Реферат: From Oppressed Slaves To Champion Soldiers Essay
Public Library 1) .
The Confederate government threatened to kill or enslave any captured officers or
enlisted men of black regiments. Lincoln replied by promising to treat Confederate
prisoners of war the same way. Neither side carried out its threats, but the exchange
of prisoners broke down mainly over the issue of black prisoners.
The North’s success in using black soldiers slowly led Southerners to consider doing the
same. In the spring of 1865 following a strong demand by General Lee, the Confederate
Congress narrowly approved the use of black soldiers. However, the war ended soon
thereafter.
Official Recruiting for black regiments started in September of 1862. “In consequence to
the situation, the arming of Negroes, first determined upon in October, 1862, was fully
adopted as a military measure” (Emilio 1). Although this allowed blacks to enlist in the
army, many viewed this as only a scheme to save lives of white soldiers. The blacks
were not allowed to fight until needed. They were offered the same rights as the white
soldiers, but discrimination always interfered. Most black soldiers did not receive equal
pay and benefits.
The hesitating policy of our government permitted the Rebels to confront every black
soldier with the threat of death or slavery if he were taken prisoner. If he escaped the
bullet and the knife, he came back to camp to learn that the country for which he had
braved that double peril intended to cheat him out of pay on which his wife and
children depended for support. (Emilio 18). Even whites who supported the idea of
blacks in army were harassed. While recruiting, Lieutenant Grace was often insulted by
such remarks as, “There goes the captain of the Negro Company! He thinks the Negroes
can fight! They will turn and run at the first sight of the enemy! His little son was
scoffed at in school because his father was raising a Negro Company to fight the white
men. (Emilio 10).
The decision to use the blacks as soldiers was by no means universally popular and was
also selfishly motivated. The decision to use the Negro as a soldier did not necessarily
grow out of any broad humanitarian resolve it seems to have come more largely out of