Black Confederates at Milliken’s Bend?
When I spoke at the Southern Festival of Books in Oct. 2013, a member of the audience asked if there were any African American troops fighting at Milliken’s Bend on the Confederate side. I replied that there were not. He followed this by asking me to speak in a more general sense about the presence of African American troops in the Confederate army. I won’t repeat my full answer here, but instead, will provide more information about why I answered the way I did, when I stated “I can’t say that there were none at all.”
There were no formally organized African American units in Confederate service until very late in the war, with one notable exception. The Louisiana Native Guards was an organization composed of free blacks from New Orleans. This unit organized on May 2, 1861 – less than a month after the firing on Ft. Sumter in South Carolina ignited the war. The Guards were technically a Louisiana militia unit, not a Confederate one, but this meant that they were under the overall command of the Confederate governor of the state, Thomas O. Moore. In February of 1862, the Louisiana law was changed and specifically stated that militiamen must be “white,” thus putting an end to the Guards’ service. But just the next month, Gov. Moore reconstituted the Guards to help defend New Orleans against Capt. David G. Farragut’s fleet of U.S. vessels.
The story of the Louisiana Native Guards is too interesting, and too detailed for me to repeat at length, here. However, the late James G. Hollandsworth, Jr. wrote an excellent book about their service, The Louisiana Native Guards: The Black Military Experience During the Civil War
By August 1862, Union general Benjamin Butler was threatening to use the former Native Guards himself, this time, to defend the city against a Confederate attack, and he had no doubt about their loyalty and usefulness to the Union cause. They later would gain renown in late May 1863 in their own bloody fighting against the Confederates at Port Hudson, Louisiana.
Thus, when answering the audience member’s question, it would have been inaccurate for me to say that no black men served in the Confederate army. It would be ignoring the early days of the Native Guards’ story. Likewise, very late in the war – April 1865 – Confederate authorities in the Confederate capitol in Richmond, Virginia, finally allowed slaves to enlist in the Confederate service. This was a true reflection of Confederate desperation. The suggestion to enlist slaves had been made occasionally, years before, but the Confederate government would have none of it. Nevertheless, though the examples are few, and relate to very narrow, specific circumstances, it can indeed be said some black men served in the Confederate army. However, their numbers pale in comparison to the estimated 300,000 men who had put on the Union uniform by the end of the war. Black Confederate soldiers are by far the rare exception, not the rule.
For further reading on Black Confederate misinformation, see numerous writings by Kevin Levin.
Future posts related to this topic, still to come:
“Slave pensions”
Dick Perkins
Confederate proposals to arm slaves after Milliken’s Bend
Hello, this topic always intrigued me as to how people twist facts to meet their need. I actually have a document from the CS conscript office in Richmond detailing exactly how many Blacks had been drafted for service at that time. when I bring that to peoples attention they claim a slave being drafted wasnt used for combat purposes. my answer is always so what? Many white men were drafted into service during subsequent wars and served as cooks, clerks, engineers,seabees etc. does that mean they werent considered soldiers? I bet they would claim they were if you asked them. so why would blackman, regardless if they were drafted, volunteered or even a slave who was taken into service by his master and served beside him, why who he not be considered a soldier? truth is there were more than a few hundred. granted not as many that served in teh union, but still they served.
Thanks for your comment. I’m sorry I haven’t yet had a chance to post some of the related information I have about this subject, specifically as it relates to Milliken’s Bend.
However, to respond more directly, I would state that I do make a distinction between slaves who went with their masters and African-Americans, slave or free, who served as soldiers. Slaves who went with their masters, typically as body servants usually:
1) did not get paid for their service
2) were not carried on military muster rolls
3) were not eligible for *soldiers* pensions (though some states explicitly *did* provide pensions for “loyal slaves”)
I believe these are important distinctions between a soldier, versus a servant/slave.
Again, Kevin Levin (links above) writes much more extensively about this subject as it applies throughout the Confederacy.
Stay tuned; I’ll get some of these additional posts related to this topic and Milliken’s Bend online within the next few months.
Thanks for stopping by.
I thank you for writing this book about an important and too little known battle of the war. I watched your televised booktalk. I do think it’s very important to debunk this notion of black Confederate soldiers if you are asked this question again. Black people “served” the Confederates as enslaved laborers and only in the last weeks of the war did the desperate Confederates approve the use of blacks as soldiers. That idea countered their entire reason for being–that is–their belief in the inherent inferiority of blacks.The Louisiana Native Guards were allowed to be a part of the Louisiana state militia briefly–but they were never Confederate soldiers. The many former slaves who received pensions from southern states did so as Servants, clearly marked on the application form. Someone also asked you about blacks slaves being drafted and I believed you answered they were not-thousands of escaped slaves were drafted all over the Union.
I thank you for your contribution about the battle. I am glad you are familiar with Kevin Levin’s work–also please see Donald Scheaffer’s wonderful blog and related post here: here:http://cwemancipation.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/black-confederates-patrick-cleburnes-radical-proposal/
Kind regards~
Robyn – Thank you so much for your comment and feedback. I really appreciate your further thoughts and suggestions on this, and the link to the specific post at Civil War Emancipation. I do intend to post more on this subject, though primarily as it relates to Milliken’s Bend. I agree with the first paragraph of Shaffer’s post, preferring to leave the more detailed discrediting of this myth to others. I too am concerned that by giving the matter more press, it risks giving more credence to this myth than it deserves. There are many more stories of all types about Milliken’s Bend that I hope to post, and I feel my time is best devoted to that. Thank you again for your comment, and for stopping by.