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BLack Southerners in the Confederate Army

These Southern Gentlemen all served with honor as Soldiers in battle with the Confederate Army, as well did Mr. Jim Lewis personal cook for General Jackson

Mr. Jeff Shields

Mr. Charles Hicks

Mr. Bill Yopp

For more on Black Confederates try this web site:http://www.southernpartysw.tripod.com/southernpartiesofthesouthwestssecondsite/id4.html

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/blackcs.htm

C.S.A. Memorial at Arlington Va.

NOTE: The "Black" Confederate Soldier in the middle background, and further note that the statue was designed by a Confederate veteran of Jewish decent, Moses Jacob Ezekiel.
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Brig. General Degataga "Stand" Watie

{He was a leader of the Cherokee Nation and a Brigadier General of the Confederate States Army during the War Of Northern Aggression. He commanded the American Indian cavalry made up mostly of Cherokee, Creek and Seminole.}
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Moses Jacob Ezekiel, Cadet Sergeant Major {VMI Cadet that fought for the Confederacy}

NOTE: Here are just a few notable Confederates of the Jewish faith in addition to Moses Jacob Ezekiel .

Abraham Myers was a West Point graduate and classmate of Robert E. Lee. Myers served as Quartermaster General and before the war, fought Indians in Florida. The city of Fort Myers was named after him.

Major Adolph Proskauer of Mobile, Alabama was wounded several times. A subordinate officer wrote "I can see him now as he nobly carried himself at Gettysburg, standing coolly and calmly with a cigar in his mouth at the head of the 12th Alabama amid a perfect rain of bullets, shot and shell. He was the personification of intrepid gallantry and imperturbable courage."

In North Carolina, 6 Cohen brothers fought in the 40th Infantry.

The 1st Confederate of Jewish faith was killed in the war was Albert Lurie Moses of Charlotte, NC.

All-Jewish companies reported to the fray from Macon and Savannah, Georgia.

In Louisiana, 3 Jews reached the rank of Colonel. They were S. M. Hymans, Edwin Kuncheedt and Ira Moses.

Moses Jacob Ezekiel of Richmond, fought in New Market with his fellow cadets from VMI. He became a noted sculpture. His mother, Catherine Ezekiel was to have said, "she would not tolerate a son who declined to fight for the Confederacy".

Ezekiel wrote in his memoirs "we were not fighting for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principles of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes which were being ruthlessly invaded."

In tribute to Ezekiel it was written, "The eye that saw is closed, the hand that executed is still, the soldier lad who fought so well was knighted and landed in foreign land, but dying, his last request was that he might rest amoung his old Comrades in Arlington Cemetery."

Simon Baruch, a Prussian immigrant, settled in Camden, SC. He received his degree from Medical College of Virginia and entered the war as a physician in the 3rd SC Battalion. He was at the Battle of Second Manassas. He became the Surgeon General of the Confederacy.

The most famous Southern Jew of that era was Judah Benjamin. He was educated in law at Yale. He was the first Jewish US Senator and declined a seat on the Supreme Court. He also declined an offer to be Ambassador to Spain. And the FIRST and ONLY Jew to have his portrait on "American" currency Southern American Currency {C.S.A.}

Judah Benjamin served President Davis and the Confederacy in 3 positions, Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State.

After the war, he was unable to resettle in America. He settled in England, where he became a notable lawyer. He also wrote legal text while a lawyer in England.

Why do the politically correct (PC) want to destroy the history of a people just because they wanted to save their homeland from an invading army and a government gone wrong?

Not only the Scottish / Irish people have been fighting many lifetimes for freedom, but also people of the Jewish faith have done the same, and on American soil too.

Notes:

Jewish Virtual Library
Jews in The Civil War
www.jewish-history.com
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Alabama

Spanish Guards: This company of 81 men was almost exclusively Spanish surnamed. It served as a home guard in the Mobile area during the latter part of the war.

55th Infantry: saw service in the western theater of the war in the Vicksburg, Atlanta and Nashville Campaigns.

Florida

This states early colonization by Spain and its connection to Cuba resulted in many in its population being of Spanish descent. The following units as well as others from Florida contained Hispanic surnamed soldiers on its muster rolls.

1st Florida Cavalry: saw service in Florida and the Western Theater of the War. In December 1863 it was consolidated into the 4th Florida Infantry and served with the Army of Tennessee until the end of the war.

2nd Infantry: saw service in the Army of Northern Virginia in battles such as Antietam and Gettysburg.

Louisiana

Because of a significant number of people in this state of Hispanic descent it is hard to determine how many served in Confederate units. Surely several thousand would not be an inaccurate estimate. Representative units with Hispanics on their rolls include:

Hay's Brigade: composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 14th Regiments.

Starke's Brigade: Composed of the 1st, 2nd, 9th, 10th, 15th and 1st Louisiana Battalion. These troops have often been popularly referred to as the "Louisiana Tigers, after one company of the 1st Battalion that originally bore that name. At the beginning of the war a number of the units in this brigade wore Zouave style outfits. The ethnicity of the brigades was mixed with native
Louisianans of Anglo and Creole descent; and Irish predominating. A few men from Spain, Cuba, Mexico and other Latin American countries also served. Both brigades served with the Army of Northern Virginia in the Eastern Theater of the war. At Antietam, Hay's Brigade saw action in the Cornfield and Stark's in the East Woods.

European Brigade: This command was formed in February 1862 in response to the threat posed by Federal attempts to capture the city of New Orleans. It's duty was to keep order and defend the city if necessary. It numbered about 4,500 and was composed largely of unnaturalized European residents of New Orleans. Among them: 2,500 Frenchmen, 800 Spaniards and hundreds of others from various European nationalities such as Italian, Swiss and German. Later two other "European Brigades" were formed which also contained large numbers of Spanish.

Texas

1st (Buchel's) Cavalry Regiment: Organized in early spring 1862 at Carreicetas Lake on the Rio Grande. The regiment served in Louisiana including the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. Company C was composed entirely of Mexicans and Tejanos.

Hoods Texas Brigade: (1st, 2nd and 5th Texas) fought at Antietam, suffering heavy casualties in the morning phase. Although most the men were Anglos, a few Mexican-Americans served in its ranks. The most unique name in the brigade was undoubtedly Captain Decimus Et Ultimus Barziza of the Company C. 4th Texas. His name in Latin means "Tenth and Last". As it turned out he was the
tenth and last child in his family.

2nd Texas Mounted Rifles: Organized in May 1861 in south Texas, company B from Bexar County contained 31 Mexican, Americans or "Tejanos." The unit saw service in Sibley's invasion of New Mexico and various other military operations in Texas and Louisiana. Thirty Tejanos also served with an artillery battery attached to this unit during the New Mexico Campaign.

6th Texas Infantry: Tejanos from the San Antonio area served with this unit at battles such as Chickamauga, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville.

8th Texas Infantry: Served in the Trans__Mississippi in Texas and Louisiana. Several hundred Tejanos were in this regiment.

8th Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers): This regiment was known as one of the hardest fighting cavalry regiments in the western theater. It saw action at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Knoxville and Atlanta. Most of the men in Company C were natives of Mexico.

Benevides Cavalry: The largest and most effective Confederate Tejano unit was commanded by Colonel Santos Benevides of Laredo. His Command saw active service along the Rio Grande against Union regulars and guerrillas. His brothers, Cristobal and Refugio, were company commanders in this unit. One of the major duties they had was to keep the Confederate cotton trade into Mexico free from Union interference. On March 19, 1864 the unit repulsed a Union attempt to capture Laredo and 5,000 bales of cotton that were stored there. A few days later the unit assisted in driving back a Federal force at Brownsville. Benevide's cavalry was one of the last Confederate commands to surrender at the end of the war.

Waul's Legion Infantry: Served in Mississippi and Louisiana. It served at Vicksburg where it was captured. Later the regiment was stationed in Galveston. One company was composed of Mexicans and Tejanos.

{Part 2}

The South's Support By Hispanics

It is estimated that nearly 15,000 Mexican-Americans/ Hispanics fought in the War Between the States in the ranks of the Confederacy. As a result of the Spanish colonial settlement of the Gulf Coast states and, during the 19th century, Mexican control of the territories that were to become Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a significant number of Hispanic-Americans were affected by the outbreak of the war. Colonel Santos Benavides lead the 33rd Texas Cavalry, totaling almost ten thousand Tejanos (Mexican Americans) throughout the War. How many men from the Southwest, had Hispanic blood in their heritage, yet were not documented other than simply Confederate Soldier? Researchers state thousands. Some individuals of note included:

José Agustín Quintero, a Cuban poet and revolutionary, ably served Confederate President Jefferson Davis as the Confederate States Commissioner to Northern Mexico, ensuring critical supplies from Europe flowed through Mexican ports to the CSA.

Santiago Vidaurri, governor of the border states of Coahuila and Nuevo León, offered to secede northern Mexico and join the Confederacy; Jefferson Davis declined, afraid the valuable "neutral" Mexican ports would be then blockaded.

The Spanish inventor Narciso Monturiol offered the Confederacy his advanced submarine Ictineo to smash the Federal blockade. Never purchased, Jules Verne apparently based the Nautilus on this, the world's most advanced vessel of the day.

Ambrosio José González, a famous Cuban revolutionary, served Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard as his artillery officer in Charleston; earlier, in New York, he helped design the modern Cuban and (inversed) Puerto Rican flags.

Thomas Jordan, a Confederate general responsible for early codes used in spying on Washington, after the war led the Cuban revolutionary army as Commander-in-Chief, training its generals and in 1870 routing the Spaniards at two-to-one odds.

Lola Sanchez, of a Cuban family living near St. Augustine, had her sisters serve dinner to visiting Federals, while she raced out at night and warned the nearest Confederate camp. The Yankees thus lost a general, his unit and a gunboat the next day.

Loretta Janeta Velasquez a Cuban woman, disguised her self as a man. She named herself Harry T. Buford and raised a full regiment to fight for the Confederacy. She was wounded several times, one of these was in the battle of Pittsburgh Landing (Shiloh). Because of these wounds she was forced to retire from active service. Loretta continued to work for the Confederacy as a spy. She chronicled her amazing and harrowing adventures in an account called The Woman in Battle.

John O'Donnell-Rosales explains in the introduction to his list of Hispanic Confederate soldiers, many of these individuals, including businessmen and sailors lived in cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, Natchez, Biloxi, and Mobile, Included among the soldiers are persons of Jewish descent whose ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492, as well as a short list of Hispanic Confederate naval personnel. He has documented 3600 Mexican troops for the Confederacy.

Santos Benavides, a former Texas ranger, commanded the Confederate 33rd Texas Cavalry, a Mexican- American unit which defeated the Union in the 1864 Battle of Laredo, Texas. He became the only Mexican Confederate States colonel. As a young man Benavides fought for the Federalists. Frustrated with the Mexican government, he cooperated with the forces of Mirabeau B. Lamar, which occupied Laredo during the Mexican War. When Texas seceded, Benavides and his brothers supported the Confederacy, whose states'-rights principles were so close to their regionalism.

Commissioned a captain in the Thirty-Third Texas Cavalry (or Benavides' Regiment) and assigned to the Rio Grande Military District, Benavides quickly won accolades as a fighter. He drove Juan Cortinas back into Mexico in the battle of Carrizo on May 22, 1861, and quelled other local revolts against Confederate authority. In November 1863 Benavides was promoted to colonel and authorized to raise his own regiment of "Partisan Rangers," for which he used the remnants of the Thirty-Third. His greatest military triumph was his defense of Laredo on March l9, 1864, with forty-two troops against 200 soldiers of the Union First Texas Cavalry, commanded by Col. Edmund J. Davis, who had, ironically, offered Benavides a Union generalship earlier.

Marching through one of the worst South Texas droughts in memory with dried-up water holes, parched earth, and little trail grass Major Alfred E. Holt led a small Union force of 200 men upriver to seize or destroy 5,000 bales of cotton neatly stacked in Laredo's San Agustín Plaza. On March 19, 1864, Major Holt found the seriously ill Colonel Santos Benavides waiting with 42 men along the banks of Zacate Creek just east of Laredo. The Federals dismounted and charged the Rebels. Three times the Federals advanced on the Rebel position and were driven off. After several hours of fighting, darkness silenced the combatants, the sniping slackened, and Major Holt ordered a retreat. The next day, the Federals began the long march back to Brownsville. No Confederate fatalities were recorded.

Perhaps Benavides's most significant contribution to the South came when he arranged for safe passage of Texas cotton along the Rio Grande to Matamoros during the Union occupation of Brownsville in l864.Col. Benavides is the only Confederate officer to have fought against Federal forces, Mexican forces and hostile Native American.
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MORE INFORMATION ON BLACKS IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY;

The South's Support By Black Confederates (Thanks to Kelly Barrow and to Elijah Coleman's Southern Messenger for use of photographs in this section)

An important fact of the War Between The States is that black Southerners fought and died for the Confederate cause. As a matter of fact, black soldiers were fighting for the Confederacy before the United States allowed black soldiers to enlist in the U.S. Army. The question often asked then is, “Why haven’t we heard more about them?” National Park Service historian, Ed Bearrs, stated: “I don’t want to call it a conspiracy to ignore the role of Blacks both above and below the Mason-Dixon line, but it was definitely a tendency that began around 1910”.
“There are at the present moment many Colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but real soldiers, having musket on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down any loyal troops and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the…rebels." Frederick Douglas, former slave & abolitionist (Fall, 1861)

How many? Easily tens of thousands of blacks served the Confederacy as laborers, teamsters, cooks and even as soldiers. Some estimates indicate 25% of free blacks and 15% of slaves actively supported the South during the war. Why? Blacks served the South because it was their home, and because they hoped for the reward of patriotism; for these reasons they fought in every war through Korea, even though it meant defending a segregated United States.

The Charleston Mercury of January 3, 1861 said: “We learn that 150 able-bodied free colored men, of Charleston, yesterday offered their services gratuitously to the Governor, to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts wherever needed along our coast.”

The Tennessee Legislature on 28 June 1861, passed an act authorizing Governor Isham G. Harris to receive into the military service of the State all male free persons of color, between the ages of 15 and 50. The Memphis Avalanche stated: “A procession of several hundred stout Negro men, of the domestic institution, marched through our streets yesterday in military order, under command of Confederate officers. A merrier set were never seen. They were brimful of patriotism, shouting for Jeff. Davis and singing war-songs."

A telegram sent to the newspapers of the South: “New Orleans, November 23, 1861. Over 28,000 troops were reviewed today by Gov. Moore, Major. Gen. Lovell, and Brig.-Gen. Ruggles. The line was over seven miles long. One regiment comprised 1,400 free colored men."

Historian, Erwin L. Jordan, Jr., calls it a cover-up which started back in 1865. He writes, “During my research, I came across instances where Black men stated they were soldiers, but you can plainly see where ‘soldier’ is crossed out and ‘body servant’ inserted, or ‘teamster’ on pension applications.”

A black historian, Roland Young, says he is not surprised that blacks fought. He explains that, “…some, if not most, Black southerners would support their country” and that by doing so they were “demonstrating it’s possible to hate the system of slavery and love one’s country.” This is the very same reaction that most black Americans showed during the American Revolution, where they fought for the colonies, even though the British offered them freedom if they fought for them. It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks. Over 13,000 of these, meet the enemy in some sort of combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. Some try to discount their role as being only cooks and labors, yet their duties performed are similar to duties performed by today's Army personnel and certainly no one questions the current day cook who wears the United States Army green as being a "real soldier."

There is overwhelming evidence of the black soldier's contribution to the Confederate cause. In 1862 Dr. Lewis Steiner, chief inspector of the United States Army Sanitary Commission, was an eyewitness to the occupation of Frederick, Maryland, by General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's army. Steiner makes this statement about the makeup of that army: "Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number (Confederate troops). These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc....and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederacy Army."

Private John W. Haley, Seventeenth Maine Infantry, gives this account of a black Confederate sharpshooter: "There seemed to be a fatality lurking in certain spots....It wasn't long before Mr. Reb made his whereabouts known, but he was so covered with leaves that no eye could discern him. Our sharpshooter drew a bead on him and something dropped, that something being a six-foot Negro whose weight wasn't less than 300 pounds."

Captain Arthur L. Fremantle was a British observer attached to General Robert E. Lee's army. In 1863 Captain Fremantle went with Lee's army on the Gettysburg campaign. During this time he witnessed many accounts of black loyalty to the Southern cause, including one case in which a black soldier was in charge of white Yankee prisoners. These acts by the loyal blacks prompted the following remarks by the Englishman: "This little episode of a Southern slave leading a white Yankee soldier through a Northern village, alone and of his own accord, would not have been gratifying to an abolitionist,...Nor would the sympathizers both in England and in the North feel encouraged if they could hear the language of detestation and contempt with which the numerous Negroes with Southern armies speak of their liberators."

Dick Poplar was a free black man from Petersburg, Virginia. He was well known before the war as a cook. He took that specialty with him when he entered the Confederate army. However, being a cook did not prevent him from being taken prisoner after the Battle of Gettysburg. At Point Lookout Prison, Maryland, the Negro guards tried their best to make this black man turn against his people. Dick Poplar maintained during this time that he was a loyal "Jeff Davis man." He stayed in this hellish prison camp for twenty months. A word from him against the southern government at any time would have set him free, but he never turned his back on the South.

Famed bridge engineer and former slave Horace King received naval contracts for building Confederate warships. A black servant named Sam Ashe killed the first Union officer during the war, abolitionist Major Theodore Winthrop. John W. Buckner, a black private, was wounded at Ft. Wagner repulsing the U.S. (Colored) 54th Massachusetts Regiment. George Wallace, a servant who surrendered with General Lee at Appomattox, later served in the Georgia Senate. Jim Lewis served General Stonewall Jackson, and was honored to hold his horse "Little Sorrel" at the general's funeral.

In St. Louis, General John Fremont freed slaves of "disloyal" Missouri Confederates; an angry Lincoln fired him. Encouraged by General Lee, the CSA eventually freed slaves who would join the army, and did recruit and arm black regiments. The "Richmond Howitzers" were partially manned by black militiamen. They saw action at First Manassas where they operated Battery number 2. In addition two black regiments, one free and one slave, participated in the battle on behalf of the South. “Many colored people were killed in the action”, recorded John Parker, a former slave.

At least one Black Confederate was a non-commissioned officer. James Washington, Company D, 34th Texas Cavalry, “Terrell’s Texas Cavalry” became it’s 3rd Sergeant. Free black musicians, cooks, soldiers and teamsters earned the same pay as white confederate privates. This was not the case in the Union army where blacks did not receive equal pay. At the Confederate Buffalo Forge in Rockbridge County, Virginia, skilled black workers earned on average three times the wages of white Confederate soldiers and more than most Confederate army officers ($350- $600 a year).

Black and white militiamen returned heavy fire on Union troops at the Battle of Griswoldsville, near Macon, GA. Approximately 600 boys and elderly men were killed in this skirmish. In 1864, President Jefferson Davis approved a plan that proposed the emancipation of slaves, in return for the official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. France showed interest but Britain refused. The Jackson Battalion included two companies of black soldiers. They saw combat at Petersburg under Col. Shipp. "My men acted with utmost promptness and goodwill. ….Allow me to state sir that they behaved in an extraordinary acceptable manner."

Recently the National Park Service, with a recent discovery, recognized that blacks were asked to help defend the city of Petersburg, Virginia and were offered their freedom if they did so. Regardless of their official classification, black Americans performed support functions that in today's army many would be classified as official military service. The successes of white Confederate troops in battle, could only have been achieved with the support these loyal black Southerners.

Confederate General John B. Gordon, Army of Northern Virginia, reported that all of his troops were in favor of Colored troops and that it’s adoption would have “greatly encouraged the army”. General Lee was anxious to receive regiments of black soldiers. The Richmond Sentinel reported on 24 Mar 1864, “None will deny that our servants are more worthy of respect than the motley hordes which come against us. Bad faith to black Confederates must be avoided as an indelible dishonor.”

Black Confederates served in state and militia units throughout the war. Many black Southerners also served the Confederate army in the ordinance department, as cooks and as mule skinners (drivers of mules). They also built bridges and forts, dug trenches, performed scouting duties and drove wagons as did white Confederate soldiers. The Tennessee legislature in the first autumn of the war had empowered Governor Harris to enlist free Negroes for military service. Governor Moore, of Louisiana, had paraded 1,400 Negro militia. Black Confederate by law, received the same pay as whites, while black soldiers in the U.S. army were paid less than their white counterparts. It is interesting to note that famed black abolitionist Frederick Douglass said that if the South gave the slaves their freedom, they would mostly fight for the South.

Some argue that the black soldier was a desperate measure of a losing Confederate government. While it is true that the Confederate Congress did not approve blacks to be officially enlisted as soldiers, except as musicians, until late in the war, but in the ranks, in day to day operations in the field it was a different story. Many Confederate officers did not obey the mandates of politicians, they frequently enlisted blacks with the simple criteria, “Will you fight?” Historian Ervin Jordan, explains that bi-racial units were frequently organized by local Confederate and State militia Commanders in response to immediate threats in the form of Union raids. Dr. Leonard Haynes, a African-American professor at Southern University, stated, “When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you’ve eliminated the history of the South.”

As the war came to an end, the Confederacy took progressive measures to build back up it's army. The creation of the Confederate States Colored Troops came too late to be successful. Had the Confederacy been successful, it would have created the world's largest armies at the time consisting of black soldiers, even larger than that of the North. Not only did Jefferson Davis envision black Confederate veterans receiving bounty lands for their service, there would have been no future for slavery after the goal of 300,000 armed black CSA veterans came home after the war.

In March 1865, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary Of State, promised freedom for blacks who served from the State of Virginia. Authority for this was finally received from the State of Virginia and on 1 April 1865. $100 bounties were offered to black soldiers. Benjamin exclaimed, “Let us say to every Negro who wants to go into the ranks, go and fight, and you are free…Fight for your masters and you shall have your freedom.” Confederate Officers were ordered to treat them humanely and protect them from "injustice and oppression".

A quota was set for 300,000 black soldiers for the Confederate States Colored Troops. 83% of Richmond's male slave population volunteered for duty. A special ball was held in Richmond to raise money for uniforms for these men. Before Richmond fell, black Confederates in gray uniforms drilled in the streets. Due to the war ending, it is believed only companies or squads of these troops ever saw any action.

Union General U.S. Grant in Feb 1865, ordered the capture of “all the Negro men… before the enemy can put them in their ranks.” On April 4, 1865 in Amelia County, VA, a Confederate supply train was exclusively manned and guarded by black Infantry. When attacked by Federal Cavalry, they stood their ground and fought off the charge, but on the second charge they were overwhelmed. These soldiers are believed to be from "Major Turner's" Confederate command.

A Black Confederate, named George, when captured by Federal troops was bribed to desert to the other side. He defiantly spoke, "Sir, you want me to desert, and I ain't no deserter. Down South, deserters disgrace their families and I am never going to do that." Horace King, a former slave, accumulated great wealth as a contractor to the Confederate Navy. He was also an expert engineer and became known as the “Bridge builder of the Confederacy.” One of his bridges was burned in a Yankee raid. His home was pillaged by Union troops, as his wife pleaded for mercy. As of February 1865 1,150 black seamen served in the Confederate Navy. One of these was among the last Confederates to surrender, aboard the CSS Shenandoah, six months after the war ended. This surrender took place in England.

Nearly 180,000 Black Southerners from Virginia alone, provided logistical support for the Confederate military. Many were highly skilled workers. These included a wide range of jobs: nurses, military engineers, teamsters, ordnance department workers, brakemen, firemen, harness makers, blacksmiths, wagon makers, boatmen, mechanics, wheelwrights. In the 1920'S Confederate pensions were finally allowed to some of those workers that were still living. Many thousands more served in other Confederate States.

Mr. Adam Miller Moore, born a slave to the Roberts family of Lincoln County North Carolina, grew up with his master's son Adam Miller Roberts. Young Mr. Roberts joined the Confederate Army, while Mr. Moore remained at home. Mr. Roberts fought with Company "M" of the 16th. North Carolina Regiment and came home after recuperating from wounds received in battle. When he returned to the fighting in Virginia, Mr. Roberts asked Mr. Moore to go with him. The men left the Cherryville, North Carolina railroad station and arrived at Chancellorsville, Virginia on 30 April 1863. Mr. Roberts was killed in action the next day. Mr. Moore stayed with Company "M" of the 16th North Carolina until the unit surrendered at Appomattox in 1865.

John Price was a slave and followed his master John T. Price and joined Company "B" of the 4th Texas Infantry, also known as The Tom Green Rifles. After the war John Price joined and was accepted into the United Confederate Veterans organization. Henderson Howard can be seen setting between two of his white compatriots in a photograph of the 28th reunion of Hood's Texas Brigade in 1900.

During the early 1900’s, many members of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV) advocated awarding former slaves rural acreage and a home. There was hope that justice could be given those slaves that were once promised “forty acres and a mule” but never received any. In the 1913 Confederate Veteran magazine published by the UCV, it was printed that this plan “If not Democratic, it is the Confederate” thing to do. There was much gratitude toward former slaves, which “thousands were loyal, to the last degree”, now living with total poverty of the big cities. Unfortunately, their proposal fell on deaf ears on Capitol Hill.

During the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1913, arrangements were made for a joint reunion of Union and Confederate veterans. The commission in charge of the event made sure they had enough accommodations for the black Union veterans, but were completely surprised when unexpected black Confederates arrived. The white Confederates immediately welcomed their old comrades, gave them one of their tents, and “saw to their every need”. Nearly every Confederate reunion including those blacks that served with them, wearing the gray.

In Mississippi, on February 11, 1890, an appropriation for a monument to the Confederate dead was being considered. A delegate had just spoken against the bill, when John F. Harris, a Negro Republican delegate from Washington County, rose to speak: "Mr. Speaker! I have arisen here in my place to offer a few words on the bill. I have come from a sick bed...Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come. But, Sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without...contributing...a few remarks of my own. I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentleman from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier should go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And, Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines and in the Seven Days' fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with the mangled forms of those who fought for their country and for their country's honor, he would not have made that speech. When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed, and they made no requests for monuments...But they died, and their virtues should be remembered. Sir, I went with them. I too, wore the gray, the same color my master wore. We stayed four long years, and if that war had gone on till now I would have been there yet... I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions. When my mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of a mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my 'old missus'? Were she living now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in honor of the Confederate dead." When the applause died down, the measure passed overwhelmingly, and every Negro member voted "aye."

The first military monument in the US Capitol that honors an African-American soldier is the Confederate monument at Arlington National cemetery. The monument was designed in 1914 by Moses Ezekiel, a Jewish Confederate, who wanted to correctly portray the racial makeup in the Confederate Army. A black Confederate soldier is depicted marching in step with white Confederate soldiers. Also shown is one “white soldier giving his child to a black woman for protection”.

Black Confederate heritage is beginning to receive the attention it deserves. For instance, Terri Williams, a black journalist for the Suffolk “Virginia Pilot” newspaper, writes: “I’ve had to re-examine my feelings toward the [Confederate] flag…It started when I read a newspaper article about an elderly black man whose ancestor worked with the Confederate forces. The man spoke with pride about his family member’s contribution to the cause, was photographed with the [Confederate] flag draped over his lap…that’s why I now have no definite stand on just what the flag symbolizes, because it no longer is their history, or my history, but our history.”

Nelson W. Winbush, a retired educator and SCV member, lectured on his black Confederate ancestor, private Louis N. Nelson. A black Chicago funeral home owner, Ernest A. Griffin, flies the CSA battle flag and erected at his own expense a $20,000 monument to the 6,000 Confederate soldiers who are buried on his property, once site of the Union prison Camp Douglas. Black professor Lloyd Haynes (recently deceased) of Southeastern Louisiana University spoke regularly on black Confederates. American University's professor Edward Smith also lectures on the truth of black Confederate history and, with Nelson W. Winbush, has prepared an educational videotape entitled "Black Southern Heritage." Black Confederates, Why haven't we heard of them before? Good question!
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God Bless "The Old North State" & Dixie!
Reb_Smilie

ï¿½Happiness Is A North Bound Yankee ï¿½ Reb_Smilie

ï¿½ & A South of the BORDER Bound Illegal ï¿½ C.S.A._Flag

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/johnnyreb64
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I found this artical tonight on the American Indian in the war. I was surprised when I saw the numbers. Even though I knew there were those that fought for the cause I did not realize there were so many.

I like this part.
"Don't anyone tell me that the Indian didn't have the right Idea about warfare."

The American Indian and Their role in the WBTS

It is no secret to anyone who really knows me, or in the slightest of degree, that I have a passion for my heritage and my ancestors red and white alike. I have struggled all my life to fit somewhere in between both worlds. I would say that my ancestors did much the same. Schooled on one side by Indian grandparents in the "old ways" and schooled by grandparents on the other side in "Southron ways". The common denominator of both sides of my lineage, is their service to the CSA.

Most Southrons are aware that American Indians like their white brothers, fought for both sides, and like their white brothers at times it was brother against brother, father against son, etc. That was the real tragedy of that war in my opinion, and it was the senseless thirst for power by Lincoln and his followers that brought it on.

The contributions by the American Indian in that war would fill volume after volume of printed material. It is most obvious I haven't the time , the space, or the knowledge to cover anywhere near all of the material. However, I would like to make it most clear to the naysayer who contend that Indians played little or non important roles in that war, that nothing could be further from the truth. So let us begin with some basic facts.

Indian tribes who signed treaties with and served the CSA beginning in the summer of 1861, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Quapaws, Senecas, Caddos, Whitchitas, Osage, and Shawnees. In late fall 1861 Chief John Ross of the Cherokees abandoned his original stance of neutrality and also signed the treaty with the Confederacy. In these treaties the Confederate government promised to assume federal obligations, protect tribes from invasion, and invited Indian representation in the Confederate Congress. In turn these tribes were to provide troops for their own defense.

In compliance with these treaties there were originally three (3) Indian regiments (1 Choctaw/Chickasaw regiment, (2) Creek/Seminole regiment, (3) a Cherokee regiment. The latter regiment was under the command of Col. John Drew and was composed mainly of John Ross supporters. A second anti-Ross regiment organized by at that time Col. Stand Watie (later to become the only Indian to reach the rank of Brig. General, also he never officially surrendered) totaling four (4) regiments comprised of five thousand (5,000) Indians. The smaller tribes were not at this time asked to provide troops. However, by wars end men from all the tribes would be involved with over ten thousand (10,000) CSA Indian troops. The WBTS in Indian Territory ended July 14 1865, with the surrender of the Chickasawa and Caddos. The war had been fought at an incredible cost to the Indian population. It is estimated that over 25 % of the entire populations of the Creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees were lost in the war and or to war related causes. Other figures show that just among the 5 civilized tribes (not counting the other tribes that served) that on the low end 6,000 Indians died in the Cause, on the high end the estimates is 10,000 died. Nearly every Indian home, farm and public building had been burned to the ground. The Indian economy was to never recover, and the Indian population as a whole were reduced to impoverished, homeless refugees. Despite the that an equal number of Indians from the 5 civilized tribes had served the Union army as those who served the Confederacy the federal government declared its treaties to be null and void forcing all the tribes to once again negotiate new treaties that ceded the western part of Indian Territory to the United States.

Research Source for the above material. Encyclopedia of North American Indians Houghton Mifflin college division Online Study Center.

Confederate Indian Units in the Western Theatre

First Battalion, Cherokee Cavalry (Bryans' Battalion)
[First Regiment : Cherokee Mounted Rifles.]
First Colonel: Stand Watie ( Later Brig. General
James M Bell Lt. Col..(later Col.
Robert C Parks Lt. Col.
Thomas R Taylor Lt. Col
Joseph F Thompson Major (later Lt. Col.
Clem N Van Lt/ Col.
[Second Regiment: Cherokee Mounted Rifles]
First Col, William P Adair
O H P Breewer Lt. Col.
Porter Hammock Maj.
J R Harden Maj.
John Vann Maj.
Elias Corneleilus Boudinot Maj.
[Drews' Regiment Cherokee Mounted Rifles]
First Col John Drew
Willaim P Ross Lt Col.
Thomas Pegg Maj.
[Frys' Battalion, Cherokee Cavalry]
First Commander Maj. Moses C Frye
Aide Maj. Joseph A Scales
[First Battalion, Cherokee Cavalry]
First Col. Lt. Joseph D Haris
Aide Maj. Lemuel M Reynolds
[First Regiment Chickasaw Cavalry
First Col. William L Hunter
Samuel H Martin Lt Col
Abram B Hayes Maj.
[First Regiment Choctaw Cavalry Battices' Battalion]
First Col. Simpson Folsom
F Battice Lt. Col
[First Regiment Choctaw Cavalry (from first Choctaw Battalion)ol. Sampson Folsom
David R Hawkins Lt. Col
[Third Regiment Choctaw Cavalry]
first Col. Jackson McCurtain
Tom Lewis Lt. Col.
John Page Maj.
[First regiment Choctaw/Chickasaw Mounted rifles]
First Col Douglas H Cooper
James Riley Lt Col.
Willis J Jones Maj.
Mitchel LeFlore Maj.
Sampson Loering Maj.
Tandy walker Lt Col. (transferred to 2nd regiment)
[Second regiment Choctaw/Chickasaw Mounted rifles]
First Col. Tandy Walker
[First regiment Creek Cavalry]
First Col. Daniel McIntosh
William R McIntosh Lt Col
Samuel Chekote Lt. Col
Jacob Derrsaw Maj.
James McHenry Maj.
[Second regiment Choctaw/Chickasaw Mounted rifles]
First Col. Chilly McIntosh
Pink Hawkins Lt. Col.
Timothy Barnett Maj. (later Col.)
[First Battalion Seminole Cavalry]
First Commander Lt. Col. John Jumper
George Cloud Maj.
[Osage Cavalry Battalion].................side note [My People]
First Commander Maj. Broken Arm
total Regiments eleven [b]11 battalions eight 8
Source...Indian Civil War Units "http://members.aol.com/ciiisiii/cherokeepage/indcsaunits.htm".[/b]

Ok, there is the list of Units and their Officers, of course this doesn't pay tribute to the ten thousand Indian soldiers who served under them. However, it should make , most clear to the Yankee naysayer who continue to this day to deny that minorities of color served willingly by themselves and along side their white brothers.

I wish I had the time, space and opportunity to go into all the battles in which they fought. I would also like to go into depth to some of the most famous of the Indian commanders. Stand Watie is a legendary character before, during and after the war but, there are those less known and reported about, in particular Osages' Like Black Dog, Hard rope, Big Chief and Graymore. Names you never hear unless you happen to be a in depth historian, or someone like myself who is anything but a historian, but ,has been blessed with having the stories and names passed down generation after generation. It is just such behavior that will be the salvation of the Indian people (eventually) and I certainly pray that my Southron brothers follow in that tradition; for I fear to not to do so the truth in history shall be totally erased and re written to suit the PC crowd.

I would like to leave ya'll with the following excerpt from "The American Indian as Participant in the Civil War" Author : Annie Heloise Abel. "Remain true, I earnestly advise you, to the Confederate States and yourselves. Do not listen to any men who tell you that the Southern States will abandon you. They will not do it. If the enemy has been able to come into the Cherokee country it has not been the fault of the President; and it is but the fortune of war, and what has happened in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and even Arkansas. We have not been able to keep the enemy from our frontier anywhere; but in the interior of our country we can defeat them always."-Confederate General Albert Pike.

This book is available in online format free of charge and though quite lengthy, and at times the author leans a tad bit to far the federal side for my liking, it is however chalked full of original letters, orders, and official records of the Confederacy in regards to the Indian Units. It can be found at:
"http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12541/12541-h/12541-h.htm#page369".

I believe one of the most memorable entries in the book, is where a Union Commander (his name escapes me at this time) is complaining to his superiors that the CSA Indian troops will not face him upon the open field and the fire of cannons. and muskets but rather, they (the Indians) prefer to hide in the woods, or behind the rocks and attack in surprise! Duh, let's see we can walk out into the open, stand or ride shoulder to shoulder and be blown to pieces, or we can bide our time and attack under our terms......Don't anyone tell me that the Indian didn't have the right Idea about warfare.

It has been a pleasure and an honor to put this page together. I would like to thank PoP Tommy for that honor.
Blessins' to all.
_________________

Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His word.

Great piece "Patches". And you know anyone worth their salt in the study of early American history knows that the American Indians have ample reason to hate the yankees as much or more than Southern Whites do, the "Trail of Tears" comes to mind and that was before the War of Northern Aggression, the crimes perpetrated against them since the war is just as horrible if not more so. I feel if the South would have won the war, Indian Reservations particularly in the South And South West would not exist today.
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God Bless "The Old North State" & Dixie!
Reb_Smilie

ï¿½Happiness Is A North Bound Yankee ï¿½ Reb_Smilie

ï¿½ & A South of the BORDER Bound Illegal ï¿½ C.S.A._Flag

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/johnnyreb64
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I have to agree with you 100%
My Mom's grandmother was full blooded Cherokee and I remember hearing her mom (my grandmother) tell some stories about it. I along with my baby brother are trying to find some records on our family. Mom's uncles had most of their family records and as yet we have not been able to get copies of them. I sure would love to find out more about our southern and Indian relatives.
_________________

Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His word.

That would be great! If you do find out anything about them please share with us I and I'm sure others here would find that very interesting. You know more Indian {Tribes} fought for the South than the yankees, there has to be something to that.
_________________

God Bless "The Old North State" & Dixie!
Reb_Smilie

ï¿½Happiness Is A North Bound Yankee ï¿½ Reb_Smilie

ï¿½ & A South of the BORDER Bound Illegal ï¿½ C.S.A._Flag

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/johnnyreb64
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=CNS2

I agree, there has to be. I have often heard that the Indian was treated better by the people in the south than those of the north. We, (the southerns) were here first you know and befriended them first. We were not afraid of each other.
My Mom just recently received my grandmother's family bible from her older sister. Just need some time to dig deep. LOL
_________________

Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His word.

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