This War is About Slavery Forrest is quoted in a postwar interview with the Cincinnati Commercial, August 28, 1868, as saying, When I entered the army I took forty-seven Negroes into the Army with me, and forty-five of them were surrendered with me. I told these boys that this war was about slavery, and if we lose, you will be made free. If we whip the fight and you stay with me you will be made free. Either way, you will be freed. These boys stayed with me, drove my teams, and better confederates did not live. It may have been clear to Forrest that the war was about slavery, but it was not clear to many soldiers on both sides when the war started nor was it clear to the slaves or free men of color. Shortly after Louisianas secession, Governor Thomas Moore issued pleas for troops. In response to the governors request, a committee of ten prominent New Orleans free blacks called a meeting at the Catholic Institute on April 22. About two thousand people attended the meeting where muster lists were opened, with about 1,500 free blacks signing up. Governor Moore accepted the services of these men as part of the states militia. The new militia regiment was formed during May 1861, consisting mostly of free persons of color. While some members of the new regiment came from wealthy prominent free-black families, a majority of the men were clerks, artisans, and skilled laborers. These citizens of New Orleans were prepared to defend their city against attack by northern forces. On May 29, 1861, Governor Moore appointed three white officers as commanders of the regiment, and company commanders were appointed from among the free blacks of the regiment. The militia unit, called the Louisiana Native Guard, was the first of any in North America to have African-American officers. The Native Guards were volunteers, and supplied their own arms and uniforms. These were displayed in a grand review of troops in New Orleans on November 23, 1861, and again on January 8, 1862. The Louisiana State Legislature passed a law in January 1862 that reorganized the militia into only “...free white males capable of bearing arms… ”. The Native Guards regiment was affected by this law. It was forced to disband on February 15, 1862, when the new law took effect. They were temporarily reinstated when New Orleans was threatened and disbanded again on April 25, 1862 as Union forces approached the city which had been abandoned by Confederate forces. Although they had not seen action as Confederates, many members of the unit would join the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, and fight at the siege of Port Hudson in 1863 on the Union side. Although many slaves served as laborers, cooks, and teamsters with the Confederate Army or accompanied their masters to war, some decided to run away when faced with this choice. Andrew Jackson Smith, in Kentucky, was told by his master that he would take him along when he went to the Confederate Army, but instead, he ran away to the Union camp at Smithfield, Kentucky. After seeing action with the 41st Illinois Infantry at Shiloh, Smith would join the 55th Massachusetts Colored Infantry and fight in South Carolina where he earned the Medal of Honor. As the war continued it became clear to many slaves that their best chance for freedom was with the Union Army and many chose to run away to Union Lines where they were placed in contraband camps, like the one memorialized by Shiloh National Military Park in Corinth, Mississippi. In these camps they learned to read and write and become self-reliant. United States Colored units were also raised from these camps so that over 178,000 former slaves and freedmen eventually helped win the war for the Union. What had started as a war to restore the Union had become as Gen. Forrest recognized a war about slavery.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 14:00:01 +0000
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