After the war, Miller received a full pension from Virginia as a Confederate veteran. Upon his death in 1921, the Evening Star published a front-page obituary (Jordan, 1995). This show of patriotism to the Confederate States of America, and the many other accounts listed in the essay “Valor of Black Confederates,” contradicts the theory that blacks “were forced to serve.”

Here is just one more example of Dick Poplar who joined the confederate fighting units as a cook and was captured at Gettysburg and sent to Point Lookout Prison, which was noted for its cruelty towards Negroes. He was put under special pressure to take the oath of Allegiance to the US but he repeatedly refused declaring himself a “Jeff Davis Man.” He remained a prisoner until the end of the war, after returning home became a celebrated and prosperous local figure in the community.

How are these blacks victims? How were they “forced” to fight for the South? Imagine a soldier who was forced to fight and was captured by the opposing forces-- under what circumstances would that soldier escape from the “liberators” and make his way back through two lines of armed soldiers, ready to fire at a moment’s notice? To escape back to the very forces who had forced him to fight in the first place? Perhaps to see his wife or children? Yet in many cases, black Confederates did not return south to see their family—they returned to their master, or to their army unit. This does not strike the modern reader as the action of someone who has been forced to fight—unless those soldiers underwent considerable change of mind during their service. However, it is also true that thousands of slaves escaped to northern territories with their families to find Freedom and to fight for the Union Army.

Shown below is the 1890 Alabama Confederate Veterans Reunion. In this photo there are more than 40 black Southern men present. Were they forced to attend?

Black regiments were used and recruited long before the official position of Confederate Congress gave their approval. Many Soldiers like General Nathan Forest had body servants, both Slaves and free men who served under his command at the beginning of the War 1861 and was loyal to the very end, surrendered with him at Gainesville, Alabama. His personal escort company has been rated as the best military fighting force in the war. It had 105 members. Two members of his escort were black. One died fighting and the other received pensions after the war, as did many of the wagon unit. They were also welcomed

at reunions after the war.

Yes, There was opposition within the Confederacy on NOT allowing black Slaves to join ranks due to the mixed opinion in Congress that it was against what the South stood for…. was preserving their southern heritage and possibility insulting their fighting men. However, If releasing the slaves were the only means of preserving the Confederacy and remaining independent, it was worth that sacrifice.

· By September 1864, the Governor of Louisiana told Confederate Secretary of State Seddon that the time had come to raise Negro regiments: “Free all able to bear arms, and put them into the field at once.”

· In 1864, President Jefferson Davis approved a plan that proposed the emancipation of slaves, in return for the official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. France showed interest but Britain refused.

· In March 1865, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary Of State, promised freedom for blacks that served from the State of Virginia. Authority for this was finally received from the State of Virginia and on April 1st 1865, $100 bounties were offered to black soldiers. He exclaimed, “Let us say to every Negro who wants to go into the ranks, go and fight, and you are free…Fight for your masters and you shall have your freedom.” Confederate Officers were ordered to treat them humanely and protect them from "injustice and oppression".

The National Park Service has recognized that blacks were asked to help defend the city of Petersburg, Virginia and were offered their freedom if they did so. Eighty-three percent of Richmond's male slave population volunteered for duty in the Confederate States Colored Troops. Before Richmond fell, black Confederates in gray uniforms drilled in the streets, but only some saw action before the war ended.

· By March 1865, General Robert E. Lee, keenly aware of the terrible deterioration of his troops and lack of replacements, strongly urged Black recruitments. He stated, “I think the measure not only important but necessary.”

During the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913, arrangements were made for a joint reunion of Union and Confederate veterans. The commission in charge of the event made sure they had enough accommodations for the black Union veterans, but were completely surprised when unexpected black Confederates arrived. The white Confederates immediately welcomed their old comrades, gave them one of their tents, and “saw to their every need”. Nearly every Confederate reunion including those blacks that served with them, wearing the gray.

From the very beginning of the Civil War, African American men sought to enlist in the Union Army. Their requests were denied. This was a "white man's war," they were told, being fought to preserve the Union. Blacks knew better. The "Negro is the . . . pivot upon which the whole rebellion turns," said Frederick Douglass. Finally with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the demand for new recruits outstripping supply, the Lincoln administration agreed to enlist black men. Only white men, however, could serve as officers.

In Spring of 1861, the Governor of Louisiana organized a militia of military men of (colored) known as the ‘Native Guard’ who were in the service of the Confederate States offered their services as escorts for prisoners of war which was declined but thanked for their promptness to the call. Later when the city was in peril against Yankee conquest, it was called upon again but to maintain their organization, hold their position and be prepared for orders transmitted to them. However, these orders were never transmitted and not seen any action in her defense. While the white confederate forces withdrew, the free colored men had remained in the city, feeling left out and shabbily treated.

Under these circumstances, they were then willing to respond when Union General Butler invitation to enlisted colored into the service of the United States was offered.

On September 27th 1862, over a 1000 Colored men were mustered into the service of the Union forces, for whatever reason and a strong desire to fight. These colored men both free and slave responded in great numbers. No explanation is necessary for the eagerness of these fugitives to enlist. General Phelps told General Butler, “They were willing to submit to anything rather than slavery”. As for the former colored men who had been enrolled to fight for the South, there is evidence they were motivated in part by treatment they had received at the hands of their white neighbors before becoming Yankees.

One of the Federal Officers remarked, “You would be surprised at the progress the blacks made in drill and in all duties of the soldier. I find them better disposed to learn, and more orderly and cleanly, both in their persons and quarters, than the whites. Their fighting qualities, he admitted have not been tested in a large scale but I am satisfied that, knowing as they do that they will receive no quarter at the hands of the rebels, they will fight to the death.”

Early in 1863, the abolitionist governor of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, requested permission from the War Department to form a regiment of black soldiers. Barracks were built at Camp Meigs in Readville (the Hyde Park section of present-day Boston), and recruitment began.

The enthusiasm of Bay State blacks was tempered by their exclusion from the officers' corps. The governor assured them that African American soldiers would be treated equally; they would receive the same pay and the same benefits as white recruits. Still, there was hesitation. Of the 1,007 men who enlisted, only 133 were from Massachusetts. Of these, 27 were from Boston, 39 from the whaling port of New Bedford, and 33 from Berkshire County, where a black Congregationalist minister was an active recruiter.

Every effort was made to accept only the healthiest volunteers; approximately a third of the men who responded to the call were turned away. In selecting the white officers, Governor Andrews looked for "young men of military experience, of firm Anti-Slavery principles, ambitious, superior to a vulgar contempt for color; and have faith in the capacity of Colored men for military service." The governor asked Robert Gould Shaw, the only son of one of Boston's leading abolitionist families, to assume command of the regiment.

(A caption Picture of The Famous 54^th Regiment – First Colored regiment from Boston)

The stakes were high. The Confederacy had announced that any black that was captured fighting for the Union would be enslaved. (In fact, some were summarily executed.)

But by the middle of May 1863, over a thousand black men from 24 states —15 northern, five southern, and four border states — had been accepted into the Massachusetts 54^th. About a quarter of the regiment was made up of farmers, another third, laborers. There were barbers and seamen, waiters and teamsters, cabinetmakers, a dentist, and a druggist. Fathers enlisted with sons, and brothers signed on together — among them two of Frederick Douglass's sons.

(The 54^th Mass. Regiment Memorial with Robert Shaw leading the precession into Heavens Gates)

What did  [13^th Amendment] (Lincoln’s) emancipation accomplish for the black man?

It is commonly believed that Lincoln freed enslaved Americans when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the document actually frees slaves only in states and regions under rebellion - it did not free slaves in any of the slaveholding states and regions that remained in the Union Such as Delaware, Maryland and a few other Union States. In other words, Lincoln "freed" slaves everywhere he had no authority and withheld freedom everywhere he did.

Earlier, in Lincoln's first Inaugural address in March of 1861, he promised slaveholders that he would support a Constitutional amendment forever protecting slavery in the states where it then existed - if only those states would remain in the Union. The Corwin Amendment - Article 13 “NO AMENDMENT SHALL BE MADE TO THE CONSTITUTION WHICH WILL AUTHORIZE OR GIVE TO CONGRESS THE POWER TO ABOLISH OR INTERFERE, WITHIN ANY STATE, WITH THE DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS THEREOF, INCLUDING THAT OF PERSONS HELD TO LABOR OR SERVICE BY THE LAWS OF SAID STATES.” (United States Statues at Large, 36 Congress, 2^nd Session 1861 -Congress adopted this proposal March 2, 1861)

This Corwin amendment and the 13^th Amendment were the only proposed amendments ever signed by the President and Former President James Buchanan also signed the Corwin amendment just 2 days before leaving office for Abraham Lincoln.

The Emancipation Proclamation was a war measure aimed only at freeing slaves in southern territory that came under union military control AFTER January 1, 1963. The Real 13^th Amendment abolishing slavery PASSED the senate easily in April 1864, but was defeated 95 to 66 the first time it went before the House of Representatives in June. It took the House 6 more months before it reconsidered the amendment and adopted it 119 to 56 on January 31, 1865. President Lincoln put his signature on the Anti-Slavery 13^th Amendment on February 1, 1865. He was murdered 2 months later. On December 6, the Real 13^th Amendment received enough ratification to become Law.

· By 1866, Congress passed the 14^th Amendment, which was designed to ensure those rights guaranteed blacks under the Civil Rights as American Citizens but not the right to vote in all states.

· By 1867, the new laws required the southern states to ratify the 14^th Amendment and to guarantee blacks the right to vote. The campaign for state ratification of the 15^th Amendment was successful and became the law of the land.

· By 1868-1870, the Southern States were readmitted to the Union and large numbers of blacks were elected to state legislatures. Blacks also won seats in Congress.

· By 1870, President Grant declared the 15^th Amendment had been adopted, which guaranteed all citizens the right to vote regardless of race.

· By 1875, Former President Douglas was a foremost spokesman for black Americans, and helped civil rights bill that gave blacks the right to equal treatment in public places.

What did the 14 & 15 Amendment provide for free blacks?

The 14^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868) Passed by Congress June 13, 1866 and ratified July 9, 1868, the 14^th amendment extended the Liberties and rights granted by the bill of rights to former Slaves.  The Major provision was to grant Citizenship to all persons born or Naturalized in the United States, thereby granting citizenship to former slaves. Another Important provision was the statement that “ nor shall any state deprive any person of live, Liberty, or Property without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The right to due process of law and equal protection of the law now applied to both the Federal and State Governments.

The 15^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870) Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, this granted African American men the right to vote. This supposedly signified the fulfillment of all promises by the 14^th amendment to black Americans.

Consequently, the 14^th amendment failed to extend to the Bill of Rights to the states; It also failed to Protect the rights of Black Citizens. However, the One legacy of Reconstruction was the determined struggle of Black and White citizens to make the promise of the 14^th amendment a reality. While the citizens did not succeed in empowering the 14^th amendment during the Reconstruction, they effectively articulated the arguments and offered opinions that would be the basis for change in the 20^th century.

Closing Statement:

This American War was fought for many reasons and ideals ….. but we know that these Men went off to War to protect their families and homes which so many did not return home but will not be forgotten.

Stone Mountain is the largest Confederate Monument dedicated to the memory of ALL SOLDIERS who served the Confederacy with honor.

Let Us remember their Courage, by honoring their memory and acknowledge their Sacrifice.