, proving to
northern whites that their race privilege
would not be threatened.
http://www.patriotprintshoppe.com/16Lincoln61PhotoByChristopherS.German.jpg
African Americans had been working aboard
naval vessels for years.
Black sailors were therefore accepted into
the U.S. Navy from the beginning of the war.
Approximately 19,000 African Americans served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875802869/ref=nosim/azrahistoricalre
http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/09/civil.war.parade/sailors.lrg.jpg
Still, many African Americans wanted
to join the fighting and continued to put
pressure on federal authorities. Even if
Lincoln was not ready to admit it,
blacks knew that this was a war against
slavery.
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/upload/recruitsFLINp109_med.jpg
Frederick Douglass
Critical of Lincoln in his speeches.
“the mission of the war was the liberation of the slaves as
well as the salvation of the Union. I reproached the
North that they fought with one hand, while they might
fight more effectively with two; that they fought with the
soft white hand, while they kept the black iron hand
chained and helpless behind them” – Frederick Douglass
http://www.valdosta.edu/~krwhite/Fist.bmp
“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass
letters,
U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket
on his
shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on
Earth
that can deny that he has earned the right to
citizenship.”
– Frederick Douglas
http://www.31centuries.com/worldmilitaria/unitedstates/civilwarbutton1a.jpg
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/images/4fred16b.jpg
State Militia
The need for able-bodied fighting men
soon led individual states to swear into
the state militia - separate Regiments of
all Black Troops (guarding and policing
the home front.)
Other Blacks found acceptance as
volunteers in semi-military or military
support positions.
Contrabands
By mid-1862, the escalating number of
former slaves (contrabands), the declining
number of white volunteers, and the
increasingly pressing personnel needs of the
Union Army pushed the Government into
reconsidering the ban.
http://pre1900prints.com/BlackAmericana/ContrabandsFtMonroeHHRs.jpg
Congress overturns
ban
Not until August of 1862 did Blacks receive
the endorsement of Congress to serve in the
Civil War.
Congress revoked the militia laws banning
Blacks from serving in the Union Army.
http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/upload/capitol7d.jpg
Emancipation
Proclamation
A few individual commanders in the field had
taken steps to recruit southern African
Americans into their forces. But it was only
after Lincoln issued the final Emancipation
Proclamation that the federal army would
officially accept black soldiers into its ranks.
http://education.harpweek.com/CivilWarIllustrations/Part1Illus/EscapedSlave00428Bw250.jpg
1st Regiments
formed
After the Emancipation Proclamation was
announced, black recruitment was pursued
in earnest.
Volunteers from South Carolina, Tennessee,
and Massachusetts filled the first authorized
black regiments. Recruitment was slow until
black leaders such as Frederick Douglass
encouraged black men to become soldiers to
ensure eventual – full citizenship.
Two of Douglass’s own sons, Charles and
Lewis, became among the first recruits.
Recruiting Poster
“Men of Color, To Arms!”
“Let the slaves and free colored people be called into
service, and formed into a liberating army, to march
into the South and raise the banner of emancipation
among the slaves……”
Recruitment Poster
For Black Soldiers.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war/images/recruitment-broadside.gif
Newspaper
Editorials
“This is our golden opportunity. Let us accept it, and
forever wipe out the dark reproaches unsparingly
hurled against us by our enemies. Let us win for
ourselves the gratitude of our country, and the best
blessings of our posterity through all time.”
– Frederick Douglass
http://www.printsoldandrare.com/blackhistory/218bh.jpg
Bureau of Colored
Troops
On May 1, 1863, the War Department created the
Bureau of Colored Troops in order to handle the
recruitment and organization of all black regiments.
These units were know as the United States Colored
Troops.
All units were commanded by white officers.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/icws/images/colored.jpg
54th Massachusetts
African American men rushed to enlist. This
time they were accepted into all-black units.
The first of these was the 54th Massachusetts
Colored Regiment, led by Colonel Robert
Gould Shaw.
Colonel Shaw
http://www.nga.gov/feature/shaw/img-n/s110n.jpg
http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2005/11/12/1131802260_5982.jpg
The Fighting 54th
Their heroism in combat put to rest
worries over the willingness of black
soldiers to fight. Soon other regiments
were being formed.
http://www.yale.edu/glc/tangledroots/54th.jpg
http://blogstill.no.sapo.pt/glory08.jpg
Battle of Fort Wagner
& the 54th Massachusetts
The propaganda from the Battle of Fort Wagner was
enormous. The New York Tribune reported that the
battle would be to Black Americans what Bunker Hill
was to white Americans.
http://www.allenscreations.com/images/kr54miafw.jpg
http://imagesource.allposters.com/images/HAD/4051.jpg
Wagner Press Quotes
“Through the common smoke of that dark
night the manhood of the colored race
shines before many eyes that would not
see.” – Atlantic Monthly
The Boston Commonwealth….quoted a
white soldier at Wagner as saying, “we
don’t know any black men here, they’re all
soldiers.”
The Northern population that accepted
putting blacks into uniforms as a test,
now acknowledged that black men
could fight and kill like white men.
http://www.gallerychuma.com/images/j54thmass.jpg
DuBois on Irony
In 1935, historian W.E.B DuBois wrote about the
change that black soldiers wrought on white minds:
“How extraordinary…in the minds of most
people…only murder makes men. The
slave pleaded; he was humble; he
protected the women of the South, and the
world ignored him. The slave killed white
men; and behold, he was a man.”
Confederate
Congress
Black troops faced greater peril than white
troops when captured by the Confederate
Army.
In 1863, the Confederate Congress
threatened to punish severely officers of
black troops and to enslave black soldiers.
http://www.rebelclub.org.uk/images/Confederate%20Flag%20Normal%20jpeg.jpg
Fort Pillow
Massacre
Black captives were typically treated more
harshly than white captives. In perhaps the
most heinous known example of abuse,
Confederate soldiers shot to death black Union
soldiers captured at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
http://www.assumption.edu/users/mcclymer/His130/P-H/Pillow/pillow.jpg
Fort Pillow
In April 1864, General Nathan Forrest and his men
captured Fort Pillow in Jackson, Tennessee. The fort
contained 262 African American and 295 white
soldiers.
It was claimed later, that most of these soldiers were
killed after they surrendered.
General Nathan Forrest
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/Jefferson_Davis/Nathan_Bedford_Forrest_small.jpg
Ft. Pillow
Investigation
After the war, an official investigation
discovered evidence that “the Confederates
were guilty of atrocities which included
murdering most the garrison after it
surrendered, burying Negro soldiers alive,
and setting fire to tents containing Federal
wounded.”
A congressional committee verified that
more than 300 blacks, including women and
children, had been slain after the fort
surrendered.
Condemnation over
Ft. Pillow
Abraham Lincoln condemned the atrocity but
refused to agree to the demands of William
Seward (Secretary of War), that an equal
number of Confederate prisoners be
executed in an act of revenge.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/Antietam/abraham-lincoln-antietam_small1.jpg
Discrimination
Black soldiers faced discrimination as well as
segregation. The army was extremely
reluctant to commission black officers – only
one hundred gained commissions during the
war.
African Americans soldiers were also given
substandard supplies and rations.
Probably the worst form of discrimination
was the pay differential.
At the beginning of black enlistment, it was
assumed that blacks would be kept out of
direct combat, and the men were paid as
laborers rather than as soldiers.
Pay
Discrimination
Black soldiers received $7 per month, plus a $3
clothing allowance, while white soldiers received $13
per month, plus $3.50 for clothes.
Black troops strongly resisted this treatment.
The 54th Massachusetts Regiment served a year
without pay rather than accept the unfair wages.
Many blacks refused to enlist because of the
discriminatory pay.
http://www.negroartist.com/CIVIL%20WAR%20ERA%20AND%20POST%20ERA%20LEGENDS/pages/US%20PAYMASTER%20PAYING%20OFF%20PHALANX%20SOLDIERS_jpg.htm
Douglass meets with
Lincoln
1.
2.
3.
July 1863, Douglass shares 3 complaints with
President Lincoln.
Colored troops to be paid the same as white troops.
Colored troops be fairly treated, especially when
captured by the Confederates (some colored troops
had been summarily executed or sent into slavery.)
Colored troops should receive the same promotions
as whites, when their valor in battle demanded it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/104133078/
General Order 233
A few days later, President Lincoln issued General
Order 233, threatening reprisal on Confederate
prisoners of war for any mistreatment of black
troops.
This order stated:
“ that for every soldier of the United States killed in
violation of the laws of war, a rebel soldier shall be
executed; and for everyone enslaved by the enemy
or sold into slavery, a rebel soldier shall be placed at
hard labor on the public works.”
http://lonnpressnall.com/sitepictures/lincoln%20018.jpg
“ In his company I was never in any way
reminded of my humble origin [former
slave], or of my unpopular colour.”
– Frederick Douglass on his meeting with
President Abraham Lincoln.
http://www.mmscrusaders.com/zcivil/ashamb/images/douglass1.jpg