SlavesinWar:TheHistorical
Record 29
abling
or
inducing
slavesto
fight.Manysocieties
specifically
ex-
cluded slaves from
military
service but
(reluctantly) allowed
freedmenthis
privilege.
23
Insuch
places,manumissionhadto
precede
enrollmentin
the
army.
24
Ifslavescouldenrollinthe
army
orif
they
werenot
formallyenrolled,manumissioncould
either
precedewarfare
5
orfollowitasarewardfor
loyal
ser-
vice.
6
In
general, manumission
gave military
commanders
greaterflexibilityin
employing
slavesassoldiers.
Consequently,
thedifferencebetween
being
aslaveora
freedmansometimes
had
significance
andatothertimesdidnot.
Note, however,
that
onlyslaveswithfreedomofactionhadmuchchancefor
manumission; a
galleyslave
hardlyrequired
freedom torow
hard--thelash
probably
workedmore
efficiently.
The United StatesCivil War
presented some
outstanding
examples
ofthe
loyalty
ofslaves.
Althoughslavery
itself
lay
at
theheartoftheissuebetweenNorthand
South,
bothslaveand
free
Negroes
intheSouthaided
theConfederatecause,however
contrary
thisrantothe
generalinterestsofNegroes.
Quarles
suggests
threereasonsforthe
help
thatfree
Negroesprovided:
local
patriotism
anda"senseof
communityresponsibility,"good
wages,
andthe
hope
ofan
improved
status
throughloyal
ser-
vice.
.8
Of
course,
many
slaveandfree
Negroes
also
fought
for
theUnion, andsome
Negroesin the Confederate
army
de-
serted.
29
23.Rome:K/ihne,
p.
189.
BritishWestIndies:Handler,
pp.
110-11.
24.Croiset
argues
this
point
forAthenswithG.
Foucart,Delibertorumcon-
ditione
apudAthenienses(Paris,1896);Garlan,
p.
48,
compares
slaves
fighting
on
landandatsea;
Hay,pp.67-69,recordstheConfederatedebatesonthis
topic.
25.Greece:Croiset,
p.68;Sargent,
pp.
208-09,212;
Notopoulos,p.
353;
Garlan,p.48.Rome:Rouland,
p. 21
n.3;
Halkin,p.48;Duff,p. 141 n.2.
Early
Islam:
AA,5:300;Khalifa,
p.
574 TMaw,
p.
72.U.S.:
Hay,p.
70.
26.Greece:
Westermann,
p.
18;Garlan,
pp.
45,48.Rome:
Halkin,pp.45-46;
Rouland,
pp.46,48,51-52.
Early
Islam:T,1:1543;AA,4b:49;Ibn
.Habib,pp.
228-29;ITB,2:106.Peru:Bowser,
p.
9.
Venezuela:Lombardi,
p.
37.U.S.:AR,
pp.ix,60,79,84,183-85.In 1635 theFrenchenlistedslaves
onSt.Kitts,prom-
isingthemeventualmanumission,butdidnot
carrythrough(Buckley,p.3).
27.
Boulvert,p,230.
28.CW,
pp.38-39.
One
Negrolaboreris
reported
tohavesaid,"Wewould
rather
fight
forourown
whitefolksthanfor
strangers"(Hay,p.
64).
29.
CW,chap.10;
Wiley,chap.
15;CW,
pp.116-17;Hay,p.
37.