The Civil War began on April 12, 1861. Over the four years that the war lasted, more than one million people were killed or wounded making it the most deadly war in American history. The war was fought on the promise of a new country for the South. They called themselves the Confederacy. The North was not interested in the separation of the newly formed country and so they called themselves the Union (Cox, 1). The most controversial issue of the time was slavery. From the beginning of the 1500s to the 1800s, approximately twelve million Africans were kidnapped from their homeland and sold to North and South America as slaves. The slave trade was a core contributor to the economy and affected all those who lived in the Americas during this time period. Americans justified their actions with the belief that their slaves were “inferior” to them (Ollhof, 4). During the time of the Civil War, slavery was legal in the Southern states as a result of their need for slave labor on their plantations. The Southern states were agricultural just as the Northern states were industrial and therefore did not need slave labor for their economic success. These realities shaped the political climate in the times of the Civil War (6). Although the war was largely fought over the concept of slavery, African Americans were often prevented from providing their service for the Union’s efforts. For this reason, the impact of African American contributions to the Civil War are often overlooked but their importance must be ignoliged.
Perhaps the most influential way African Americans helped the Union war effort was by fighting for the right to enlist and enlisting in the army. Although many still feared giving African Americans weapons, arguing that “blacks would not enlist; blacks were too cowardly to fight and would run when faced with white Southerners; blacks were not intelligent enough to learn drill; blacks with guns would return to the savage instincts of the jungle… Blacks would demoralize white soldiers (Altman, 99).” None of this, of course, turned out to be true but the fears and prejudices of many white citizens kept African Americans from fighting. The inability for a black man to fight for his own freedom was a source of outrage for many. An African American man named Jacob Dadson who worked in the US Senate went all the way to the Rocky Mountains to offer “300 reliable colored free citizens of this (Washington, DC) who desire to enter service for the defence of the city.” His offer was denied. When an Ohio resident asked David Todd (the Governor of Ohio) if he could raise a black regiment, he said, “Do you not know, that this is a white man’s government; that white men are able to defend it and protect it, and that to enlist a negro soldier would be to drive every white man out of service.” Meanwhile, in Cleveland, African Americans were making a military club, telling the government they were ready to fight. They too were rejected (Cox, 2.). The Union was losing the war and white men were losing their enthusiasm for enlistment. They saw catastrophic death and injury rates and were discouraged by the direction in which the war seemed to be moving. While white enthusiasm was shrinking, African Americans will to fight was only growing, and so many governors hoped they could replace their falling numbers with African Americans (8). The only problem? President Abraham Lincoln. He was afraid if he let African Americans into the army the border states would turn on him. He said letting them in “would turn 50,000 bayonets from the loyal Border states against us that are for us.” He was also afraid that the loyal white soldiers would refuse to fight alongside African Americans (5). Clearly though, Lincoln changed his mind because on January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the states still fighting the Union and allowing African Americans to fight. He said that this was a “necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion (9).” The Emancipation Proclamation stated that African Americans would be “received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service (10)” In May 1863, the Bureau of Colored troops was created and African Americans were ready to fight (“African Americans In the Civil War”).
African Americans from all walks of life came together to utilize their new right and enlist in the army. The first black regiments were made up of people from Massachusetts, Tennessee and the areas of South Carolina under Union Control (“African Americans In the Civil War”) but eventually the majority of the African Americans came from slave states simply because that’s where the majority of the African American population lived. Most of these men were runaway slaves and still had families in slavery, while they struggled to fight for their freedom. Overall, the exclusively African American Colored Troops fought in thirty nine major battles and in four hundred and forty nine battles in total (Cox, 150). There were almost 180,000 black soldiers fighting in the Union army adding up to close to 10% of the Union soldiers (Ollhoff, 24) 20,000 more were in the Union Navy (“African Americans In the Civil War”). African Americans served in eleven light artillery batteries and over 140 regiments: seven cavalry, twelve heavy artillery, and 121 infantry (Cox, 149). By the end of the war, 40,000 African Americans had died serving in the Union Army: 75% due to disease or infection. African American soldiers helped significantly during the siege of Petersburg and were a large part of Union forces at the Battle of Nashville (“African Americans In the Civil War”) In the first October in the year the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers fought of a Confederate strike on Island Mound, Missouri. The United States Colored Troops proved themselves at Port Hudson, Louisiana; Honey Springs, Oklahoma; Fort Wagner, South Carolina and at New Market Heights, Virginia as well as at countless other locations (“Civil War Facts”). Officer Robert Gould Shaw, the officer appointed to lead the 54th Massachusetts regiment (one of the first exclusively African American regiments) said that, “Everything goes on prosperously. The intelligence of the men is a great surprise to me. They learn all the details of the guard duty amd Camp service, infinitely more readily than I have had under my command. There is not the least doubt, that we shall leave the state, with a good regiment, as and that has marched (Altman, 99).” By the end of the war President Abraham Lincoln had said, “without the military help of the black freedmen, the war against the South could not have been won (Cox, 150).” After the war, sixteen African American soldiers and seven sailors had won the Congressional Medal of Honor. Eight of these soldiers were Sergeants who had led their companies into battle after all of the white officers had been killed or were too wounded to fight (149,150). Clearly, African Americans played a substantial role in the eventual success of the Union army.
In addition to the army, African American spies were also a large asset for the Union forces. Escaped African American slaves were cautiously briefed and some were recruited to be spies for the Union. These individuals would return to the South with white agents posing as their masters. Freed Blacks also became spies (“African Americans In the Civil War”). African Americans could perform activity traditionally done by slaves without raising suspicions. Officers and officials usually ignored slaves while talking about anything related to the war because they often assumed their slaves were unintelligent and illiterate (“Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence During the Civil War”). In this way, African American spies could learn valuable information on the Confederate army and their plans as well as report knowledge on familiar terrain. Even the Confederacy acknowledge the value of these African American spies. General Robert E. Lee said, “The chief source of information to the enemy is through our negroes (“African Americans In the Civil War”).” African American activist Fredrick Douglas said, “The true history of this war will show that the loyal army found no friends at the South so faithful, active, and daring in their efforts to sustain the government as the Negroes. Negroes have repeatedly threaded themselves to bullets to convey important information to the loyal army of the Potomac (“Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence”).” The strength and bravery of these African American spies contributed greatly to the success of the Union army.
Individuals like Frederick Douglass, African American activists, were a rallying point for abolitionists and the Union Army. There were large variations in the kinds of activism shown from different African American abolitionists. There were people like Robert Purvis, who spent his life freeing individuals from slavery (“African-American Abolitionists”). Another form of activism shown by an African American was the aforementioned Frederick Douglass, a famous African American abolitionist and a freed slave. Douglass knew how to read and write and he became an influential public speaker. He spoke at anti-slave rallies, consulted with President Lincoln and an autobiography of his life became an international bestseller (Ollhoff, 16). Douglass consulted heavily with Lincoln and was a substantial influence in Lincoln’s decision to allow African Americans to serve in the military (24). Bravery from African Americans like Dred Scott were an inspiration to all abolitionists. Dred Scott sued his owner in 1857 for his freedom. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court where the decision was made that African Americans were not citizens and therefore not protected by the Constitution. This was an outrage to many in the North and became a rallying point for change (Ollhoff, 20). Charlotte Forten was another brave African American she was from Massachusetts and made a school for the children of ex-slaves on the Sea Islands of South Carolina (Cox, 10). Another prominent activist of the time was Sojourner Truth. She was a women’s rights activist as well as a famous abolitionist. Truth collected supplies for colored troops in the Civil War and dedicated herself to fighting for freedpeople during the Reconstruction period. She once traveled to D.C. and met Lincoln at the White House. She delivered many influential speeches. Harriet Beecher Stowe said about Truth that she had never “been conversant with anyone who had more of that silent subtle power which we call personal presence than this woman (“Sojourner Truth”).” The voices and actions of African Americans fighting for what they believed was right shaped the time period immensely.
The Union victory was a milestone in the lives of all African Americans. Accomplishments in the army, politics, and as Union intelligence made African Americans role in the success of the Union army vital. On April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered the final of his troops to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House (“Civil War Facts”). Although the war was won, the fight for freedom wasn’t over for African Americans. It wouldn’t be until eight months later, on December 18, 1865 that the 13th amendment would be ratified and slavery would be abolished (Cox, 150). Four years later Congress would ratify the 4th amendment, giving ex-slaves the same rights as other citizens. With the continued drive for change from individuals like Frederick Douglass, five years after the Confederacy had surrendered it’s forces, the 15th Amendment was ratified. It stated you could no longer restrict voting on “account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude (151).”