Black Confederate Soldiers Authorized
1964 – Black soldiers authorized to fight for the Confederate States of America. The Confederate troops were struggling against the onslaught of the Union Army, which was making inroads into the Carolinas by General William T. Sherman and Richmond, Virginia under the attacks led by General Ulysses S. Grant. General Robert E. Lee, who led the Confederate troops, recommended freeing the Black slaves in return for the fighting for the Confederacy, by the final measure that was passed by the Confederate Congress did not include this clause.
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[wp_ad_camp_2]The idea of having Blacks fighting for the Confederacy was originally proposed by Confederate General Patrick Cleburne. There was resistance to his suggestion with one politician asking “What did we go to war for, if not to protect our property” and another saying “If slaves will make good soldiers, our whole theory of slavery is wrong.”
While several thousand blacks were enlisted in the Rebel cause, the Union Army included nearly 200,000 Blacks, and General Lee surrended to General Grant on April 9, 1865 at the Appomattox Court House, Virginia.
Source: History.com – https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/confederacy-approves-black-soldiers
