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?
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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.
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.