19) Life at the contraband camps was very harsh for the families of soldiers. Yeatman: "The poor negroes are everywhere greatly depressed at their condition. They all testify that if they were only paid their little wages as they earn them, so they could purchase clothing, and were furnished with the provisions promised, they could stand it; but to work and get poorly paid, poorly fed, and not doctored when sick, is more than they can endure. Among the thousands whom I questioned, none showed the least unwillingness to work. If they could only be paid fair wages, they would be contented and happy. They do not realize that they are taken and hired out to men who treat them, so far as providing for them is concerned, far worse than their "secesh" masters did. Besides this they feel that their pay or hire is lower now than it was when the "secesh" used to hire them. This is true."
20) In wartime Missouri, no matter what Congress says, there were no guarantees for former slaves. "...Every day blacks and colored people of all shades--men, women, and children--are thrown into it, who had believed in the gospel of liberty...We spoke to an old soldier of the Twelfth Regiment [Colored Troops], who had carried a musket in the service of liberty since the commencement of the war...A negro who has gone through all the toils of the Twelfth Regiment for two years is now a fugitive slave in the jail, caught on Lincoln's slave-hunting ground in Missouri......who has given our Provost-Marshal-General Broadhead authority to recall and declare null and void the free papers which have been given by his predecessors or by former commanders of this department to the slaves of rebel masters? Does a slave become a free man by a certificate of liberty, duly made out by competent authority, or is such a certificate of liberty a mere piece of paper, which may be torn up at pleasure? [--Spirit of the German Press, The Westliche Post. Article in Official Records, Maj. Gen. J. M. Schofield, dated Saint Louis, September 20, 1863]
21) The highest ranking black was Martin R. Delaney, commissioned a Major and "graduate of the Harvard Medical School and the first Negro field officer to serve in the Civil War." He served in the 104th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops. [The New York Times, Mar.1, 1865]
22) Lincoln University of Missouri (Jefferson City) was founded in 1866 by officers and men of the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Troops.
The following facts on U.S. Colored Troops was authored by the National Archives:
1) "179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy."
2) "Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war—30,000 of infection or disease"
3) In 1863 the Confederate Congress threatened to punish severely officers of black troops and to enslave black soldiers. As a result, President Lincoln issued General Order 233, threatening reprisal on Confederate prisoners of war (POWs) for any mistreatment of black troops. Although the threat generally restrained the Confederates, black captives were typically treated more harshly than white captives..
4) Black soldiers were initially paid $10 per month from which $3 was automatically deducted for clothing, resulting in a net pay of $7. In contrast, white soldiers received $13 per month from which no clothing allowance was drawn.
5) In June 1864 Congress granted equal pay to the U.S. Colored Troops and made the action retroactive. Black soldiers received the same rations and supplies. In addition, they received comparable medical care.
6) Black soldiers served in artillery and infantry and performed all non-combat support functions that sustain an army, as well. Black carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters also contributed to the war cause.
6) Because of prejudice against them, black units were not used in combat as extensively as they might have been. Nevertheless, the soldiers served with distinction in a number of battles. Black infantrymen fought gallantly at Milliken's Bend, LA; Port Hudson, LA; Petersburg, VA; Nashville, TN" (and the assault on Fort Wagner, SC by the 54th Massachusetts.)
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Regards Ann |
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