Primary Source Sets
African Americans and the Civil War

African Americans and the Civil War

How should the African-American story of the Civil War be told?

While slavery was the major issue separating the North and South, it was not slavery itself that sparked the conflict. The South wanted to secede from the Union, and the North refused. While President Abraham Lincoln personally opposed slavery, he recognized that it was legal under the U.S. Constitution at the time. He also recognized that few in the North were ready to go to war to free the slaves. For Lincoln and the northern majority, preservation of the Union was the foremost goal.

Freed Slaves during the Civil War

The "Negro question," as it was called, became an important issue early in the conflict. Most slaves were in fact "liberated" when the Union Army eliminated the local southern forces that kept them in slavery. They simply left their plantations to seek their freedom under the protection of northern military units. Union commanders had to decide how to deal with them. Early in the fighting in border states, slaves were sometimes returned to their masters in the hope of encouraging support for the Union.

However, as more and more slaves walked to freedom, the army made provisions to use them as a resource. The army hired many to work in non-military roles — cooks, wagon drivers, blacksmiths, laundresses — but until later in the conflict, racial prejudice prevented arming former slaves and allowing to fight. As the war progressed, however, African Americans could sign up for combat units. By the end of the Civil War, some 179,000 African-American men served in the Union army, equal to 10 percent of the entire force. Of these, 40,000 African-American soldiers died, including 30,000 of infection or disease.

The Confederate armies did not treat captured African-American soldiers under the normal "Prisoner of War" rules. At Fort Pillow, Tennessee, there are claims that 300 African-American Union soldiers were massacred after they surrendered when they were badly outmatched by southern forces. This led President Lincoln to warn the South that the North would not participate in prisoner exchanges that were common wartime practice unless all Union soldiers of whatever race were treated by POW rules.

Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freeing all slaves in territories controlled by Union armies. He justified the program under his wartime powers declaring that slaves contributed substantially to the support of the Confederacy. Eliminating slave labor, the Proclamation reasoned, would severely undercut the southern rebellion.

At the close of the war, it was obvious that slavery was over. Most African Americans had walked away from their bondage, and there was no sentiment in the North to reward southern slaveholders with the return of their slaves. The new debate was about status of African Americans in American society. The radical wing of the Republican Party pushed the federal government to keep troops in the South to insure African-American rights, including suffrage. Congress proposed three constitutional amendments that would promote African-American equality. The 13th Amendment forbade slavery. The 14th Amendment required all states to abide by due process for all citizens, and the 15th Amendment denied states the right to impose voting restrictions based on race or previous condition or servitude (slavery). The government and private organizations sponsored schools to teach African-American children and trade schools for adults.

However, in 1876, a stand-off in the presidential election created a constitutional crisis. As a compromise, Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican, became president but federal troops were withdrawn from Confederate states. This opened the way for white majorities in these states to reimpose laws that discriminated against African Americans. In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld a law that allowed states to create "separate but equal" schools and other institutions based on race, and segregation tightened its grip on the American South.

Supporting Questions

How did President Abraham Lincoln and Congress' approach to handling slavery evolve throughout the Civil War?

What contributions did slaves and free African Americans make to the Union war effort?

Contributions Behind Rebel Lines
- "Negroes Leaving the Plough," March 26, 1864 (Image)
- Portrait of Harriet Tubman, between ca. 1871 and 1876 (Image)
Contributions of Physical Labor
Contributions of Service to Union Soldiers
- Group of Soldiers in Front of Tent in Camp Cameron, between 1861 and 1865 (Image)
- "Polishing the General's Britches," between 1861 and 1865 (Image)
Contributions in Combat

After a Union victory and the close of the war, what possibilities did the future hold for all African Americans?

Acceptance as an Equal, Fellow Man
Political Equality
- "24th Regt. U.S. Colored Troops. Let Soldiers in War, Be Citizens in Peace," ca. 1865 (Image)
- "Pardon. Franchise Columbia," August 5, 1865 (Image)
Economic Freedom
- "The Darkies Rally" Song, 1863 (Document)
- Narrative of Former Slave Felix Haywood, 1936 (Document)