African-Americans
in the War
The plight of African-Americans during the Civil War varied tremendously, depending on where they
lived, their socio-economic status, and whether they were enslaved or free. Regardless, the war
transformed their lives and set them on the path to equality with whites.
THE UNION TIGHTENS ITS GRIP 1863Death rates were as high as 25 percent,
and despite the presence of well-
meaning missionaries, who provided
spiritual and educational guidance, life
in the camps was miserable.
In 1861–63, the camps followed the
advances of the Union armies, and as
time wore on, conditions improved
slightly as Union officers found
employment for large numbers of
contrabands. The men worked as
dockworkers, pioneers, trench-diggers,
teamsters, and personal servants, and
some of the women served as cooks and
laundresses for the soldiers. In such
capacities they performed the same
functions as slaves did for the
Confederate armies, but at least they
earned a “wage,” even though this could
simply be room, board, and clothing.
The families of the employed lived in the
local camp or precariously hung around
the margins of the Union picket lines.Wage slavery under Unionists
Marginally more fortunate were former
slaves on abandoned plantations that
the Unionists confiscated and returned
to working order. Early in the war, the
Union army overran some of the South’s
best plantation districts: the sea islands
off Charleston, southern Louisiana, and
the fertile lands of the Mississippi River
Valley. Owners ran to safety behind
Confederate lines and simply left their
land and slaves to their fate.
Realizing the potential profits to be
had, Northern civilian entrepreneurs
responded eagerly to the federal
government’s offers to manage these
plantations. In theory, the government
would receive the lion’s share of the
sale of cotton, sugar, or other staple
crops, and the former slaves would be
paid a fair wage. In reality, plantation
managers and local Union army officers
conspired to split most of the profits
among themselves, and often paid the
laborers just enough to keep themU
nion policy toward slaves and
escaped slaves in the rebellious
states wavered between decisive,
proactive measures and lethargic
inaction or neglect. Overall, the
government was slow to implement
a coherent policy. The Union army,
U.S. Treasury Department, various
philanthropic organizations, the
president, and Congress all got involved
and had different, often competing
proposals and procedures on how to
deal with the great number of freedmen
(freed slaves) or soon-to-be freedmen.
Power ultimately rested with the
military officers in any given area, and
as early as the summer of 1861, Union
commanders were confronted with
large numbers of escaped slaves who
had run to safety within their lines.Horrors of the “contraband” camps
These early refugees from slavery became
known as “contraband of war,” a phrase
coined by Brigadier General Benjamin
Butler, commander of Fortress Monroe
in Virginia. It meant that the slaves did
not have to be returned to their owners
as fugitives under federal law. However,
their fate varied considerably from one
theater of war to another.
Many of the former slaves were
rounded up and placed in special
”contraband camps,“ where sanitation
was poor and medical care even worse.BEFORE
From its founding in 1818, the American
Colonization Society strove to send freed
slaves and free Northern blacks to foreign
shores, in particular Liberia.
COLONIZATION
It was believed, not only by slaveholders, but
also by some abolitionists, that blacks and whites
could not ultimately coexist in the United States.
The only successful colony was Liberia in West
Africa, which became an independent state in
- Lincoln himself was a known proponent
of colonization before issuing the
Emancipation Proclamation ❮❮ 160–61 and
supported several schemes during the war, most
of which ended in tragedy for the emigrants.
RIGHTS FOR NORTHERN BLACKS
Before the war, only Massachusetts legally
extended full voting rights to its black citizens.
Some other New England states allowed black
male suffrage, and in New York those with $250
worth of property could vote. To have a vote in
Ohio, over half a citizen‘s ancestry had to be white.
No other state allowed black people to vote.
During the war, some gains were made in
civil rights. Blacks could ride alongside whites
in Philadelphia and Washington streetcars and
in 1864 they were allowed to appear as both
witnesses and lawyers in federal courts,
but further reforms would have to wait for
the 14th Amendment 338–41 ❯❯.
Permanently scarred
However badly they were treated when they came
North, nothing could compare with the brutality and
cruelty slaves had suffered at the hands of their owners.
This former slave was photographed after he escaped to
the North and served in the Federal army.JOSEPH ROBERTS,
FIRST PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA