Frederick Douglass on Black Soldiers

Once Lincoln gave the go ahead for the enlistment of black soldiers, prominent African Americans such as Frederick Douglass were asked to help with recruitment. Douglass was delighted and sent two of his sons to join the ranks of the now famous 54th Massachusetts. It quickly became apparent that black soldiers would not be treated equally with whites: less pay, no chance for advancement, and menial duty. Speaking to a group in Philadelphia, he explained that despite such treatment, the enlistment of black soldiers was a significant event.

"This is no time for hesitation...Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States. I say again, this is our chance, and woe betide us if we fail to embrace it."

How to Scare White Folks - and Other Important Ideas

A black man, armed, in Federal uniform, holding a captured Confederate at the point of a bayonet. Is this an image of the white South's worst nightmares come true? From a Confederate perspective, yes. Many feared exactly this scenario: armed blacks turned loose against their former masters. Of course there is more to the image than that. A black man taking up arms to risk his life for the Union suggests something much more profound. Oh sure, imagery such as this certainly struck fear into the hearts of whites in the South. But it also helped to ensure that blacks could claim basic citizenship rights at war's end. How could one deny rights to a man who had shouldered a musket for and helped secure the national integrity of his country?

While many, both black and white, asked exactly that, the truth is that blacks' rights - even those who were veterans - were often denied in the postwar nation. In this sense, do the postwar decades represent a lost chance to capitalize on Union victory? Your comments, as always, are welcome.

K