SlavesinWar:The
HistoricalRecord
25
justfromoutsideIslamdom
butfromthefirsttwo
centuriesof
Muslim
history.
This
chapteroutlinesthe
ways
inwhichordi-
nary
and
military
slaveswereused. It
isthefirst
comparative
analysis
of
ordinaryslavesinwarfare.
OrdinarySlaves
ConditionsofUse
In
peacetime
ordinary
slaves
workedat
nonmilitary
occupations
as
personalretainers,domestic
servants,
plantation
workers--
and
engaged
in
warfare
onlyby
chance
when
every
able
body
was
needed.
Just
as
householdslaves
might
sometimes
help
to
harvesta
crop,
so
ordinaryslaves
occasionallyfought;yet
many
limitations
alwayshampered
their
effectiveness.The
slaveowner
rarelythought
ofhis
ordinary
slavesas
potentialsoldiers.
They
provided him with various
services,
personal
and
economic,
which
normally
had
nothing
todo
withwarfare.
Normally,that
is,untilwarbroke
out;then
militaryneeds
compelled
a
slave-
owner to assess his
slaves’
possible usefulness as soldiers?
Whenwarbroke
out,slaveowners
usually
felt
reluctanttouse
theirslavesinbattle.
4
Besidesan
ideological
aversionto
honor-
ing
slaveswith
armswhichcould
take theformofa
legalpro-
hibitionpthis
reluctancestemmedbothfrom
theirlowestima-
- Greece:Westermann,
p.16;Welwei,1:2;Rome:Halkin,
p.46;Treggiari,
p.68;Peru:Bowser,
p.
309;Venezuela:
Lombardi,p.46;U.S.:AR,
pp.vii,8.
- For
example,inGreece:Westermann,
p.37;Sargent,
p.
201.Ifthe
gov-
ernmentowneditsown
slaves,itwas
likely
tousethemfirst
before
enrollingpri-
vatelyownedslaves
(Jacob,p.63).
5.
Rome:Halkin,
p.
44;Barrow,
p.146;Rouland,
pp.
48,91-97.BritishWest
Indies:"A
Negroisneverof
any
useinthe
plantationafter
they
[s/c]have
carried
arms"
(Buckley,
p.
38);Goveia,
p.
253.
The
followingstatementscomeoutoftheConfederate
debateover
arming
slavesattheendofthe
CivilWarintheUnitedStates:
"Whenwearmthem,we
abandon
slavery"(Hay,p.63).
"Ifthe
negrowasfittobea
soldier,
hewas
notfit
tobea
slave"(ibid.).
"If
they
areto
fightforourfreedom
they
areentitledto
theirown"(TheWar
of
theRebellion:A
Compilation
of
the
Official
Records
of
theUnionand
Confederate
Armies,
ed.F.C.Ainsworthetal.,
70 vols.in 128
[Washington,
D.C.,
1880-1901],ser.4,
3:959).