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The Afro-Americans and The Civil War By 'No officer in this regiment now doubts that the key to the successful prosecution of this war lies in the unlimited employment of black troops. Their superiority lies simply in the fact that they know the country, while white troops do not, and, moreover, that they have peculiarities of temperament, position, and motive which belong to them alone. Instead of leaving their homes and families to fight they are fighting for their homes and families, and they show the resolution and sagacity which a personal purpose gives. It would have been madness to attempt, with the bravest white troops what I have successfully accomplished with the black ones. Everything, even to the piloting of the vessels and the selection of the proper points for cannonading, was done by my own THE FIRST BLACK SOLDIERS (Extracted from 'Army Life in a Black Regiment' - Higginson.
Published: Fields, Osgood and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1870. ) It had become a Nation divided, friend against friend, and brother against brother, it was a Civil War. Many people lost their lives during this war, some unnecessarily. With Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation came the hope of freedom for slaves. The only thing that Lincoln did not count on was how long the war would last. If he had foreseen this, he would have enlisted the aid of blacks as soldiers sooner than he did. This would have saved many lives that were lost, and might have ended the war sooner.
On January 1, 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation was heading into the third year of America's bloodiest battle - the Civil War. This proclamation declared "all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free. " Yet despite the way the Emancipation Proclamation was worded, it was limited in many ways. The Proclamation only applied to those states that had seceded from the Union, thereby leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also exempted some parts of the Confederate states that had already been seized by the North. Most importantly, the freedom it had promised depended upon the Union's military victory in the war.
The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, and it basically transformed the war into one of slavery. Every step the Union Army took toward the South expanded the area of freedom. The Proclamation also provided the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, thereby letting those who were liberated to become liberators. Almost 200, 000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and their freedom by the end of the war. From the beginning of the Civil War, the slaves had acted to secure their own freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation made the blacks realize that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom.
This added a moral force to the Union cause that strengthened the Union, both militarily and politically. This document was a milestone on the road to slavery's final destruction. When we see the words or read about the Colored Troops of the United States, we have to ask ourselves: Who were these people? Where did they come from? What role did these people play in reshaping the socio-political and military structures of the United States of America?
The start of the Civil War began in South Carolina on April 12, 1861, at a place called Fort Sumter, but even before tha, t there were seven states in the deep South that had seceded from the Union. A convention was held in Montgomery, Alabama, where Jefferson Davis was elected and a Constitution was written for the Confederate states of America. Soon four more states seceded, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The slave states that remained loyal to the Union were Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware. Lincoln thinking that this was going to be a minor insurrection, prepared to put a quick end to this by blockading Confederate ports and calling for 75, 000 volunteers. Thousands of men flocked to the federal recruitment centers in the North as well as in South.
Among these were thousands of free blacks in the North and newly escaped slaves in the South. When the blacks went to enlist, they were told that this was a "white man's war, " and their services were not needed. Gov. David Tod of Ohio received a request to let blacks enlist but he rejected the idea stating that "this is a white man's government; that white men are able to defend protect it...
when we want you colored men we will notify you. " As both sides developed their war strategies, and the battle lines were drawn in late 1861 and early 1862, President Lincoln along with the War Department came to their realization that the Confederate forces had been underestimated in their strength. There were heavy casualties suffered on both sides, with the Confederates being the victors in many campaigns, but even then they refused to allow the blacks to fight. In 1862, February 21 st the Confederates carved another victory at Valerie, New Mexico. This was followed by a near defeat of the Union forces at Shiloh Church (April 6) and Pittsburgh Landing, Tennessee (April 7) led by General Ulysses S.
Grant. Each side suffered 10, 000 casualties. Then on May 8 at Antietam in the Shenandoah Valley, came the defeat of the Union forces, the single most bloodiest day of the war. Both sides fought to a standstill 6, 000 men were killed and 17, 000 wounded. There were many other battles during this time where both the North and South claimed victory, and suffered heavy losses. President Lincoln still refused to change his policy of enlisting the black man.
He was still trying to save and preserve the Union without the issue of slavery coming up. He did not want to alienate the border slave states that stayed with the Union, for fear they would secede. There were some military commanders who went against this policy, and used the available force they had at hand. In Cincinnati, Ohio the first organization of blacks took place. The Black Bureau was organized, but due to the attitudes of white citizens they were forced to disband shortly afterwards. The owner of...
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Research essay sample on States Of America Emancipation Proclamation
