Hello everyone,

There was some contraversy on this bulletein board back in April, about black confederates in the War Between the States. The CO of my World War I unit, Rick Ford, who is also a member of this board. asked me to bring my research to this site. Be advised that I am a proud descendant of a confederate veteran of color from Mississippi, who served during the Vicksburg campaigns of '62 and '63. I am also a member of the Fighting Joe Wheeler Camp #1372, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Birmingham, AL.

I hope that the following historical references will enlighten and educate you to those of color who proudly wore the grey...

"Approximately 3,000 free men of color from Alabama ardently served the Confederate cause via enlistment."
-The Birmingham News
August 28, 1978

"One black company was sent to Augusta, Georgia to serve with the 3rd and 4th Georgia Regiments."
-Blacks in Blue and Gray: Afro-American Service in the Civil War
H.C. Blackerby, page 18

"I can assure you [Father], of a certainty, that the rebels have negro soldiers in their army. One of their best sharp shooters, and the boldest of them all here is a negro. He dug himself a rifle pit last night [16 April 1863] just across the river and has been annoying our pickets opposite him very much to-day. You can see him plain enough with the naked eye, occasionally, to make sure that he is a 'wooly-head,' and with a spy-glass there is no mistaking him."
- James G. Bates
13th Indiana Volunteer Infantry
May 1st, 1863

"Negroes are employed by the thousands in the rebel armies to fight against the Union..."
-Chicago Tribune
September 13, 1861

"Seventy free blacks enlisted in the Confederate Army in Lynchburg, Virginia. Sixteen companies of free men of color marched through Augusta, Georgia on their way to fight in Virginia."
-Journal of Negro History,
Charles Wesle, Vol. 4, #3, (1919), p244-245

"It is now pretty well established that there are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants, and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the traitors and rebels. There were such soldiers at Manassas and they are probably there still."

-Fredrick Douglass
September 1861

I hope I have been able to shed some light on this topic...if you have any questions, I can be reached at drivenz28@hotmail.com, and I'd be more than happy to answer them.