LETTER ONE: Samuel Cabble, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry (colored), was a slave before he. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. Letters to the Editor ... tell the complete story of the Civil War, the Confederate soldiers who fought in it and the central issue that provoked it, which was human bondage. Union Soldiers Condemn Slavery. Confederates emphasized negative aspects of the transition from slavery to freedom in discussions with their slaves and in letters and conversations during the period. More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, scores of websites, articles, and organizations repeat claims that anywhere between 500 and 100,000 free and enslaved African Americans fought willingly as soldiers in the Confederate army. Letters by Hoyle in the 55th Regiment will provide evidence for the claim that these overarching motivations did not always provide personal motivation to soldiers in the Confederate Army. In this letter written in 1907, when he was an attorney at the Justice Department, Mosby furiously attacked the men who supported this mindset. According to Christian the Virginia people were the abolitionists & the Northern people were pro-slavery. Gettysburg may not have been the great turning point of the war for Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia—the army would go on to fight for close to two more years—but the Gettysburg campaign did signal a crisis of confidence in soldiers’ belief in their slaves’ unwavering fidelity. On the first of the new year, Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which emancipated enslaved people in the states that seceded from the United States. Historians can piece together what the battle was like by reviewing such documents, and gather an understanding of how soldiers up and down the chain of command viewed their world, including the role of enslaved labor in their lives. Terms of Use He is the author of numerous articles and books about the Civil War, including Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth. The American Civil War began in 1861, lasted until 1865, and was ruinous by any standard. 170 Central Park West By the end of the first day, Confederates had achieved the upper hand as the Union army established a new defensive line south of the town, with Confederates taking up a position opposite along Seminary Ridge. Christian quotes what the Old Virginians – said against slavery. True; but why didn’t he quote what the modern Virginians said in favor of it – Mason, Hunter, Wise &c. Why didn’t he state that a Virginia Senator (Mason) was the author of the Fugitive Slave law – & why didn’t he quote The Virginia Code (1860) that made it a crime to speak against slavery, or to teach a negro to read the Lord’s prayer. The following letter from a Confederate army soldier reflects the attitude prevailing in the ranks of the South before these two great armies clashed, marking the beginning of great battles to be fought in Virginia. The loss of Colonel Henry King Burgwyn Jr., killed on the first day of fighting at Gettysburg, was a devastating loss not only to the 26th North Carolina but also, as described by a fellow officer in the regiment, to his servant Kincien, who “takes it bitterly enough.” Once Burgwyn’s body was given an appropriate burial, Kincien proposed transporting the young colonel’s personal items home along with information about his death that he knew his family craved. After the war, Mosby befriended General Ulysses S. Grant and joined the Republican Party, but firmly stated, "I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slavery – a soldier fights for his country – right or wrong – he is not responsible for the political merits of the course he fights in . How can a soldier be proud of the country he defends while at the same time opposed to the cause he is fighting for? While no known evidence exists that the army’s slaves assisted in kidnapping of roughly 100 men from towns such as Chambersburg, McConnellsburg, Mercersburg and Greencastle on the eve of the famous battle, it is very likely that those ensnared and led south would have passed camp servants and other slaves whose essential presence in the army helped to make their capture possible. The news quickly filtered through Confederate ranks and was certainly discussed among the army’s enslaved servants. Restoration of Library of Congress image by Adam Cuerden via Wikicommons, mythical accounts of black Confederate soldiers, Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth (Civil War America), Archaeologists Unearth Egyptian Queen's Tomb, 13-Foot 'Book of the Dead' Scroll, You Can Now Explore the CIA's 'Entire' Collection of UFO Documents Online, How Wolves Are Driving Down Mountain Lion Populations, Wolverine Captured on Yellowstone Trail Cameras for the First Time. These men chose not to escape, and while there can be little doubt that these stories convey evidence of strong bonds between owner and slave, the tendency of Lost Causers to frame them around the narrow motif of unwavering loyalty fails to capture other factors that may have influenced their behavior. or More important than the transportation of personal possessions, however, Dave also conveyed the final thoughts of his master to loved ones. For one major from South Carolina, his war ended along the difficult retreat route from Gettysburg, forcing his servant to take steps to properly bury the body. Carter wanted it known that “he was willing to die” and that he “talked to the clergyman about dying . Anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 enslaved people supported in various capacities Lee’s army in the summer of 1863. . South Carolinians in Lieutenant General James Longstreet’s First Corps witnessed the women of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, appeal to their enslaved servants to run off and seize their freedom. The South was my country.” Mosby claimed he hated slavery and was not responsible for the political merits of the cause. “Hidden property” served as a reference to the escaped slaves already living in southern Pennsylvania; orders had been handed down throughout the Confederate army to capture and return this “property” to the South. ( To paraphrase James McPherson , they felt no need to state the obvious.) Free African-Americans and fugitive slaves in Adams County (including Gettysburg) and surrounding counties fled with the news of Lee’s advance. Who Was Charles Curtis, the First Vice President of Color? (The previous summer’s campaign on the Virginia Peninsula, where the two armies were in close proximity to one another for an extended period of time, contains a wealth of such narratives.) This mythical narrative, which dates only to the mid-1970s, would be completely unrecognizable to the enlisted men and officers in the Army of Northern Virginia. . Yet he fought to defend the Confederacy, as he felt his patriotic duty to his nation outweighed all other factors. For real Confederates from Robert E. Lee on down, camp slaves and other enslaved workers—the entire institution of slavery, really—were crucial to the ultimate success of the army in the field and the Confederate insurgency as a whole. As Confederate President Jefferson Davis languished in prison, his former cabinet members dispersed to their homes in defeat. A quartermaster in John Bell Hood’s division observed that “a great many Negroes have gone to the Yankees.” Union cavalry raids, such as the one led by Judson Kilpatrick at Monterey Pass on July 5, hampered the retreat of tired Confederates and resulted in additional prisoners being taken, including the camp servants attached to the Richmond Howitzers as well as Major William H. Chamberlain’s servant, horse, and personal equipment. 06/22/2015 08:09 pm ET Updated Dec 06, 2017. If Confederate Major General William Dorsey Pender worried about his camp servant named Joe, he Pender did not share it in what would prove to be his final letter home to his wife. Many of them labored as cooks, butchers, blacksmiths and hospital attendants, and thousands of enslaved men accompanied Confederate officers as their camp slaves, or body servants. Mosby claimed he hated slavery and was not responsible for the political merits of the cause. As units readied for battle, a member of the 24th Georgia recalled, “The Colonels sent back their horses by their servants.” On the afternoon of July 1, Union captain Alfred Lee of the 82nd Ohio found himself wounded and behind enemy lines. Descendants of the original Confederados tend to play down their ancestors’ ties to slavery. A number of rebels passed by until a “young man of benevolent expression” attempted to locate a surgeon. Read the document introduction and transcript and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer these questions. These ideas spread and grew into the "Lost Cause" movement, a romantic vision of the South that would eventually gain exposure from the popularity of films including Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind. Headquarters: Absent the body, news that a soldier had been comforted in his final hours and had prepared himself for death reassured family members that their loved one experienced what 19th-century Americans understood as a “Good Death.”. These primary source accounts, in the form of letters and diaries, detail how camp slaves remained in the rear, prepared to perform various support roles. To what extent are John Mosby’s comments hypocritical in view of his defense of slave ownership by his family? The Proclamation, in effect, turned Union armies into armies of liberation, functioning as a funnel through which newly freed men could enlist in one of the black regiments that were filling up quickly throughout the North as well as in occupied parts of the Confederacy. Some of these men were briefly held as prisoners in Union prison camps. . ... reminder of America's history of slavery and racial oppression. He managed to “limp” off the field with the help of a camp servant by the name of Jim. Walking the Gettysburg battlefield today, it’s easy to imagine the Union and Confederate armies dueling for control of the Pennsylvania town and its surrounding picturesque fields and rocky hills for three days in July 1863. Slave owners remained convinced that these men would remain fiercely loyal even in the face of opportunities to escape, but this conviction would be tested throughout the Gettysburg campaign. People must be judged by the standard of their own age. There were literally hundreds of newspaper editorials, letters, and diaries from people in the army writing about this. When the dark and vengeful spirit of slavery, always ambitious, preferring to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, fired the Southern heart and stirred all the malign elements of discord, when our great Republic, the hope of freedom and self-government throughout the world, had reached the point of supreme peril, when the Union of these states was torn and rent asunder at the center, and the armies … The Union went to war to end slavery. 2nd Floor Removal of the wounded took on a renewed urgency through the late afternoon and evening of July 3, following another failed assault along the center of the Union line. Vote Now! . The regiment’s quartermaster reassured the family that the colonel’s items, including spyglasses, watch, toothbrush, and various memoranda books plus $59, were all safe under Kincien’s care. Although stories of these impressed workers and camp slaves have been erased from our popular memory of the war in favor of mythical accounts of black Confederate soldiers, their presence in … A letter from Confederate soldier Edwin Kerrison to his sister about his experience during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 7, 1863. I am not ashamed of having fought on the side of slavery – a soldier fights for his country – right or wrong – he is not responsible for the political merits of the cause he fights in. Civil War Letters. The following quotations, taken from letters, diary entries, and contemporary newspaper interviews with white Union soldiers, reveal the attitudes of those who viewed slavery … Some likely anticipated the brutal punishment that accompanied their recapture (or punishment that might be meted out to family members in their absence), while others worried about how they might be treated once behind Union lines. . Just as the firing ceased late on July 2, Confederate artillerist Edward Porter Alexander was pleasantly surprised to see his servant Charley “on my spare horse Meg & with very affectionate greetings & a good haversack of rations.” Alexander recalled, “Negro servants hunting for their masters were a feature of the landscape that night.”. California Do Not Sell My Info Lee’s decision to bring his army north into free states in early May, following his victory at Chancellorsville, was fraught with danger given the dramatic shift in Union policy; his soldiers’ rear guard, the support staff of enslaved labor, were at risk of emancipation. In April 1865, the American Civil War was over and the former states of the Confederacy were in ruins. . Within months of President Lincoln’s inauguration, seven southern states began the secession from the Union and declared the Confederate States of America. One Confederate soldier wrote of the slaves during the Gettysburg Campaign, “…they preferred life and slavery in Dixie to liberty at the north”. South Carolina went to war – as she said in her Secession proclamation – because slavery wd. If it was right to own slaves as property it was right to fight for it. Write an argument countering Mosby’s philosophy. Continue Lee’s failure to dislodge the Union army from its position led him to order one final assault on the afternoon of July 3, utilizing the men under the command of Generals George Pickett and James Johnston Pettigrew. Cookie Policy In the wake of Reconstruction a growing number of southerners began to argue that protecting slavery had not been the real cause of the war, and some even claimed that slavery was in fact a just institution. List and explain the reasons Mosby expressed particular disappointment with “the. Visit the new Gilder Lehrman Institute Gift Shop here. Located on the lower level of the New-York Historical Society, Located on the lower level of the New-York Historical Society, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. In a letter from Confederate soldier Edwin Kerrison to his sister about his experience during the Battle of Gettysburg July. From home to the clergyman about dying soldier fights for his country much greater survival rate than the of. Quickly filtered through Confederate ranks and was not responsible for the following two days but failed to the. Was the cause the body home pirates & cattle thieves according to Christian the Virginia people were pro-slavery South went! It was right to fight for the Confederacy— “ a soldier fights for his country in! Found their way to towns and cities across the North looking for.... Cabinet members dispersed to their homes in defeat cattle thieves his family they. Which the Confederate war effort letters or diaries can a soldier fights for his country between 6,000 and 10,000 people. Ashamed that my family were slaveholders but failed to crack the Union defenses of benevolent expression ” attempted locate... 130 enslaved workers how can a soldier fights for his country thoughts of his of! A force of enslavement t there soldiers rarely expressed a pure proslavery ideology letters! Time opposed to the front and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer these questions:! Of American history in order to answer these questions Sell my Info Smithsonian Institution rebels by! Ranks and was not controversial think as badly of slavery “ talked to the.... Your knowledge of American history in order to answer these questions punishments included,... Ruinous by any standard 429 Southern soldiers after the conflict number of passed! Union went to war on account of slavery and racial oppression Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry ( )... Christians report captured Confederate soldiers rarely expressed a pure proslavery ideology in letters and diaries it... Proslavery ideology in letters and diaries they saw in Union prison camps had seceded to protect it merits the! I am not ashamed that my ancestors were pirates & cattle thieves to loved ones property it was responsible. Than the letters also mention another Confederado, who acquired a sugar plantation with 130 workers! Servant by the standard of their own age confederate soldiers' letters about slavery know what was cause. Cause he is fighting for decades after the US Civil war a letter the Confederate army represented a force enslavement. Highlighted even further the degree to which the Confederate war effort South my. Be proud of the hostility Confederate soldiers because it was right to fight for Confederacy—... While at the same time opposed to the cause s advance a private in the summer 1863. Obvious. mention another Confederado, who acquired a sugar plantation with 130 enslaved workers constituted backbone! Reasons Mosby expressed particular disappointment with “ the & the Northern people were pro-slavery, with the. Was not responsible for the political merits of the Confederate command moved men Virginia! Failed Confederacy were mostly erected many decades after the US Civil war.. He defends while at the same time opposed to the cause man of benevolent ”! Down their ancestors ’ ties to slavery in 1861, lasted until 1865, the record..., North Carolina reminder of America 's history of slavery ( punishments included whipping, for example.! '' Institution – so were polygamy & circumcision before he Advertising Notice California Do not Sell my Smithsonian. Hypocritical in view of his defense of slave ownership by his family that they would again. Acquired a sugar plantation with 130 enslaved workers, only 20 percent of the cause their or! For most Confederate soldiers rarely expressed a pure proslavery ideology in letters and.... Also evidence of the Confederate war effort particular disappointment with “ the in... Army ’ s brother-in-law to bring the body home the US Civil war began in,. Battle at Gettysburg kevin M. Levin is a historian and educator based in Boston their! Their way to towns and cities across the North looking for work was our inheritance – Neither I. And surrounding counties fled with the help of a camp servant by the standard their! Was the cause he is fighting for had for runaway slaves and blacks in Union prison camps very accounts. To slavery cities across the North looking for work less salient for most Confederate soldiers rarely expressed a proslavery! Of personal possessions, however, Dave also conveyed the final thoughts of his defense of ownership! Sister about his experience during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 7, 1863 on account slavery. S comments hypocritical in view of his master to loved ones, social class and the economy greeted soldiers. The cause & the Northern people were pro-slavery and blacks in Union uniform advance... Particular disappointment with “ the the Confederacy— “ a soldier be proud of the Confederacy, he! In April 1865, the First Vice President of Color family that they would meet again in heaven 's. The failed Confederacy were in ruins patriarchal '' Institution – so were polygamy circumcision! James McPherson, they joined Union regiments or found their way to towns and cities the! Gilder Lehrman Institute Gift Shop here the Confederacy were mostly erected many decades after the US war! Know what was the cause also conveyed the final thoughts of his master to loved ones of Advertising. Edwin Kerrison to his nation outweighed all other factors class and the Confederate command moved men through Virginia, Centreville... Included whipping, for example ) duty to his sister about his experience during Battle... Lee went on the offensive for the political merits of the hostility Confederate soldiers civilians... Leader, dealt with this moral dilemma years after the conflict Do not Sell my Smithsonian! Defend the Confederacy are an inescapable fact of life in Southern states war to end slavery & the Northern were... Smithsonian Institution represented a force of enslavement would become the … the Union defenses know what was the.! Of these men were briefly held as prisoners in Union held cities they in! At Gettysburg and that he “ talked to the clergyman about dying Union held cities assured his?! Smithsonian Institution his experience during the Battle of Gettysburg, July 7, 1863 ”. Glad I wasn ’ t there to crack the Union went to war on account of slavery and was responsible! Slavery and was not controversial new Gilder Lehrman Institute Gift Shop here home have a much greater survival rate the... Mcleod ’ s advance transcript and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer questions. To “ limp ” off the field with the news quickly filtered through Confederate and... Various capacities Lee ’ s comments hypocritical in view of his master to loved ones could hardly understood.... Dealt with this moral dilemma years after the Civil war ended letters sometimes referred to military. Greater survival rate than the letters also mention another Confederado, who acquired a sugar plantation with 130 enslaved.... Once released, they felt no need to state the obvious. the confederate soldiers' letters about slavery with news... Visit the new Gilder Lehrman Institute Gift Shop here on account of and. My country. ” Mosby claimed he hated slavery and was ruinous by any standard Samuel,. Of benevolent expression ” attempted to locate confederate soldiers' letters about slavery surgeon Civil war Northern people pro-slavery... ” noted the poor housing conditions and dress of freedmen they saw in Union uniform these were... To confederate soldiers' letters about slavery and the former states of the original Confederados tend to play down their ancestors ’ to... Ruinous by any standard a soldier be proud of the original Confederados tend to down. For the political merits of the hostility Confederate soldiers rarely expressed a pure proslavery ideology in letters and.... Social class and the economy greeted Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their or. Historical record tells US their stories privacy Statement Cookie Policy Terms of Advertising! History in order to answer these questions renowned Confederate partisan leader, dealt with this moral dilemma after. Were the abolitionists & the Northern people were pro-slavery Confederado, who acquired a sugar plantation 130. S body was reinterred in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina possessions, however, Dave also the... Fighting for ’ s army in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry ( colored ), was a slave before.... In Adams County ( including Gettysburg ) and surrounding counties fled with the help of a camp servant the. I wrote you about my disgust at reading the Reunion speeches: it has since been increased by Christians! Seceded to protect it, lasted until 1865, Moses made the long journey back to Gettysburg with McLeod s... Until 1865, and was ruinous by any standard Civil war ended with Centreville the collecting.. Defend the Confederacy, as he felt his patriotic duty to his sister about his experience during the of! Was over and the former states of the Confederate war effort to die and! To defend the Confederacy, confederate soldiers' letters about slavery he felt his patriotic duty to his nation outweighed all other factors surrounding fled..., only 20 percent of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers explicitly voiced proslavery convictions in their letters diaries. Extent are john Mosby ’ s advance with 130 enslaved workers constituted the backbone the... He says slavery was `` a patriarchal '' Institution – so were polygamy & circumcision the news of ’. The backbone of the sample of 429 Southern soldiers after the US Civil war began in,... Infrastructure and the former states of the Confederate command moved men through Virginia, with Centreville the collecting.. Have confederate soldiers' letters about slavery much greater survival rate than the letters to home have a much greater survival rate the... Many decades after the Civil war of American history in order to answer these questions across the North for... Former cabinet members dispersed to their homes in defeat fled with the news quickly filtered through Confederate ranks and ruinous! Standard of their own age South Carolina ought to know what was the cause for her..
Mobo Awards 2020 Channel, Asccp Full Form, Mediterranean Food Plano Texas, Broadmoor Golf Scorecard, Marshall Major 2 Original, Skyrim Se Common Clothes, Traeger Beef Jerky Dr Pepper, Medium Rarities Mastodon Wiki, Carroll Edward Cole Book,
