African Americans During The Civil War
...factories rather than just in the fields, the work was still just as hard. Because of the difficulty and no change, slaves fled. Union camps, where Union soldiers were set up as they moved into the rural south, are where slaves fled. General Benjamin F. Butler said, “slaves should not be returned to their owners. It is unjust to do so (Civil War. World-Book Encyclopedia. P.480).” Even though General Butler didn’t return his soldiers, other officers did because of the difficulty of caring for them. The Fugitive Slave Act was later passed for Union troops to return slaves to their masters. Later in the war, Congress passed the Confiscation Act in July 1862 (Civil War. World-Book Encyclopedia. P.480). The Confiscation Act declared to free all slaves whose owners aided the Confederacy. The Confiscation Act also enabled Lincoln to use Blacks for any purpose in the war effort. Congress also later passed the Militia Act in1862 (Civil War. World-Book Encyclopedia. P.480), and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1st, 1863 (Civil War. World-Book Encyclopedia. P.480). The Union Army started using their free Blacks in battles early, unlike the Confederate Army with their slaves. Confederates thought slaves were “ill-prepared (Civil War. Encyclopedia Americana. P.789).” for the responsibilities they would face. Confederates also feared that there would be uprisings once they were given arms. As a desperation move, the south passed a law calling for slave owners to provide 300,000 slave-soldiers in 1865 (Civil War. World-Book Encyclopedia. P.480). Because of the losing of the war, the plan for the Confederacy to finally use African Americans never got to the battlegrounds and their slaves were all set free. African Americans had a lot of key roles in the Civil War. The main reason African Americans wanted to enter into the Civil War was to end slavery. Even though blacks in the north were free, they still felt sorrow for those still in slavery. When African Americans were finally accepted into the Union Army, they didn’t go into combat. They were used for manual labor, cooking, and factory work. Blacks did all they could to go into combat because they felt they were not doing enough to try to end slavery. African Americans in the Army went through struggles as they enlisted in the Civil War. Even though blacks for the Union Army were treated better than those in the south, they were still treated like second-class citizens. African Americans had to serve under white commanders that treated them worse than White soldiers. Afric...