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