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... bsp; It was evident to the Union that they would need more men to join the draft so they could fill the ranks, but the wives of these men did not want their husbands and boyfriends running off to war, just to be killed. President Lincoln realized that more men were needed, but in order to keep the issue of slavery out of the wa, r he did not want to use blacks as soldiers. The war began as an effort to save the Union, and that is how Lincoln wanted it to stay. On the morning of April 12, 1861 the Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, starting four years of bloody conflict. Many blacks were eager to wear the Union blue, but when they tried to enlist, they found that their services were not needed or wanted at this time, nor in the foreseeable future.
In the South most of the blacks living there were slaves, and wanted to fight for the Union cause "many slaves saw their way to freedom in the armies of the North. " During early stages of the war Northern blacks tried to enlist in the Army, they saw this as a way to fight to end slavery, but the Army rejected them. Many of the whites felt that this was a "white man's war, " still others felt that blacks could not fight as well as the white man. As the Union Army moved deeper into the South, slaves flocked into Union camps. The Union officers did not know what to do with these people. Eventually the Federal government decided to allow blacks to do various support duties for Northern war effort.
These jobs consisted of cooks, laborers, nurses, scouts, and spies, at one time there was as many as 200, 000 blacks working for the Union Armies. Frederick Douglass as well as many black leaders saw the Civil War as a road of emancipation for slaves. This idea of emancipation presented problems for the North, the Constitution recognized slavery, most of the whites who lived in the North, even though they were against slavery were convinced that blacks were inferior to them. Still many whites feared that if slaves were emancipated there would be a mass movement of blacks from the South into the North. Lincoln issued his preliminary order to free the slaves on September 22 nd, 1862. It said that all of the slaves in the states that rebelled against the Union would forever be free.
This did not include the border slave states that were loyal to the Union. It was on January 1, 1863 that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Which in turn brought about Lincoln's change in policy about using blacks in the service. Many whites believed that blacks would make poor soldiers, "They would run at the first sign of danger!" Eventually there would be about 180, 000 blacks serving in the Union Army, making up 163 regiments.
Still there would be many more who would serve in the Union Navy "about two-thirds of them were Southerners who had fled to freedom in the North. "Only about 100 blacks were made officers. " After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, the Civil War became a war to save the Union and more importantly to abolish slavery. " With the North's use of blacks as soldiers came Confederate objections, the South feared they would lose their slaves to the Union Armies. Therefore the slave owners put harsher restrictions on their slaves, and often moved their plantations further inland to avoid contact with the North. The Confederates threatened to kill any blacks that were captured fighting for the Union, Lincoln's reply was the promise of treating Confederate prisoners the same way, but neither side carried out those threats. Upon seeing the North's success using blacks as soldiers slowly led the South to consider doing the same. It was in 1865, that General Robert E.
Lee strongly demanded that the Confederate Congress approve the use of blacks soldiers, it narrowly passed. These blacks were promised that if they fought for the Confederate Army they would be free after the war, but by this time it was too late, the war was over shortly thereafter. The recruitment for black regiments started officially in September of 1862. The first black regiment to be formed was the 1 st Kansas Colored Volunteers in October of 1862, but perhaps the most famous of these black regiments was the 54 th Massachusetts. In the Boston Journal on February 16, 1863 there was a call for blacks soldiers, within five days 25 men had enlisted, and more were being recruited through black organizations in the Boston area. The 54 th was led by a white officer, which was the case in all black regiments, Col.
Robert Gould-Shaw had been appointed by Massachusetts Gov. Andrew to command the 54 th. The most widely known battle that was fought by the 54 th was the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina on July 18, 1863 (there was an Oscar-winning film of the same battle called Glory). The regiment volunteered to lead the assault of Fort Wagner, even though they knew this was a suicide mission from the start. They felt that if they had any success, and defeated the odds, all doubts of the black soldiers not being able to fight would disappear "To this Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth was set the stupendous task to convince the white race that colored troops would fight, and not only would fight, but they could be made, in every sense of the word, soldiers. "You " re success hangs on the general success.
If the Union lives, it will live with equal races. If divided, and you have done your duty, then you " ll stand upon the same platform with the white race. Then make use of the offers Government has made you for if you are not willing to fight your way up to office, you are not worthy of it. " The soldiers of the 54 th scaled the Fort's parapet, only to be driven back after brutal hand- to-hand combat. On the Confederate side there was 181 casualties, and on the Union side there were 1, 515 mostly black soldiers. Along with them was Col. Robert Gould Shaw.
There is a monument dedicated to Shaw and 54 th in Boston, it was erected on May 31, 1897. The year 1864 was especially eventful for colored troops. At Fort Pillow, Tennessee on April 12, Confederate General Forest led 2, 500 men against the Union held F...
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