| Religious Herald, Richmond, VA, September 10, 1863 (From unedited
microfiche of the original article):
To the Confederate army goes the distinction of having the first black
to minister to white troops:
'A correspondent of the SOLDIER'S FRIEND mentions a Tennessee regiment
which has no chaplain; but an old negro, 'Uncle Lewis,'' preaches two or
three times a week at night. He is heard with respectful attention -- and
for earnestness, zeal and sincerity, can be surpassed by none. Two or three
revivals have followed his preaching in the regiment. What will the wise
Christian patriots out of the army, who denounce those who wish to see
competent negroes allowed to preach, as tainted with anti-slaveryism, say
with regard to the true Southern feeling of that regiment, which has fought
unflinchingly from Shiloh to Murfreesboro?""
 |
| Charles Kelly Barrow, J. H. Segars, and R. B. Rosenburg, eds., Forgotten
Confederates: An Anthology About Black Southerners (Atlanta, GA: Southern
Heritage Press, 1995) pp. 20-21 - Charlotte Western Democrat, July
29, 1861
There are numerous accounts of black participation in the battle of
First Manassas in the summer of 1861. Black combatants shot, killed, and
captured Union troops. Loyal slaves were said to have fought with outstanding
bravery alongside their masters. These reports also provide testimony to
the fidelity of black Rebels in combat. One black soldier was moving about
the field when ordered to surrender by a Union officer. The Rebel replied,
"No sir, you are my prisoner," while drawing a pistol and shooting
the officer dead. He then secured the officer's sidearm and after the battle
boasted loudly of having quieted at least one of "the stinkin' Yankees
who cam here `specting to whip us Southerners." Another black Confederate
who stood behind a tree allowed two Union soldiers to pass before shooting
one in the shoulders, clubbing him with a pistol, while demanding the other
to surrender. Both prisoners were marched into Confederate lines. An Alabama
officer's servant marched a Zouave into camp proclaiming, "Massa,
here one of dese devils who been shooting at us, Suh."
|
| Charles Kelly Barrow, J. H. Segars, and R. B. Rosenburg, eds., Forgotten
Confederates: An Anthology About Black Southerners (Atlanta, GA: Southern
Heritage Press, 1995) p. 43
One cavalry officer related how he was held under guard by a shotgun-wielding
black who kept the weapon trained on the Yankee's head with unwavering
concentration. "Here I had come South and was fighting to free this
man," the disgusted major wrote in his diary. "If I had made
one false move on my horse, he would have shot my head off."
|
| Southern Negro
A South Carolina slave/servant wrote to his sister:
"I've bin havin' a good time ginerally-see a heap of fine country
and a plenty of purty gals...I have also bin on the battle fields and hear
the bullets whiz. When the Yankees run I...got more clothes, blankets,
overcoats, and razors than I could tote. I've got an injin rubber cloke
with two brass eyes keeps the rain off like a meetin' house. Im a made
man since the battle and cockt and primed to try it again. If I kin kill
a Yankee and git a gold watch, and a pair of boots, my trip will be made.
How other niggers do to stay home, while we soldiers are havin' such a
good time is more than I can tell."
|
| Memphis Avalanche quoted in Charlotte Western Democrat,
December 31, 1861
"The efforts of Jack, servant of an officer of the Thirteenth Arkansas
Regiment, stands out as an act of heroism. Jack fought beside his master
during the heat of battle. He fell seriously wounded but refused to be
evacuated and continued to fire at the enemy. He later died in a hospital
of his wounds sustained in the ranks of the Confederate army."
|
| The Unlikely Story of Blacks Who Were Loyal to Dixie
"John Parker was one of four black men in an artillery battery
at First Manassas. A New York Times correspondent with Grant's army in
1863 found a 'rebel battery manned almost wholly by Negroes, a single white
man or perhaps two directing operations.'"
|
| Quoted in New Bern Weekly Press, August 13, 1861; Charlotte
Western Democrat, August 13, 1861
"Angered at the loss of life at the hands of blacks at Manassas
and somewhat disillusioned the northern Exchange editorialized:
'The war has dispelled one delusion of the abolitionists. The Negroes regard
them as enemies instead of friends. No insurrection has occurred in the
South - no important stampede of slaves has evinced their desire for freedom.
On the contrary, they have jeered at and insulted our troops, have readily
enlisted in the rebel army and on Sunday, at Manassas, shot down our men
with as much alacrity as if abolitionism had never existed.'"
|
| Ashville News, June 29, 1862; Charlotte Daily Bulletin,
July 25, 1862
"Among the troops taken by Union forces at Hatteras in 1862 were
two North Carolina blacks who were offered by the Union commander their
release in Boston. They politely announced, 'We is seches niggers ourselves,
sah! We rader stick to our massa, sah!'"
|
| Georgia Hicks Papers, North Carolina Department of Archives and
History, Raleigh
"Writing to Gen. Richard S. Ewell in the last days of the war,
F.W. Hancock indicated that he had 'caused the hired male slaves at his
hospital to be convened and after asking them the deliberate question,
if they would be willing to take up arms to protect their own from an attacking
foe, sixty out of 72 responded that they would go to the trenches and fight
the enemy to the bitter end.'"
|
| Federal Writers Program of the Workers Progress Administration in
the State of Virginia, comp., The Negro in Virginia
"There also is the legend from Virginia of 'Charlie,' who shook
his fist at the Yankee invaders and shouted, 'Don't you know dis is de
Tabb Place? Ain't you never heard of States rights? Git off wid you.'"
|
| Black Southerners In Gray (Tennessee Confederate Pension Files),
Page 83:
"George Washington Yancey was captured with the Georgia militia,
escaped, went to Chickamauga and "got with the Southern troops again,
but was captured again at Missionary Ridge." He escaped a second time
and joined the Confederates at Atlanta. He was captured again at Macon
and imprisoned. "I was loyal to the Confederate states," he asserted,
and escaped again, spending the rest of the war foraging for the Confederate
troops. Dawson Pugh was captured by the Yankees in March, 1863, escaped,
and returned to his owner and master, Lt. Frank Pugh. Clay Hickerson was
captured and when the Yankees tried to take him North with them he refused
to go and returned to his owner, who told him that he was free anyway.
In the spring of 1865, Dave Burns was captured along with "most of
my company." He escaped and returned to his "old master."
A Witness for Henry Church remembered that he had been at Ft. Donaldson
in early 1862:
At the surrender he escaped with Burr Church and went with Capt. Perkin's
Co. till Capt. Church was exchanged when he went to the [48th TN Infantry]
again at Vicksburg and stayed with Capt. Church till after the battle of
Nashville where Capt. Church lost his leg...Henry brought him back home
and then went on South with floo [flu] and was with the Regiment at the
surrender." |
