As the country marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Georgians should commemorate the historic role former Georgia slaves played in the struggle that pried open the door to black enlistment in the U.S. military.
The courage and bravery of the men who served in experimental all-black regiments along the Georgia coast helped convince President Lincoln to “rewrite” his historic Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln’s revision was the catalyst for the enlistment of 200,000 black men in the Union army and navy, and transformed the conflict over “state’s rights” into a crusade to abolish American slavery.
Shortly after the first shots were fired in April 1861, free black men in the North began to form militia units and volunteer for service in the Union army. Black volunteers were convinced that military service afforded them an unprecedented opportunity to prove their patriotism and manhood in a war against Southern slaveholders.
But they first had to fight for the right to join the U.S. military. A federal statute from 1792 prohibited blacks from serving in state militias or the U.S. Army and Navy.
At the war’s outset, President Lincoln assured whites in the North and South that the war arose out of political differences concerning “states rights,” rather than a desire to interfere with slavery. In July 1862, the president reassured Congress that his only goal was to preserve the Union, despite a string of devastating military setbacks, a dwindling pool of white recruits and growing anti-war sentiment.
Frederick Douglass, an outspoken black abolitionist, commanded the most persuasive voice in favor of black enlistment. Douglass denounced the federal government’s prohibition against black soldiers as a “spectacle of blind, unreasoning prejudice” and he ridiculed the Union for fighting with its “white hand” while allowing its “black hand” to remain tied.
Much to the chagrin of Northern abolitionists, Lincoln continued to argue that the Civil War was and should remain a “white man’s war.” In September 1862, the president predicted that black enlistment would turn 50,000 bayonets from the loyal slaveholding border states of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Delaware against the Union.
Despite official government opposition to black enlistment, a handful of Northern generals organized experimental all-black regiments. The first systematic attempt was conducted by Gen. David Hunter, an ardent abolitionist, who assumed command of Union forces occupying key coastal towns and the Sea Islands of Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida on March 31, 1862.
Acting on vague U. S. War Department orders, Hunter issued a proclamation of emancipation and set in motion a controversial plan to enlist black men in the Union army. Hunter’s recruitment efforts were aided by Rev. Abraham Murchinson, a former Savannah slave who called a meeting of black men living on Cockspur Island, Ga. Approximately 150 former Georgia slaves volunteered to enlist. The regiment eventually reached full strength at 1,035 soldiers, commanded by white officers.
Hunter’s actions angered Union soldiers, federal government officials and President Lincoln. Lincoln promptly issued a terse statement disclaiming any knowledge of Hunter’s actions. After failing to receive official War Department authorization to recruit black soldiers, Hunter disbanded all but one 38-man company of his regiment.
Lincoln refused to embrace Hunter’s initiatives, but he could not ignore the firestorm of indignation that arose throughout the North after “Hunter’s Regiment” was disbanded. Neither could he ignore the growing need for more Union troops, which was beginning to soften white opposition to black enlistment.
During the summer of 1862, Lincoln confided in his most trusted advisors that he had decided to take full advantage of the “slave element” by issuing a proclamation of emancipation.
Although only a few blacks actually fought for the rebels, a vast army of slave laborers were forced to support the Confederate war effort by serving as nurses, orderlies and wagoners. Behind the battle lines, slaves supplied the labor for plantations, factories, arsenals and mines. Military necessity required that this important component of the Southern war machine be removed from Confederate control if the North were to prevail.
Following the limited Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862. The document stated that on Jan. 1, 1863, all persons being held as slaves in states still in rebellion against the Union on that date would be free. In other words, if the rebels would surrender and rejoin the Union, slave owners would be able to keep their slaves. But Confederate leaders ignored this final plea for compromise.
On Jan. 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Although few Southern slaves were actually freed by the historic document, it contained a clause, not included in the preliminary proclamation, authorizing the enlistment of black men into the U.S. military.
Prior to the issuance of Lincoln’s proclamation, only a few “unofficial” efforts to organize black regiments had been initiated, in South Carolina, Kansas and Louisiana. The eventual enlistment of 200,000 black soldiers, including several thousand Georgians, provided the North with a fresh source of manpower and a decided strategic advantage. Indeed, Lincoln repeatedly asserted from mid-1863 until his assassination that without the advent of black soldiers, the Union would not have been preserved.
Michael Thurmond, an Atlanta attorney and former state labor commissioner, is the author of “Freedom: Georgia’s Antislavery Slavery Heritage.” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is off.
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