Blacks Who Fought For the South
by Walter Williams
Most historical accounts portray Southern blacks as anxiously awaiting President
Abraham Lincoln's "liberty-dispensing troops" marching south in the War Between
the States. But there's more to the story; let's look at it.
Black Confederate military units, both
as freemen and slaves, fought federal troops. Louisiana free blacks gave their
reason for fighting in a letter written to New Orleans' Daily Delta: "The free
colored population love their home, their property, their own slaves and
recognize no other country than Louisiana, and are ready to shed their blood for
her defense. They have no sympathy for Abolitionism; no love for the North, but
they have plenty for Louisiana. They will fight for her in 1861 as they fought
in 1814-15." As to bravery, one black scolded the commanding general of the
state militia, saying, "Pardon me, general, but the only cowardly blood we have
got in our veins is the white blood."
Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest had slaves and freemen serving in units under his
command. After the war, Forrest said of the black men who served under him,
"These boys stayed with me.. - and better Confederates did not live." Articles
in "Black Southerners in Gray," edited by Richard Rollins, gives numerous
accounts of blacks serving as fighting men or servants in every battle from
Gettysburg to Vicksburg.
Professor Ed Smith, director of American Studies at American University, says
Stonewall Jackson had 3,000 fully equipped black troops scattered throughout his
corps at Antietam - the war's bloodiest battle. Mr. Smith calculates that
between 60,000 and 93,000 blacks served the Confederacy in some capacity. They
fought for the same reason they fought in previous wars and wars afterward: "to
position themselves. They had to prove they were patriots in the hope the future
would be better ... they hoped to be rewarded."
Many knew Lincoln had little love for enslaved blacks and didn't wage war
against the South for their benefit. Lincoln made that plain, saying, "I will
say, then, that I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any
way the social and political equality of the white and black races ... I am in
favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." The very
words of his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation revealed his deceit and cunning; it
freed those slaves held "within any State or designated part of a State the
people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States." It didn't
apply to slaves in West Virginia and areas and states not in rebellion. Like
Gen. Ulysses Grant's slaves, they had to wait for the 13th Amendment, Grant
explained why he didn't free his slaves earlier, saying, "Good help is so hard
to come by these days."
Lincoln waged war to "preserve the Union". The 1783 peace agreement with England
(Treaty of Paris] left 13 sovereign nations. They came together in 1787, as
principals, to create a federal government, as their agent, giving it specific
delegated authority -specified in our Constitution. Principals always retain the
right to fire their agent. The South acted on that right when it seceded. Its
firing on Fort Sumter, federal property, gave Lincoln the pretext needed for the
war.
The War Between the States, through force of arms, settled the question of
secession, enabling the federal government to run roughshod over states' rights
specified by the Constitution's 10th Amendment.
Sons of Confederate Veterans is a group
dedicated to giving a truer account of the War Between the States. I'd like to
see it erect on Richmond's Monument Avenue a statue of one of the thousands of
black Confederate soldiers.
For further reading on this subject
visit:
www.forrestsescort.org/
