Tuesday, September 3, 2019
The Afro-Americans and The Civil War Essay -- Racism American History
The Afro-Americans and The Civil War "No officer in this regiment now doubts that the key to the successful prosecution of this war lies in the unlimited employment of black troops. Their superiority lies simply in the fact that they know the country, while white troops do not, and, moreover, that they have peculiarities of temperament, position, and motive which belong to them alone. Instead of leaving their homes and families to fight they are fighting for their homes and families, and they show the resolution and sagacity which a personal purpose gives. It would have been madness to attempt, with the bravest white troops what I have successfully accomplished with the black ones. Everything, even to the piloting of the vessels and the selection of the proper points for cannonading, was done by my own THE FIRST BLACK SOLDIERS (Extracted from "Army Life in a Black Regiment" - Higginson. Published: Fields, Osgood and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1870.)      It had become a Nation divided, friend against friend, and brother against brother, it was a Civil War. Many people lost their lives during this war, some unnecessarily. With Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation came the hope of freedom for slaves. The only thing that Lincoln did not count on was how long the war would last. If he had foreseen this, he would have enlisted the aid of blacks as soldiers sooner than he did. This would have saved many lives that were lost, and might have ended the war sooner.      On January 1,1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation was heading into the third year of America’s bloodiest battle - the Civil War. This proclamation declared â€Å"all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.†     Yet despite the way the Emancipation Proclamation was worded, it was limited in many ways. The Proclamation only applied to those states that had seceded from the Union, thereby leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also exempted some parts of the Confederate states that had already been seized by the North. Most importantly, the freedom it had promised depended upon the Union’s military victory in the war.      The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediat... ... officers. All such recommendations will be filed in the Bureau .for Colored Troops. 4     Each applicant shall be subjected to a fair but rigorous examination as to physical, mental, and moral fitness to command troops. 5     The Board shall specify for what grade of commission the several applicants are fit, and shall also classify and number them according to merit or proficiency. 6     Appointments to each grade shall only be made from the candidates approved by the Board, and in the order of merit recommended by it. 7     The report of the Board, if adverse, shall be conclusive, and no person rejected by it shall be re-examined. 8     Other instructions will be communicated to boards if required. By order of the Secretary of War:                                         E. D. TOWNSEND,                                         Assistant Adjutant-General. â€Å"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, US; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States†– Frederick Douglass The Afro-Americans and The Civil War Essay -- Racism American History The Afro-Americans and The Civil War "No officer in this regiment now doubts that the key to the successful prosecution of this war lies in the unlimited employment of black troops. Their superiority lies simply in the fact that they know the country, while white troops do not, and, moreover, that they have peculiarities of temperament, position, and motive which belong to them alone. Instead of leaving their homes and families to fight they are fighting for their homes and families, and they show the resolution and sagacity which a personal purpose gives. It would have been madness to attempt, with the bravest white troops what I have successfully accomplished with the black ones. Everything, even to the piloting of the vessels and the selection of the proper points for cannonading, was done by my own THE FIRST BLACK SOLDIERS (Extracted from "Army Life in a Black Regiment" - Higginson. Published: Fields, Osgood and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1870.)      It had become a Nation divided, friend against friend, and brother against brother, it was a Civil War. Many people lost their lives during this war, some unnecessarily. With Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation came the hope of freedom for slaves. The only thing that Lincoln did not count on was how long the war would last. If he had foreseen this, he would have enlisted the aid of blacks as soldiers sooner than he did. This would have saved many lives that were lost, and might have ended the war sooner.      On January 1,1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as the nation was heading into the third year of America’s bloodiest battle - the Civil War. This proclamation declared â€Å"all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of the State, the people whereof shall be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.†     Yet despite the way the Emancipation Proclamation was worded, it was limited in many ways. The Proclamation only applied to those states that had seceded from the Union, thereby leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also exempted some parts of the Confederate states that had already been seized by the North. Most importantly, the freedom it had promised depended upon the Union’s military victory in the war.      The Emancipation Proclamation did not immediat... ... officers. All such recommendations will be filed in the Bureau .for Colored Troops. 4     Each applicant shall be subjected to a fair but rigorous examination as to physical, mental, and moral fitness to command troops. 5     The Board shall specify for what grade of commission the several applicants are fit, and shall also classify and number them according to merit or proficiency. 6     Appointments to each grade shall only be made from the candidates approved by the Board, and in the order of merit recommended by it. 7     The report of the Board, if adverse, shall be conclusive, and no person rejected by it shall be re-examined. 8     Other instructions will be communicated to boards if required. By order of the Secretary of War:                                         E. D. TOWNSEND,                                         Assistant Adjutant-General. â€Å"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, US; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship in the United States†– Frederick Douglass
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