According to General August Kautz's, USA,”Customs of Service, for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers" (1864), page. 11:  "In the fullest sense, any man in the military service who receives pay, whether sworn in or not, is a soldier because he is subject to military law. Under this general head, laborers, teamsters, sutlers and chaplains, are soldiers."

By this definition from a Union (Northern) source, the Free men of color and slaves who were paid by the Confederate government were soldiers.  If a rule applies to one side of the conflict, it is true for both.

In addition, research currently in progress using the Virginia Confederate Pension Records points to nearly 1,000 approved pensions for Black Confederates.  Of these approved pensions, 387 are for men whose military records identify the regiment and company in which they served - - - these were combat soldiers!  Because these pensions would not be granted without the attestation of an officer or senior non-commissioned officer, there is no reason not to accept this primary source documentation of the existence of Black Confederate combat soldiers.

It also is known that only one in ten veterans applied for these pensions, the extrapolation of the number of these Black Confederates is possible.  While we will never know exactly how many African-Americans fought for the Confederacy, the possibility of 3,700 to 3,900 Black Confederates serving in combat roles from Virginia alone is plausible and feasible.  That these records are triangulated with muster rolls (only combat soldiers appear on these lists) and Census Records only raises the credibility of this research in progress.

Anthony Cohen, Historian

On September 22, 2003, the New American reported:

Anthony Cohen, a prominent Civil War historian, has both white and black ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. In particular, Cohen relates the story of one black forebear by the name of Sheftall, who served as a Confederate drummer. Sheftall was captured and taken to New York as a prisoner of war. But when he was released prior to the war’s end, he returned to the South and joined the military again.

“The truth was that blacks, just like whites, served for various reasons,” Cohen told The New American. He reminds us that both the North and South had a draft, and that many soldiers on both sides were made to go to war. But Cohen also makes the point that “these weren’t Africans who were fighting — they were Southern-born Americans fighting for the only homeland they knew.”

The Sources

In spite of these basic truths, many other historians dispute the presence ofBlack Confederates in combat roles.  These modern day historians find it too convenient to ignore primary historical records from many sources of which most are from the Federal and not the Confederate records:

• Federal Official Records – Federal officers throughout the war reported numerous encounters with Black Confederate sharpshooter, spies, loyal body servants, and soldiers in the field.  Nathan Bedford Forrest testified before Congress that he had 45 African-Americans who rode with him throughout the war.

• Prisoner of War Records – As early as 1862, Union Major General Henry Halleck knew that there were Black Confederate soldiers as he had to deal with them as prisoners of war at Camp Chase.  Black Confederates also were known to be POWs at Camp Morton and Point Lookout where many of them died. 

• Biographies – Following the war, former Black Confederates voluntarily attended re-unions held by the United Confederate Veterans.  Many, like Dick Poplar and Bill Yopp, were honored by their white comrades at their funerals.

• Diaries, Letters, & Newspapers – Letters home from Union soldiers that reported seeing Blacks fighting for the Confederacy were published in newspapers.  These soldiers were not alone; newspaper reporters saw them too and reported the events to their publishers and editors.

These sources include quotations from Federal officers and from the Black Confederates themselves.  The doubt that is cast upon their service belittles and demeans the sacrifices of these men.  It is time for this denial to end and for these men to receive the honor and respect they deserve.

John Harris – Black Confederate

In Mississippi on Feb. 1, 1890 an appropriation for a monument to the Confederate dead was being considered. A delegate had just spoken against the bill, when John F. Harris, a Negro Republican delegate from Washington, County, rose to speak:

“Mr. Speaker! I have arisen here in my place to offer a few words on the bill. I have come from a sick bed. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come. But sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without contributing a few remarks of my own.

I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentlemen from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier should go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And, Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines, and in the Seven Day's fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with the mangled forms of those who fought for their country and for their country's honor, he would not have made the speech. When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed, and they made no requests for monuments. But they died, and their virtues should be remembered.

Sir, I went with them. I, too, wore the gray, the same color my master wore. We stayed four long years, and if that war had gone on till now I would have been there yet. I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions.

When my mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of a mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my old Missus! Were she living now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in HONOR OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD."

The bill passed unanimously as supported by this former Black Confederate soldier.

Why Not Pride in Their Service?

In its 2003 article, titled Acknowledging Black Confederates, Jodie Gilmore of the New American also reported this event:

In 1999, Katheryne Hamilton asked the SCV to honor her great-grandfather, Jason Boone, who was a freeborn black man who served as a laborer for three years with the 41st Virginia Infantry. Although some family members were appalled at having their ancestor’s Confederate history spotlighted, Hamilton disagreed.

“We can’t judge 1865 by the standards of 1999,” Hamilton told the Washington Post. “Jason marched under that flag [the Confederate battle flag]. He wasn’t ashamed. He was proud of it. I can’t be in the way of that.” The SCV provided an official military stone for Boone’s grave, which reads in part, “Jason Boone gave valuable aid to Co. K, 41 VA, Inf., CSA, 1831 — 1936, age 105, free born.” Boone received a pension from the state of Virginia for his service to the Confederate cause. He was not alone: Virtually every Southern state’s pension records include pensions paid to blacks for their service during the Civil War.

REFERENCES & THANKS

The 30 pages of data contained on these web pages would not have been possible without the research and efforts of many others.  Listed below are just some of the individuals, groups, and sources that have advanced the cause of the Black Confederate soldier.

Individuals & Organizations

• Nelson Winbush, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendant of the Black Confederate Louis Napoleon Winbush, Private, who rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest’s 7th Tennessee.  Nelson continues to speak about his grandfather and the Confederate cause.

• J.J. Johnson, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendant of a Black Confederate soldier.  J.J. has been a strong and vocal advocate for the remembrance of all Afro-Confederates and the sacrifices that they made during the war.

• Stan Armstrong, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, producer of "Black Confederates: The Forgotten Men in Gray," and Founder of Desert Rose Films. He is the descendant of Black Confederate Joseph Herndon of Rodessa, Louisiana

• H.K. Edgerton, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendant of a Black Confederate soldier.  H.K. is a brilliant speaker and defender of the Confederate Battle Flag.  He is known for his personal marches from Asheville, North Carolina to Austin, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina in Confederate uniform and carrying the Confederate Battle Flag.

• Willie Levi Casey Jr. from North Carolina. A U.S. Army major in his professional life, he is Private Casey of the 6th North Carolina State Troop during his Civil War re-enactment activities. Casey does not see any contradictions in a 21st-century black man re-enacting as a 19th-century soldier in gray. People who have seen Casey in his gray uniform and learned of his SCV membership have asked him, “Do you support slavery?” Casey’s reply: “No. I support preserving Southern history and telling it like it is.”

• Michael Kelly and the 37th Texas Living History Organization which conducts ongoing research on Black Confederates as well as Native American, Hispanic and other groups who were represented in the Confederate ranks.

Books & Publications

1. Barrow, Charles Kelley et.al.,The Forgotten Confederates: A Collection of Historical Accounts About Black Southerners in Gray, Atlanta, Southern Heritage Press, 1995.

2. Blackerby, H.C., Blacks in Blue and Gray: Afro-American Service in the Civil War, Tuscaloosa, AL, Portals Press, 1979.

3. Brewer, James H., The Confederate Negro: Virginia's Craftsmen and MilitaryLaborers, 1861-1865, Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1969.

4. Durden, Robert, The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1972.

5. Hollandsworth, James G., Jr., The Louisiana Native Guards: The Black Military Experience During the Civil War, Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press,1995.

6. Johnson, Michael P. and James L. Roark, Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South, New York, W.W. Norton, 1986.

7. Jordan, Ervin L., Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia,Charlottesville, VA, University Press of Virginia, 1995.

8. Koger, Larry, Black Slaveowners: Free Black Slaveowners in South Carolina, 1790-1860, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1994.

9. Rollins, Richard, et.al., Black Southerners in Gray: Essays on Afro-Americans in Confederate Armies, Murfreesboro, TN, Southern Heritage Press, 1994.

10. Wesley, Charles, Negroes in the Confederate Army, Journal of Negro History, Vol. 4, #3 1919.