We recently read Truman R. Clark’s Houston Chronicle article, “History gives lie to myth of black Confederate soldiers”. After fact checking this article we feel that blacks were not as much soldiers as they were slaves of the Confederate army. To prove and expand our point further, let’s look at some of the fine passages in Clark’s article.

1) “When one speaks of ’soldiers’ and ‘fighting’ in a war, one is not talking about slaves who were taken from their masters and forced to work on military roads and other military construction projects; nor is one talking about slaves who were taken along by their master to continue the duties of a personal valet that they performed back on the plantation. Of course, there were thousands of African-Americans forced into these situations, but they were hardly ’soldiers fighting.’

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a solider is defined as follows:
    1. One who serves in an army.
    2. An enlisted person or a noncommissioned officer.
    3. An active, loyal, or militant follower of an organization.

After defining the word, soldier, we did some minor research with key-terms from the possible definitions such as “enlisted”, “loyal”, and “active” in relation to black enlisted Confederates. One of most important results to note is that the Confederate Congress did not allow currently or free slaves to enlist for the Confederate army. It was not until the very end of the war, which they were losing, did they allow it.

2) “By the way, all of the Confederate soldiers captured by Union troops were white men. If there were ‘thousands’ of black soldiers in the confederate armies, why were none of them among the approximately 215,000 soldiers captured by the U.S forces?”

This answer can be found in response to the first passage.

3)”The very accurate point made then by opponents of this legislation was, as one Georgia leader stated, ‘If slaves will make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong.’ Southern newspaper editors blasted the idea as ‘the very doctrine which the war was commenced to put down,’ a ’surrender of the essential and distinctive principle of Southern civilization.’

Indeed. If a slave is a soldier that means their worth something in that they have honor, responsibility, respect, but wait, a once slave now has responsibility, honor, and respect? Last we checked, slaves we're we're considered human property, so how could they just rise to the role of a soldier without being a free human first? The Southern states seceded so they wouldn't have to give up slavery and for really no other reason. You can see it for yourself in some of the following states secession papers.

Georgia

Mississippi

South Carolina

Texas

4)”Finally, these modern non historians say that slavery couldn’t have been a main cause of the Civil War (never mind the words of Alexander Stephens and the various declaration of secession), because most the Confederate soldiers didn’t own slaves.”

This answer can be found in response to the third passage.

We know that without slavery in the south at the time, businesses would crumble, the southern economy would crumble, but that’s a whole other entry.