My civil war essay

Labriah Morgan 3/10/09



Blacks in the civil war



Since slaves were not classified as humans they weren’t believed to play a big role in a play called the civil war. Little did whites at the time know blacks would have one of the most important roles.

The civil war can be named as one of the most important wars America has ever experienced It’s actually the reason why states from the north and states from the south can still call themselves Americans. Slaves were the main reason for this war. The civil war was about the south splitting up from the nation because they didn’t want to abide by the rules so the war took affect to change their minds. Originally northerners didn’t care about slavery. This negligence was due to the southern myth. It wasn’t until the release of book by Harry Peacher Stowe named Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which brought the North to the realization of how harsh slavery really was. This one book caused a numerous amount of controversy between the north and south. All of the conflicts made the south want to part from the union. Before the election of 1860, it was all talk. After president Lincoln was elected secession spread all over the south. Lincoln tried to keep the nation together but his actions had very little effect on the situation. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina parted from the union. Over the next couple of weeks six more southern states parted from the nation. The states came together and called themselves the confederate states of America with Jefferson Davis as their president. Even though slaves had a part in separating the states, they also had a big part in the resolution.
When the war started blacks felt that they had to do their part by fighting for the union. Blacks didn’t know that they would be denied the opportunity to fight in the war. Lincoln’s administration wrestled with the idea of blacks fighting in the war. People didn’t think they were worthy the honor of fighting for the country. Though the administration didn’t approve of colored soldiers, some people of higher power like generals JohnC.Fremont and David Hunter emancipated slaves that were in a military region and gave them the opportunity to fight in the war.
On January1, 1863, all slaves were considered free. Most of them went to join the union soldiers. Even before the emancipation proclamation, Blacks fought in the war. After congress allowed blacks to fight, slaves from the south would escape to join the union. When union soldiers were sighted marching past, slaves would run and hide in the lines of soldiers. If any runaway slaves were reported or caught, they were severely punished, often by death. Originally president Lincoln wasn’t going to emancipate the slaves Even though he was opposed to slavery. It wasn’t in his interest to rescue or abolish slavery. His only interest was in saving the union. Later in the war Lincoln came to the realization that freeing the slaves made perfect sense in the struggle of saving the union. He figured it would win support in Europe and link the war to moral causes in the north. He also found that the south would lose most of their work force if slaves were freed. So it was basically a win, win situation. A few days after the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the civil war, the president warned the south that they had until January I, 1863 to rejoin the union. If they refused the slaves would be free.
In 1861 congress authorized African American recruitment. The following year the war department issued a general order that authorized the organization of colored troops. One of the most famous units was the 54th Massachusetts regiment. There was a lot of controversy against black soldiers at this time. The 54th Massachusetts played a critical role in gaining acceptance for black soldiers. On July18, 1863 they invaded the confederate defenses. Though they lost the battle and 40 percent of their men died at the failed attempt, they were recognized for it. They were believed to have saved 200,000 white men. If they didn’t take on the actions they did those white men would not have even made it to the field. Even after these actions, they still faced racism and hostility. One problem was unequal pay. White soldiers were paid 13 dollars a month while blacks were paid only 10 dollars a month. They weren’t even paid as soldiers they were paid as laborers. Somme regiments were protestant by not accepting pay at all while others protested by not fighting in the war. The consequences of these actions were inflicted upon the leaders of the protesting soldiers. Sergeant William Walker was charged with mutiny and executed by a firing squad. In June of 1864 congress equally paid black and white soldiers. They even got all of the back pay. Unequal pay was only one of the challenges blacks faced in the civil war. Other dilemmas include being assigned menial tasks, given poor weapons to fight, poor battle training, and when black soldiers were captured they were often enslaved or executed rather than imprison like white soldiers.