Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

Slavesin

War:TheHistoricalRecord

43

againstslavery;

much

less

explicable

isthefactthat

they

also

fought

fortheotherside--in

effect,

helping

to

perpetuate

slav-

ery.

87

Whilefree

Negroes

were

alreadyfightingin 1861,

8

the

question

of

using

slavesassoldiersarose

seriouslyonly

in

1863,

astheSouth

increasingly

faced

manpower

problems.

Publicde-

bate

grew

afterasecretmemowritten

byageneralinthe

Army

of

Tennesseein

January

1864

proposed

that

slavesberecruited

for

militaryserviceand

subsequently

receivetheir

freedomasa

rewardforfaithful

service.

9

TheConfederate

Congressbegan

debateonthis

questioninNovember1864;

publichostility

tothe

ideaof

arming

slaveslessenedoverthe

following

months,buta

motion

tothiseffectwasdefeated

by

the

ConfederateSenateon

7

February

1865.

90

GeneralRobertE.Lee

strongly

endorsedthe

ideainaletterwrittenon

12

February,

andthisturnedthe

tide;

Congress approved

the measure and

it took effect on 13

March,

91

lessthanonemonthbeforeLee’s

capitulation

atthe

Appomattox

CourtHouseon 9

April.Commonly

knownasthe

"Negro

SoldierLaw,"it

legislated"that,inorderto

provide

ad-

ditional

forcesto

repel

invasion thePresident

be au-

thorized

to

askfor

and

accept

fromtheownersof

slaves,theser-

vicesofsuchnumberof

able-bodied

negro

menashe

may

deem

expedient..,

to

performmilitaryserviceinwhatever

capacity

he

may

direct."92These

troops

weretoreceivethe

sametreatment

asfreesoldiers;eachstatehada

quota

of

300,000slaves(with

certain

provisos); thelaw

explicitly

didnotfreethe

slavesor

offerthemfreedomfor
loyalservice.

cw,

pp.

356-57,liststwelve

full-lengthreminiscenceswritten

by

whiteofficers

of
black
troops, describing

the federal

techniques for

recruiting Negro

soldiers--and
this

is

averypartial

listing!

87.

Negroes

also

contributedtheirlaborto

theConfederate

cause;although

thishad
more
importance

thantheir

fighting,

itwill

be

ignored

here.See

J.

H.

Brewer,
The
ConfederateNegro:Virginia’s
Craftsmen

and

Military

Laborers,1861-

1865
(Durham,N.C.,1969).

88.

Wiley,pp.

147-48.

89. Ibid.,
    p.

150;TheWar

of

theRebellion,ser.4,3:1008.

90.

Wiley,p.157.

91.

Lee’sletter:TheWar

of

theRebellion,ser.

4,3:1012.

Congressional

debate:

Stephenson,passim.

92.TheWar

of

the

Rebellion,ser.4,3:1161.