StarAll4life (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

stop arguing about politics!it's a love story

Sionadi (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@ele90 emancipation followed by immediate deportation! - Abraham Lincoln. He was completely racist.

ele90 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@Sionadi Abraham lincoln was by no means a rascist of his time. get your head out of your redneck ass

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@Podaboba Yes, and almost all of those "55,000" served as teamsters, cooks, etc. compared to upwards of 200,000 who willingly carried arms for the Union. Lots of the Southern blacks in the CS army were indeed slaves, especially early in the war. They went to war with their masters--not like they really had a choice in the matter. To really put your figure into perspective, it should be remembered that about 150,000 white Southerners fought for the Union as soldiers, too.

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@Podaboba I've earlier pointed out that black troops did not spearhead this assault--they came in later waves. Ledlie's Division of white troops from Burnside's IX Corps led this one. And Mahone's men famously butchered the blacks who were trying to surrender in the Crater, yelling "take the white men; kill the niggers."

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@Podaboba Correction--General Burnside planned for the black troops to lead the assault but was overruled by Grant, who feared bad PR if a slaughter ensued. So white troops ended up leading the attack instead. Ironically, if the black units had attacked first, they may have won the battle--they were better-led & better-trained than Ledlie's Division and had spent time rehearsing the attack.

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@Podaboba Delaware was a Southern slave state, even though they provided more troops for the Union than the Confederacy. We shouldn't therefore be shocked that there were slaves there.

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@SilentSepia I'd suggest going to non-partisan sources for REAL Southern history instead of getting it from the SCV. The unit formed in New Orleans never saw action, and most of its members later joined the Union Army. Only a handful of blacks carried arms for the Confederacy (and unofficially at that) until about 2 weeks before the war ended; and those 1865 units never saw combat.

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@SilentSepia Slavery wasn't on its way out by a long shot. The South wanted to expand it into the territories after the Mexican War--that's what brought the debate in Congress to a head in the first place. Improved farming technology was only implemented in the North, with the exception of the Shenandoah Valley. Because of cheap slave labor, farming was much more primitive in the South.

galoon (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

@SilentSepia And yet there was no mass exodus of Northern factory workers fleeing south to become slaves on Southern plantations; yet the reverse happened often. There was plenty of segregation in the South; if you think white Southerners viewed blacks as social equals, you're mistaken. How do you explain the racial segregation in the South under Jim Crow after the war?