1. We know that 750,000 men served in the Confederate armed forces.
We know that United States Army Surgeon Dr. Lewis Steiner observed
Jackson's ANV Corps march through Frederick, Maryland in 1862, and he
stated that "Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number.
These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or
captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons,
State buttons, etc. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets,
sabers, bowie knives, dirks, etc. ... and were manifestly an integral
portion of the Southern Confederate Army." Steiner's testimony is in
the Official Record of the War of the Rebellion. If the
black proportion of Jackson's Corps was the same in all CSA forces,
there would easily have been 90,000 or more black Confederates.
2. Another estimate resulting in 90,000 Black Confederates is based
on the Southern States pension applications. In Tennessee, nearly
300 "Colored Man's Pensions" were issued for Confederate Army
service. The restrictions were such that for 300 men to receive
these pensions in the 1920s, far far more than 300 must have served
in Tennessee Confederate forces in the War. Not all men who served
in the War were even alive in the 1920s, not all were still in
Tennessee, not all could find two members of their unit to vouch for
their service 60 years earlier, etc. Extrapolations using reasonable
parameters tell us that some 6000 or 8000 black Tennesseans must have
served, in order for 300 to qualify for the pensions in the 1920s.
With 13 Southern states, the 90,000 figure looks reasonable. South
Carolina has published a book listing each of the nearly 300 blacks
in that state who received similar pensions at about the same time.
There is a predictable course that doubters take once the evidence of
black Confederates is presented.
1. At first they deny the possibility, then
2. they dispute the evidence, and then next
3. they argue that the black Confederates were not "real soldiers," then
4. they argue that the blacks were forced to serve.
Each of these points is easily countered by contemporary testimony,
most of which is found in the United States Official Records of the
War of the Rebellion.
Blacks have served in every American war. Five thousand blacks,
slave and free, served in Washington's Army in the First American
Revolution. The British offered immediate emancipation to American
black slaves in return for changing sides, but few did. As Dr.
Edward Smith of American University states, if we are not surprised
that blacks served with General Washington, why would we be surprised
to learn that they served with General Lee?
I served with blacks in the U.S. Marines 1972 to 1975. Why did they
serve? Why did I serve? Were they forced? Was I forced? The
answers vary some, but are little different, black or white, or from
war to war.
I have put some of my writing on these topics at
www.rebelgray.com/BLACKREBS.htm .
1. Did Black Confederates serve as combatants in the War for
Southern Independence?
2. How did Black Southerners respond when war was declared?
3. Did Blacks serve in the Confederate army as soldiers?
4. Were Blacks forced to fight for the South?
5. Why Blacks fought for the Confederate States of America
6. The Valor of Black Confederates
7. Twelve Reasons we don't want to believe in Black Confederates
And also at
www.rebelgray.com/slavery02.htm :
Why Americans Want to Believe the Civil War Was Fought To Free The
Slaves.
Vernon R. Padgett, Ph.D.
