African Americans in the Civil War

Roman Robinson Kristen Anderson HIST 3060 February 25, 13 African the Statesns and the well-bred take the fieldfare The office African Americans compete in the outcome, and the road to the outcome of the Civil War was im mense. The fact that the due southwestern had slaves and the north did non played an enormous region in the issues. The north wanted to abolish slaveholding, and the south did not and later the war started this became atomic number 53 of the main reasons for the Civil War. Since most African Americans could not read or write, this do them an easy target, for slavery, against the dominant sinlessness man.Once the slaves got to America they started to realize how much trouble they were actu each(prenominal)y in. The north and the south had a problem brewing, and that was due to the slave uprisings and the assort a ways. African Americans played an enormous role in the outcome of the Civil War because of the part they took in it. The civil war, which took place from 1861 to the 1920s, the African American community do tremendous strides toward them becoming apart of America and equals in America. Since they had been controlled by the violence of the whites for so long, their independence was extremely unfamiliar to them, with their new freedom.Since they were so uncertain, they debated astir(predicate) the most effect way to go about actually receiving the rights they deserved. They did not just want to be inferior Negros. Some African Americans theory the actual approach would be to go along with the submissive term the whites held them to, so they could earn their respect until fairness pervaded. Others were more than wishful with their persuasion and thought the military would make whites kick and give blacks their basic rights. Those who were even so they are thought that no progress would ever come.These blacks subsided that it was infixed to escape the shackles and cruel attitudes toward blacks. The civil war initi ally began to save the Union. At the start of the war slave masters were terribly scared that the slaves would run to join the Union and military service the war efforts. To subsidize the problem, most possessor enforced harsh restrictions on their slaves. Some owners even moved their satisfying plantations inland to avoid any contact with the outside northerners. This did not parry the slaves one bit though, this just caused more slave to flee to the north. The slaves that did decide to stay just demanded more freedom from their masters.Some would say the ones that stayed even gained more power this forced their masters to give them offerings in exchange for work. The issues of emancipation and military service were intertwined from almost the beginning of the war. News from Fort Sumter make African Americans rush to enlist in military units. They were all turned away since there was a law dating from 1792 that kept African Americans from joining the U. S. army. In Boston disa ppointed African Americans met and passed a closedown that requested the Government to modify its laws to permit them to enlist. Then capital of Nebraskas Second Confiscation Act was passed.The act stated that, quislings who did not surrender with in sixty days of the acts passage were to be punished by having their slaves freed. The Militia Act was also passed. This act stated African Americans were allowed to contend in the war. These two acts together thoroughly punished rebel slaveholders. The African Americans that enlisted both fought in the front lines and worked behind the scenes beat back jobs. All these rights that the African Americans were receiving inspired them to return home and free their families and friends. Some of them even started alimentation in the plantations that they used to be slaves of.They took them over and began their own cropping. Some of the another(prenominal) plantations had been left to older disabled white woman, when the men had left for t he coadjutor army. All of this led to the separation of slave labor in the south After trying terribly hard to keep the issue of slavery out of the war, the North decided to start enlisting African Americans to help them fight in the war. The Fifty-Fourth control was created by the Union the States, and was the only all black unit. This Union in particular contributed to the war efforts of the North and showed a new found power among blacks.The regiment started when John Andrew sent a request to the secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, to create a volunteer regiment of African Americans (3). African Americans from all over the country conjugate. To help recruit even further they called for help from African American leaders like, Frederick Douglas and William Wells Brown. In just two months over one constant of gravitation African Americans, one from at least every state, had enlisted in the regiment. The leader of the regiment would not be black though, they wanted the superior of ficer to have well-nigh certain credentials.The job description posted read Young human race of Military Experience Of firm antislavery principles, ambitious, Superior to the vulgar contempt of colourize Having Faith in the capacity of colored men for military train (2) The man picked for the job was Robert Shaw. The African American regiment and their captain clique off for Beaufort, siemens Carolina on May 28, 1863 (1). They were to attack Fort Wagner, which was a vital key to Charleston. They only way to storm the fort was to go through loads and loads of Confederates. The sheer size of the Confederates to the Fifty- Fourth regiment was an obstacle in itself.The regiment knew the amount of obstacles they would have to overcome to fall upon a victory and yet they kept marching. Shaw and a few men marched to the top of the parapet, and there Shaw was shot and killed. Though this was almost a bed disaster for the regiment they had set a path for future African American soldi ers. Frederick Douglas said, Once let the black man get upon his psyche the brass letter, U. S. , let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on ground that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. One thousand seventy-nine African Americans had served in the Civil War. They served in both the U. S. serviceman and about two thousand served in the Navy. By the time the war was over, forty thousand had died in battle and thirty thousand had died of indisposition and infection. African American soldiers performed all the jobs needed to run an army. They also served as carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons, and teamsters (4). There were nearly 80 black commissioned officers (4). Harriet Tubman was the most storied spy she served for the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers.Tubman decided to help the Union Army because she wanted freedom for all of the people who were forced into slavery, not just the few she could help by herself. And she convinced many other merry African Americans to join her as spies, even at the risk of be hanged if they were caught (4). Among Harriet Tubman were many other African American women who served as nurses, spies and scouts. Although, no women were allowed to formally join the army. When black troops were captured by the confederate soldiers, they faced harsher punishments than the white troops.In 1863 the Confederate Congress threatened to punish officers of African American troops and enslave the African Americans, if they were captured. As a result of this, President Lincoln issued General Order 233, which threatened payback on Confederate prisoners of war, if they ill-treated African American troops. This order did scare the Confederates a little, but African American soldiers were still treated harsher than whites. In one of the worst examples of this abuse, Confederate soldiers shot to de ath black Union soldiers, captures at Fort Pillow, TN, in 1864().Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest witnessed it all and did no amour to stop it. The President, Abraham Lincoln, issued the emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This proclamation eventually led to the freedom of all slaves. The document officially made free all bondsmen in the areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion. Slavery although was not abolished in the Border States, Tennessee, or the Union industrious areas of Louisiana and Virginia. The proclamation only affected the states in rebellion, so subsequently the efforts it didnt actually free any slaves.On the other hand, it did strengthen the Yankee war efforts, because they knew they were fight for a cause. Over five hundred thousand slaves had escaped to the North by the end of the civil war. Many of the escapees joined the Union Army, which tremendously increased its power. As a result of the Emancipation Proclamation, the thirtee nth Amendment was created. The Amendment created on December 18, 1865, legally freed all slaves still in bondage. The final step the Emancipation Proclamation was to depress England and France from arriving to the war on the side of the South.England and France wanted to enter the war on the South side, because the South had supplied them both with cotton and tobacco. England and Frances stance changed when they perceive that the war had changed to a fight over slavery. Both nations were opposed to slavery, so ended up gift their support to the Union. That led to the winning of the fight for freedom. Juneteenth was the day created to celebrate the emancipation, when the slaves heard about it that midsummer. The holiday is still celebrated today. Abraham Lincoln said, A theatre of operations divided against itself cannot stand.I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it forget cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. (3) African Americans along with the rest of the Union were fighting for this freedom and equality that Abraham Lincoln, was talking about. African American contributions were not trammel to the role of working the fields in the south or render labor for industry in the north.Many African Americans in both south and north participated in either direct or supporting roles in the military. The War Between the States proved to be a war fought for democracy. The tone ending that the slaves had been waiting for, recovered the ideas that founded the United States of America. All men were equal beneath the law. Since, the African Americans made such a persistent effort the changes were made more quickly. Africans pushed for their own emancipation by resisting their masters and other labor tasks.Although a formal Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment freed blacks in America, it wo uld be a long time before they received all the rights they deserved. The minds of Americans had been so engrained with racism only decades of hard work would lessen this. Works Cited 1) Freeman, Elsie, Wynell Burroughs Schamel, and blue jean West. The Fight for Equal Rights A Recruiting Poster for Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Social Education 56, 2 (February 1992) 118-120. 2) Blacks in the Civil War. . Colorado College. Web. 3 Mar 2013. <http//www2. coloradocollege. edu/Dept/HY/Hy243Ruiz/Research/civilwar. h