SlavesinWar:The
HistoricalRecord
31
Similarly,
in
Venezuelathe
"Royalistshadthe
unpleasant
repu-
tationof
putting
all
theblacksinthefront
line,
presumably
to
savetheirwhite
troops."
a
Thefateof
captivesdepended
largely
on
theirown
fightingskills.If
they
had
none,theyservedas
cannon
fodder;butif
they
had
some,then
theyperformedless
gruesomefunctions.Skilled
captivessometimes
joined
thevic-
torious
army
asfree
men,
subordinates,
or
slaves.
Although
strongfighters,such
captiveswere
always
unreliable
andcould
notbe
counted
upon
toshow
any
allegiance,
so
theyhadtobe
strictlycontrolled.
They
tendedto
bebettertreatedand
more
reliable when
theyconstituted aclassof
soldiers; then
they
changedsides
lightly,beingmoreconcernedto
remaininthe
militaryranksthanto
fight
for
any
factional
allegiance.
MilitaryFunctions
Sincemost
masters
thought
that
slaveshadno
military
skills
and
fearedtheir
mutiny
or
desertion,
few
ordinary
slaveswere
en-
listedintothe
armyitself.Mostslavesfilled
noncombatant
posi-
tions;sometimes
they
servedas
auxiliary
soldiers,butit
usually
requiredan
emergency
to
inducerulerstoenroll
slaveswithin
the
armyitself.
Nearly
allslaves
inwarfittedintooneof
these
three
categories:
support,auxiliary,
or
emergency.
Whenslaves
stayedoutofthedirect
lineoffire,
theywere
bettercontrolledand
couldusesomeofthe
civilianskills
they
already
possessed?
4
Like
womeninsomemodern
armies,slaves
tookon
thenoncombatant
duties,whichreleased
soldiersfor
fighting,
a
The
variety
oftheirwork
behindthelineswasend-
less:
they
staffedthe
notorious
galley
crewsinboth
theMediter-
ranean andthe
Atlantic,
an
they
maintained
stables inancient
p.
67.
The
Mongols
didnot
have
military
slaves
atfirst,but
madeuseofthem
by
theend
ofthe
7th/13th
century
(John
Masson
Smith,
Jr.,
The
History
of
theSar-
badr
Dynasty1336-1381A.D.
andItsSources
(The
Hague,
1970),p.110.
33.
Lombardi,p.39.
34.AR,
pp.94-103,134-56(British
use)givescompleteaccounts.
- Rouland,
pp.41-42. - Mediterranean:
Westermann,
p.
67;Halkin,
p.46;Barrow,
p.
148;CW,
p.
277;Garlan,
pp.
38,41;
Sargent,pp.264-74,
saystheyhadasmallrolein
Athens;L.Casson,
"GalleySlaves,"Transactionsand
Proceedings
of
theAmerican