# American Civil War: Confederate soldiers who joined US Army after surrender? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449 "2012-04-20T20:58:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FrodoBaggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8baadc/32.png) [@FrodoBaggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrodoBaggins)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/21 "2017-08-18T19:03:37Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Many Germans. including 9 who were born in Berlin, Germany, alone. A few thousand blacks did indeed fight for the Confederacy, so although it is improbable that this particular former slave served in the Confederate Army it is not impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/22 "2017-08-18T19:11:34Z")
> [@FrodoBaggins](#): > > A few thousand blacks did indeed fight for the Confederacy, so although it is improbable that this particular former slave served in the Confederate Army it is not impossible. Voluntarily, or as slaves forced to follow their masters into war? Did the vast majority actually fight for the Confederacy, or did they serve those who fought? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/23 "2017-08-18T20:18:21Z")
I don’t think I’ll hold my breath waiting for the research on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/24 "2017-08-18T23:10:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I don’t think I’ll hold my breath waiting for the research on that one. I agree with you although one interesting thing is the 1st Louisiana Native Guard, formed early in 1861 by free blacks of Louisiana (D’oh) and New Orleans. There were some 10,000 free blacks in the state in 1860. They had about 1,100 members with white officers. They don’t seem to have done any fighting and early in 1862 were disbanded by state law making military service open to whites. Farragut’s invasion caused them to be re activated but I’m not sure if they saw combat. Later, the Union formed a similar outfit and about 10% joined it. The most interesting member must be Morris W Morris, who was born in Jamaica of Jewish, English, Spanish and African heritage. He was a practicing Jew and later served in the Union navy as an officer. He later became a well known actor named Lester Morrison and is the grandfather of actresses Joan, Constance and Barbara Bennett (I guess the studios kept that hidden) and grandfather of talk show host Morton Downey Jr. > **[1st Louisiana Native Guard (Confederate)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Louisiana_Native_Guard_(CSA))** > > March 24-April 25, 1862 > The 1st Louisiana Native Guard was a Confederate Louisianan militia that consisted of Creoles of color. Formed in 1861 in New Orleans, Louisiana, it was disbanded on April 25, 1862. Some of the unit's members joined the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard, which later became the 73rd Regiment Infantry of the United States Colored Troops. > Shortly after Louisiana's secession, Governor Thomas Overton Moore issued pleas for troops on April 17 and April 21, 1861. In resp... I wouldn’t be surprised if a few free blacks voluntarily served in the Confederacy but I’ve never seen much accurate information naming them. There are always exceptions ---
**Author:** ![ruffianfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ruffianfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruffianfan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/25 "2018-03-17T18:56:53Z")
According to Henry Louis Gates, on the PBS show Finding Your Roots, there were free Blacks who owned slaves and who joined the Confederate Army in Louisiana. Very few people, to be sure, but they did exist. I, too, wonder if ex-Confederates served in the Union Army after the war. I have a 2X great grandfather who was stationed at Fort Sully, Dakota Territory in the 1870 census. I am unable to determine if he is an ex- Confederate or an ex- Union soldier. He lists his birthplace as Fredericksburg, Va on his marriage license but he lists Charles County, MD on the census record. He met and married is wife in Petersburg, Va. so he could have been either one. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/26 "2018-03-17T20:43:04Z")
I was always told that the reasoning of most African americans for joining the confederacy is that they thought Lincoln was going to repatriate all the slaves and freedmen to Liberia after the war and “theyed rather be poor in America than Africa” ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/27 "2018-03-18T11:15:13Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I was always told that the reasoning of most African americans for joining the confederacy is that they thought Lincoln was going to repatriate all the slaves and freedmen to Liberia after the war and “theyed rather be poor in America than Africa” Some may have thought that, and it’s easy to see why. Lincoln was an advocate of sending the slaves back to Africa throughout the 1850s. As time went on, Lincoln realized that such a plan wasn’t practical. However, even up through 1860 or so, he wanted to fund voluntary repatriation to Africa. By that time he was no longer advocating sending all blacks to Africa. He just wanted Congress to help fund repatriation for blacks that wanted to return to Africa voluntarily. Still, one can easily see how a black in the South might think that Lincoln wanted to force them to go back to Africa. A lot of blacks fought for the Confederacy for reasons other than fear of being deported to Africa, though. Some black slaves fought because they were promised their freedom if they fought. Those promises weren’t always sincere. Another thing to keep in mind is that free blacks in the South weren’t all that free. Many free blacks fought willingly, but only because they feared becoming enslaved if they refused to fight, or at the very least they would receive very poor treatment at the hands of the whites if they refused. In New Orleans, black soldiers promised to defend the city. They were never ordered into combat though, and when the Union took New Orleans, all of the black soldiers quickly changed sides and proudly declared their loyalty to the Union. They changed sides so quickly that it makes you wonder exactly how loyal they were to the Confederacy in the first place. In other cases, groups of blacks (usually free blacks) were forced into battle by initially being conscripted into manual labor, such as building defenses for the city to help slow the advancing Union army. In many cases, as the battle progressed, those blacks went from just doing manual labor to being forced participants in the battle. Many weren’t given weapons, but were forced to do things like load canons or carry ammunition and supplies to the fighting men. Stories of some of these were printed in Northern newspapers. There were stories about black men who fought because they felt they had no choice. Fear of repatriation or deportation never entered into it. These blacks often hoped for a Union victory, or looked for ways to break through the line so that they could get to the Union side. A good example was a slave named John Parker, who was forced to fight in the first battle of Manassas. Parker and several other slaves were initially order to Manassas to build defenses. As the battle progressed, Parker and several other slaves were ordered to operate canons firing grape shot at Union troops. > [@John Parker](#): > > We wished to our hearts that the Yankees would whip us. … We would have run over to the other side but our officers would have shot us if we had made the attempt. John Parker and the other slaves were promised their freedom if they fought, and were also promised money. John later said that he and his fellow slaves did not believe that offer, and only fought because they had no choice. After the battle, Parker was not given his freedom, as he had been promised. He was also not paid for his efforts. Instead, he spent two weeks doing things like burying the dead and looting corpses for his Confederate commanders, and then went back to his normal slave duties. He managed to escape a year or so later and eventually made his way across the line to the Union side. The Union officers gave him a suit of clothes and a letter of introduction to a minister who would help him in New York. Parker later gave lectures about the war in New York, which is why we know a lot about his story in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/28 "2018-03-18T15:19:04Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > I am just guessing here but before and after the war, the entire U.S. army was about 12,000 men. The war ballooned it to at least 500,000. Those who stayed in, such as George Custer who was a brevert major general, took demotions to stay in (which is why you various hear him referred to as a colonel or general, but post 1865 he was officially a colonel). It would be hard for some high ranking Confederate officer to join, even if he was highly regarded. Southerners who were loyal to the Union during the war, such as George Thomas or Frederick Benteen, stayed in but they were often ostracized by their families. Brevet ranks were temporary ranks, good only for the duration of the war. Custer was never “demoted,” because he was never officially a general in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449/29 "2018-03-19T03:37:25Z")
Well, kinda. He ended the Civil War as a major general of U.S. Volunteers - actual, not breveted - but all of his breveted appointments in the (Regular) U.S. Army lapsed at the end of the war. He died at Little Bighorn as a lieutenant colonel in the Regulars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-confederate-soldiers-who-joined-us-army-after-surrender/619449.md?page=1)