Chapter 11 Liberation: African Americans and the Civil War.

Chapter 11

Liberation:

African Americans and the Civil War

I. Lincoln’s Aims

Preserve the Union– Everything else secondary– Especially concerned about the border

states– Call for 75,000 volunteers– Black volunteers rejected

II. Black Men Volunteer and Are Rejected Fate of Union tied to issue of slavery Fate of slavery tied to the outcome of

war Black people understood before

northerners• Anglo-African newspaper• New York, Philadelphia, Boston• Black men offered their services

III. Union Policies toward Confederate Slaves

No coherent policy to deal with Union military commanders

– More concern for slave owner’s interests

“Contraband”

General Benjamin Butler– Fortress Monroe, May 1861– Refused to return three runaway slaves– “Contraband”

• Enemy property• First Confiscation Act, August 1861• John C. Fremont• General David Hunter

Lincoln’s Initial Position

Reluctant to move against slavery, 1861– Border state loyalty– Supported compensated emancipation-

colonization– Wanted to end slavery in border states, April

1862 – Warned border states to accept compensation

or risk getting nothing, July 1862

Lincoln Moves toward Emancipation Victory and Union tied to slavery issue

– “Strike at the heart of the rebellion”– Tells his cabinet, summer 1862– William Seward warns Lincoln to wait– Montgomery Blair feared fall elections

Lincoln Delays Emancipation

Waited for a victory on the battlefield– Northern defeats, spring and summer 1862 – The Peninsula Campaign– Seven Pines– Seven Days’ – Second Battle of Bull Run

Antietam– Justification for announcing emancipation

Black People Reject Colonization

Would not retreat from colonization– Liberia– Haiti– Black people not interested

IV. Preliminary Emancipation

White southerners ridiculed it Many white northerners had little

enthusiasm– Antiblack riots – Northern Democrats almost all opposed

• Denounced Lincoln and Republicans Most black people gratified

V. Emancipation Proclamation

Limited to areas still in rebellion Did not include border states Changes war goals

– Preserve the Union – Make people free

Effects of Proclamation on the South

Ended chance of foreign recognition Encouraged

– Slaves to flee– Slaves to resist

VI. Black Men Fight for the Union

Emancipation Proclamation– Authorized black men to enlist– Union defeats and the need for manpower– Thomas Wentworth Higginson– Robert Gould Shaw

Black Men Fight for the Union (cont.) Discrimination and hostility

– Segregated units• White officers

– Often held racist beliefs

– Lower pay scale• White privates $13/month• Black privates $10/month

Black Men Fight for the Union (cont.)

Combat– Suffered disproportionately more casualties– Battery Wagner

• William H. Carney

– Olustee– The Crater

VII. Confederate Reaction to Black Soldiers Enraged

– Refused to recognize black men as soldiers

• Treat as rebellious slaves• General Order Number 11

– Fort Pillow Massacre• Union response• Union commanders angry

VIII. Black Men in the Union Navy Tradition of serving in the U.S. Navy,

1790s– Integrated– Early 19th century many black sailors

• Attempts to ban them from the navy

IX. Liberators, Spies, and Guides

Black men and women – Robert Smalls– Harriet Tubman– Mary Elizabeth Bowser– John Henry Woodson

X. Violent Opposition to Black People

New York City Draft Riot, July 1863– Draft – Irish men angry

• Black men had replaced Irish stevedores, June 1863• Rich white northerners could purchase an exemption• Riot lasted four days

– Colored Orphan Asylum

– Churches

– Republican and abolitionists houses destroyed

Violent Opposition to Black People (cont.) Union troops and slaves

– Often treated slaves horribly• Rapes and assaults were not uncommon

– Others found compassion for enslaved people

• “I have no heart in this war if the slaves cannot be made free,” a Union soldier wrote.

XI. Refugees

Thousands of black people escaped bondage– Some followed Union armies– Others struck out on their own

• Faced re-enslavement or execution if caught

XII. Black People and the Confederacy Confederacy based on defense of

slavery Benefited from the labors of bonds

people– Toiled in fields– Worked in factories– Permitted more white men to serve in

military

Black People and the Confederacy (cont.)

Impressment of black people– Military demands for manpower

• Slave owners contributed slave labor– Built fortifications

• Government first asked then compelled– Registration and enrollment of free black people military

labor

“Twenty nigger law”– Exempted men who owned twenty slaves from

draft

Black People and the Confederacy (cont.) Confederates enslave free black people

– Davis counter proclamation• “All free negroes . . . shall be placed on the

slave status and be deemed to be chattels. . . forever.”

• Ordered Confederate armies to capture free black people in the North and enslave them.

– Robert E. Lee, Pennsylvania 1863

Black Confederates

– Free black people volunteered services• Show loyalty and gain white acceptance• Re-enslavement concerns• Southern leaders generally ignored

offers unless for menial labor

Black Confederates (cont.)

Small number of black men fight for CSA– Some black civilians profit if South wins

• John Wilson Buckner• William Ellison

Black Enlistments

General Patrick Cleburne recommends, early 1864– President Davis cease and desist order– Most southerners considered arming slaves

appalling– Defied southern assumptions

• “If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong.”--Howell Cobb

March 1865 Confederate Congress voted to enlist 300,000

• Receive same pay as white soldiers• Slaves freed only with consent of owners and state agreed

XIII. Conclusion

185,000 black soldiers and sailors served in the Union military– Most had been former slaves– Almost 40,000 died in combat or of disease during

the war Abraham Lincoln and the shift in public

attitudes– White man’s war– Colonization– Enlistment– Appreciation