Реферат: From Oppressed Slaves To Champion Soldiers Essay

would lose their lives. As the war progressed, the death toll drastically increased. At

the close of the year 1862, the military situation was discouraging to the supporters of

the Federal Government. We had been repulsed at Fredericksburg and at Vicksburg, and

at tremendous cost had fought the battle of Stone River. Some sixty-five thousand

troops would be discharged during the ensuing summer and fall. Volunteering was at a

standstill. On the other hand, the Confederates, having filled their ranks, were never

better fitted for conflict. Politically, the opposition had grown formidable, while the

so-called “peace-faction” was strong, and active for meditation. (Emilio 1). It was

evident that more and more men would have to join the draft. But the wives of these

soldiers did not want their husbands running off to war, just to be killed. More soldiers

were need. Lincoln realized this, but did not want to use black soldiers because he did

not want to bring the issue of slavery into the war. The war had began as an effort to

save the union, and that is how Lincoln wanted to keep it.

When the Confederate batteries fired on Fort Sumter early on the morning of April 12,

1861, inaugurating four years of internecine warfare, many Negroes were eager to wear

the Union blue. They found their services were neither wanted at that time nor

contemplated in the future. (Leckie 3). At this time, most of the blacks living in the

South were slaves and wanted to fight for the Union cause. “Many slaves saw their

way to freedom in the armies of the North” (Long 26). Early in the war, Northern blacks

who wanted to fight to end slavery tried to enlist in the Union Army. But the Army

rejected them. Most whites felt the war was a “white man’s war.” Others felt that the

blacks were not able to fight as well as the white soldiers. As Northern armies drove

into Confederate territory, slaves flocked to Union camps. After a period of uncertainty,

the Union government decided to allow them to perform support services for the

Northern war effort. In time, as many as 200,000 blacks worked for Union armies as

cooks, laborers, nurses, scouts, and spies. Black leaders, such as the former slave

Frederick Douglass of New York, saw the Civil War as a road to emancipation for the

slaves. However, the idea of emancipation presented problems in the North. For one

thing, the Constitution recognized slavery. In addition, most Northerners – even though