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General William Henry Fitzhugh 'Rooney' Lee
Son of Gen Robert E. Lee and became second in command of all Confederate Cavalry.
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GENERAL ROBERT EMMETT RHODES, CSA
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GENERAL WADE HAMPTON, CSA
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GENERAL JOHN CABELL BRECKINRIDGE, CSA
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GENERAL STEPHEN DILL LEE, CSA

He was also the last living Confederate General Officer, Commander of UCV {United Confederate Veterans} and responsible aiding in forming it's heir the SCV { Sons of Confederate Veterans } whos first Commander was J.E.B. Stuart Jr.

Irish in the Confederate States Army

Irish & Scottish units in the Confederate Army consisted almost exclusively of native-born Protestants of Northern Irish descent. The ancestors of these soldiers who were largely Scots-Irish Presbyterians and Anglo-Irish Episcopalians had fought with George Washington during the American War of Independence. To many of them the war between the Union and Confederacy was a defence of the principles that their forefathers had fought for nearly one hundred years previously; the sovereign right of individual states to self determination. The increase of immigrants during the mid 1800's to North America also found a small number of Catholic Irish communities. They too fought for the CSA against an oppressive country trying to force its will on its neighbours. A sentiment to which many could relate.

The following list of units and individuals should not be considered a definitive list, but merely representative of those Irish units within the Confederate Army.

Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart

The great, great grandson of Londonderry man Archibald Stuart who emigrated to Pennsylvania 1726. He commanded the cavalry of the Army of Norther Virginia. He was described by Robert e Lee as the 'eyes of the Confederate Army'. A fellow Confederate officer said of Stuart ".... a remarkable mixture of a green, boyish, underdeveloped man, and a shred man of business and a strong leader. To hear him talk no one would think that he could ever be anything more than a dashing leader of a very small command, with no dignity, and much boastful vanity. But with all he was a shrewd, gallant commander." He was killed at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, near Richmond.

Brigadier-General John Adams

Born of Irish parents on 1st July 1825, in NAshville Tennessee. Fought in the Vicksburg and Atlanta campaigns. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Franklin. Refusing to leave the field he was riddled with bullets while leading the Confederate vanguard against Union breastworks.

Brigadier-General Jubal A Early

Of Irish descent he served the Confederacy throughout the war.

Brigadier-General John McCausland

Born in St Louis of Irish parentage, he was present with a cadet detachment at the execution of John Brown. He raised the 36th Virginia Infantry in 1861 and was commissioned its Colonel. After his promotion to Brig-Gen, he was conspicuous for his operations in the Shenandoah Valley.

Major-General Patrick R Cleburne

Born on Saint Patrick's Day, 1828 at Bridge Park Cottage, River Bride, 10 miles west of the city of Cork, Ireland. He was considered perhaps the best divisional commander in the Army of Tennessee. He had previously served for 3 years in the 41st regiment of Foot in the British Army before buying his discharge and emigrating to North America. He was the highest ranking native born Confederate Officer of the Civil War. He was considered the greatest CSA general in the West. His legacy must be his proposal to enlist slaves in the Confederate Army. His life was cut short by his untimely death at the Battle of Franklin.

Brigadier-General Patrick Theodore Moore

Born in Galway, 22nd September 1821. He was a captain of Militia prior to the war. While commanding the 1st Virginia Infantry at First Bull Run he received a head wound which precluded further front line service. At the close of the war he was commanding a Brigade of the local Richmond defence forces.

Lieutenant John Kearney

Irish born, in Wade's Missouri Battery. He was severely wounded and subsequently died from an explosion in the battery 31 March 1862 aged 33 years.

Lieutenant James L Capston

Born in Ireland, he was to return to the land of his birth as the first secret agent sent by the CSA to Ireland.

Father John B Bannon

Born in Roosky, Ireland, 29th December 1829 he served the Irish community around St Louis in his capacity as a member of the priesthood. With the outbreak of war he became the self appointed chaplain of the 1st Missouri Brigade, a position which was formalised later in the war. Known as 'The Confederacy's fighting chaplin' he manned artillery pieces during the siege of Vicksburg. Later in the war he acted as a secret agent to Ireland to thwart Union recruitment. He also represented the CSA to the Pope in an effort to gain international recognition for the Confederacy.

Major-General Thomas Jonathan Jackson

His ancestors were of Ulster-Scots descent. It is normally assumed that the family were from County Londonderry, however now it is considered possible that the family were from the Ards peninsula and the Londonderry family estates. He earned his nickname 'Stonewall' after commanding a brigade at First Bull Run. His Presbyterian convictions were always evident on the battlefield, calling his men to pray before a battle. After being wounded by his own men he had his left arm amputated, dying of pneumonia on 10th May 1863. He was much loved by those who served under him and his death was a great loss to the Confederacy.

Irish Volunteers (Louisiana Irish Regiment - Militia)

Formed Camp Moore, 1861

Montgomery Guards

Stephen's Guards

6th Louisiana Regiment

Co 'F' - Irish Brigade Co 'B' (Orleans)

Co 'I' - Irish Brigade Co 'A' (Orleans)

Irish Volunteers (7th Louisiana Infantry Regiment)

Formed 5th June 1861 at Camp Moore

Co 'F' Irish Volunteers (Assumption)

1st Louisiana Special Battalion

Formed 6th June 1861 at Camp Moore

Wheat's Tigers

1st Virginia

Montgomery Guards - Company 'C'

Williams Rifles

7th Alabama

Company 'K' - Florence Guards

Company 'K', "Irish Volunteers for the War" - 1st South Carolina Volunteers (Greggs)

Raised in Charleston, June 1861. Originally intended for inclusion in an 'Irish Battalion' consisting of three companies. Their flag was white and green silk, with a silver fringe, and eleven silver stars on each side. In the middle on one side was a Cross with an Irish harp encircled by a wreath of oak leaves, palmetto and shamrock combined. Over the Cross is the inscription "In hoc signo Vinces". On the reverse was a painting of a palmetto tree with the rattlesnake coiled around its trunk. Around the palmetto was a wreath of oak leaves, palmetto and shamrock. Underneath is the inscription "Liberty or Death".

South Carolina Volunteers

Montgomery Guards - Connor's Company

10th Tennessee Infantry Regiment of Volunteers (Irish)

Known as the "Bloody Tinth", it was one of only two Irish CAtholic regiment sin the Confederate Army, although their elected officers were mostly Ulster-Scots Protestants. They built Forts Henry and Donelson and then were captured and held in Camp Douglas Prison. Reconstituted, the 10th were deployed as sharpshooters through the tough campaigns at Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Atlanta. The Regimental flag originally belonged to Company 'D' of the Tennessee Home Guards (State Militia). I t was outlined in Kelly Green on a light green background. A gold harp, maroon trim with white lettering; above the harp, "Sons of Erin"; below the harp "Where glory await you".

Missouri Volunteer Militia Companies - pre Fort Sumter

Emmet

Washington Blues

Montgomery Guards

Temperance (Kelleys)

1st Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Militia

Company 'A' - Irish from New Orleans & Louisiana

Company 'B', 'D', 'E', & 'F' - Irish from St Louis

Captain William Wade's Missouri Light Artillery

Various members of 3rd Missouri Regiment
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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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GENERAL Daniel Harris Reynolds, CSA
This gent was from Ohio and fought for the South
_________________

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 am with the South in life or in death, in victory or in defeat...... I believe the North is about to wage a brutal and unholy war on a people who have done them no wrong, in violation of the Constitution and the fundamental principles of government. They no longer acknowledge that all government derives its validity from the consent of the governed. They are about to invade our peaceful homes, destroy our property, and inaugurate a servile insurrection, murder our men and dishonor our women. We propose no invasion of the North, no attack on them, and only ask to be left alone."

~~Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, C.S.A.

"Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late. It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision. . ."

~~Major General Patrick R. Cleburne, C.S.A.

The most popular Confederate division commander was the "Stonewall of the West"-Patrick R. Cleburne. Appropriately, the native of County Cork was born on St. Patrick's Day. He served with the British 4lst Regiment of Foot as an officer for a number of years before purchasing his way out. He was killed during the Battle of Franklin {Tennessee} on November 20, 1864 he became the senior of six Confederate generals to die in this fight.
_________________

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

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