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Title: Black Southerners in Gray: Essays on Afro-Americans in Confederate Armies by Arthur W. Bergeron, Arthur W., Jr Bergeron, Thomas Cartwright, Ervin L., Jr Jordan, Richard Rollins, Rudolph Young ISBN: 0-9638993-9-2 Publisher: Rank and File Publishers Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Very educational
Comment: Currently the Political Correctness crowd has tried to place a "moral spin" on the Civil War, wanting us to believe, the purpose of the War was to "Free the slaves".
It should not seem hard to believe that Black people, ( Free and slaves), would fight to defend their homes, the same as the Southern white people, Jewish people, Southern American Indians that joined the Confederacy, the Mexicans, the Southern Irish. The Civil War was truly a war between two countries. Not a War for the purpose of "freeing slaves".
From the book, "In May 1861, Governor Thomas O. Moore of Louisiana issued a proclamation providing for the enrollment of free blacks in an all-black regiment with some black officers. By early 1862, nearly 3000 men had joined this regiment and other nearby units around New Orleans. Their officers were skilled tradesmen, craftsmen, and even a few slave owners. There were several sets of fathers and sons and sets of brothers in this regiment, and "all the males in the large Duphart family were members" pages 22-23). Black officers included:
Captain Noel Bachus, 40, a carpenter and landowner;
Captain Michael Duphart, a 62-year old wealthy shoemaker, and
Lt. Andre Cailloux, a cigar maker and boxer.
The 1st Louisiana Native Guards was a 1307 man regiment with some black officers. It included many of the leading individuals in the New Orleans black community. Like most Southern militia regiments early in the war, they provided their own arms, and uniforms. They spent the greater part of their Confederate service as Provost Guards, although there is some indication that part of the regiment saw action at Fort Jackson during the New Orleans campaign (Official Records of the War, I, 6, 858).
Black Louisianans played a significant part in Louisiana's military history ever since the beginning of settlement. They fought for, and against, the French, the Spanish, the English, as well as with Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. By late 1861, about 3000 black Louisianans were enrolled in state troops and militia organizations, in the state, in service to the Confederate cause (Pages 22; 167-168)
This book covers a topic that should be read by every Civil War buff, historian and African-American. It is truly an interesting book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Worth reading for it's view you rarely read about
Comment: History is made up of the stories surrounding events and this book adds another story worth reading.
Many people still believe the Civil War was about slavery, not state rights. Many people also do not realize that right before slavery was officially banned by the U.S. governement, there were over 400 blacks that worked as slaves to help build the capital building. Blacks had been selling their own people (and whites) into slavery long before the U.S. got involved in the trade. True, it was a serious mistake that has repercusions that are still being felt in this country.
It is interesting to note, however, that considering how bad the pre-Civil War South is made to sound, the American Africans in this country have long enjoyed better standards of living and health than in any other country, especially their countries of origin. This book points out that many blacks were in favor of preserving the Southern government. Not only that, it points out that even after receiving freedom, many chose to go back and work for their old masters pretty much as before. There were many blacks loved and adored by their families and this is one unfortunate piece of Civil War history often overlooked. It seems the concepts that founded this country are gradually being lost. Now more than ever, the issue of states rights needs to be re-visited to protect the sovereignty, strength and long-term well-being of the U.S. Or we will pass from United STATES to something akin to the United KING-DOM.
Rating: 1
Summary: An errant stroll down an irrelevant path
Comment: The research and the premise behind this book are seriously flawed, thus "an errant stroll down an irrelevant path." Some very notable Civil War scholars have all taken the time to read this tedious tome, and have managed to shed some light on the nature of the misinformation presented by Bergeron. First, most of the names that Bergeron produces prove to be support personnel: cooks, teamsters, man servants, and the like. Most of the gun-toting "Confederates" that Bergeron does produce actually turn out to be "home guards," a loosely organized group of militia that never actually operated with the Confederate army and certainly never saw combat. One of the few "black" combatants that Bergeron *does* manage to produce actually turns out to have been mistakenly admitted to the Confederate Army under the assumption that he was white. When the truth was discovered, he was promptly discharged.
For perhaps the ultimate authority on this matter, we should look to Robert Krick, chief historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville and author of ten books on the Confederacy. He has researched over 200,000 service records, and says he's come across maybe "six, or 12 at the very most" who might have been black. Hardly supportive of the notion that there were more than a handful of black Confederate combatants.
However, this is all a very amusing stroll down an irrelevant path. Even if Bergeron managed to provide real evidence of several thousand black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy instead of the shoddily researched handfuls that he does give us, what would be the point? Many of the Wermacht soldiers were of Jewish lineage, and 77 of Hitler's highest ranking officers were either Jewish or married to Jews. Does this lead us to feel any less horrified by the actions of the National Socialists? Are we to believe that a smattering of collaboration is somehow equal to a wholesale endorsement?
This book is another sad example in the ongoing struggle to rewrite history. Rather than read this, I suggest you do yourself a favor and read a serious book about the attitudes of the south prior to the war, most notably "Apostles of Disunion" and "Crisis of Fear."
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Title: Black Southerners in Confederate Armies by J. H. Segars, Charles K. Barrow ISBN: 0966245415 Publisher: Southern Lion Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Black Confederates by Charles Barrow, J. H. Segars, R. B. Rosenburg ISBN: 1565549376 Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia by Ervin L., Jr. Jordan ISBN: 0813915457 Publisher: University Press of Virginia Pub. Date: 01 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: Myths of American Slavery by Walter Donald Kennedy ISBN: 1589800478 Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Rise & Fall of the Confederate Government) by Jefferson Davis ISBN: 0306804182 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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