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Black Confederate

Soldiers

This page is part of The Confederate Infantry Private Website

INTRODUCTION

INDIVIDUAL AFRICAN-CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS

TALES OF COMBAT

AFRICAN-CONFEDERATE UNITS

RESOURCES ON AFRICAN-CONFEDERATE HERITAGE

FOOTNOTES FOR THIS PAGE
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Introduction

There were Black Confederate soldiers. This is a fact, not fiction. Conservative estimates state that over 50,000 African-Confederates served in the Confederate Army. Many of these men saw combat and participated in it. Some died.

Although the Confederate Congress did not authorize Colored Units in the Confederate Army until 1865, when it was too late, there were many unofficial soldiers overlooked by officers who were desperate to fill the ranks so quickly dwindling. Also, many individual Southern states authorized colored militia units. For example, Alabama in 1862.

Some would ask, "Why would they serve; why would they fight?" They served and fought for the same reasons as their white counterparts. They felt that the South was their home, too. Whether slave or free, each had a stake in the society and each had a home they felt endeared to. For example, many Charleston negroes actually cheered at the possibility that they would be able to shoot Yankees shortly after the outbreak of War. (1)

African-Confederates not only offered their services as soldiers but also as laborers. Many colored communities took up collections for the Confederate War Effort. Even individual negroes, both free and slave, contributed their money for the Confederate Government.

The African-Confederate went to War for the South as body servants, teamsters, laborers, and even soldiers. Many saw action. Some were wounded and some were killed in defense of the South. Most were loyal and cared for their master with whom they went to war. Many cases tell of a body servant removing a wounded soldier to the surgeon or taking the body of a fallen soldier home for proper burial.

Their efforts remain largely forgotten as it does not fit into the well defined roles of the different races. It also causes the mold of the North as liberator and the South as an enslaver to crack just a little.

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Individual African-Confederate

Soldiers

(Partial List)

James Russell (2)

Free man of color, Cook for Company C, 24th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry

Killed in action at Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863

Louis Napoleon Nelson (3)

Free man of color, Private, 7th Tennessee Cavalry (under General Forrest).

Fought at Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Brice's Crossing, and Vicksburg.

Survived the war.

Charles F. Lutz (4)

Free man of color, Private, Company F, 8th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry

Fought in the Shenandoah Valley (under Stonewall Jackson, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

Captured and paroled twice; never betraying the Confederacy.

Survived the War

John Wilson Buckner (5)

Free man of color, Private, 1st South Carolina Artillery

Wounded on July 12, 1863 defending Battery Wagner against the 54th Mass. Infantry.

James Young (6)

Status Unknown, Private, Company K, 29th Alabama Infantry.

Survived the War.

Jean Baptiste Pierre-Auguste (7)

Free man of color, Private, Company I, 29th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry.

Defended Vicksburg, returned home after its fall, then returned to duty during the summer months of 1864 for the rest of the War.

Survived the War.

William Colen Revels (

Status unknown, Private, 21st North Carolina Infantry.

Wounded at Winchester and Gettysburg.

Survival of War Unknown.

Silas Chandler (9)

Former Slave and Free Man of Color , Body Servant, 44th Mississippi Infantry.

Survived the War.

Eli Dempsey (10)

Status Unknown, Private, 1st North Carolina Artillery

POW 1862-1864.

Survived the War.

John Parker (11)

Slave, Private, Artilleryman at the Battle of 1st Manassas.

Pressed into service at the battle.

Survived the War.



More at this site
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/1163/black.html

Glad the internet is a place to gain and share information. As we know in America there was a time where our country had great internal problems where we had to fight our fellow citizen for the fate of our present day nation. There was many interest at play in this war but this war had to grip with the question of the institution of slavery. It started in April 12, 1861 and ended in 1865. This war divided our country literally in half with the South with the Confederate and the North with the Union.

There is plenty of material if that's what you want but I wish to highlight something that has bubbled up in many civil war circle. Black confederates. Of course the Confederate surrendered meaning the South and it ideology went with it, but there a saying "The South shall rise again", will these black Conderates rise again to tell their story.

My question is who should celebrate these soldiers. Should the winners make history and the loser just fade away. Should these "loser" fade away or should their be honor in their name and cause. They fought equally hard to defend a life that they knew. Should they be penalized for their belief. They are part of the history of a country still patching together its beginnings and pending its future.

[Macunaima]

Ever see "Ride with the Devil?"

Excellent film which really does a good job of showing some of the complexities behind african-american particiaption in the CSA's armies.
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