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Black Confederates :: |
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Information about African-Americans serving in the
Confederate Army in Richmond, VA during
the Civil War. |
*RARE editorial note: many people have emailed me about this topic, which has
become rather heated these days. I have deliberately avoided taking a position
here, and will continue to do so, except to say that the sources below are
sources I have personally found. Despite many peoples' wishes, I refuse to add
sites that are not first-person in nature, or add transcriptions of documents
that I have not personally seen. As a concluding note, the sources below are the
only sources I found during close readings of Richmond newspapers that
specifically mention African-American fighting men in Confederate service.*
Documents pertaining to the enlistment of slaves and free blacks
in the Confederate Army.
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Official
Records, Ser. IV, Vol. III,
p. 1193. |
2/14/1865; negro workers at
Jackson Hospital are volunteering for field service |
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OR, Series IV, Vol. 3, p. 1093 |
2/17/1865; J. T. L. Preston, Acting Superintendent of VMI,
offers the services of the corps in training negro troops and cites the corps'
previous experience as drillmasters in 1861 and notes that they drilled 15,000
recruits in 2 months at Camp Lee. |
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National
Archives, RG 109 |
3/16/1865; Jackson Battalion moved
from Jackson Hospital to the front, under the command of Col. Ship,
commanding the VMI Corps. Reports on their good conduct |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
3/18/1865; two negroes who were
sentenced to be hanged for burglary are released on the condition that they
join T. P. Turner's "black brigade" |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
3/21/1865; Winder-Jackson
Battalion; including Negroes to parade |
|
Richmond Dispatch |
3/23/1865; negroes employed at Winder &
Jackson join the army |
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Richmond
Enquirer |
3/23/1865; description of the
Winder-Jackson Battalion's parade at Capitol square; call for Richmond
ladies to produce a flag for this unit |
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Richmond
Enquirer |
3/23/1865; details on recruitment
of black troops and call for volunteers; rendezvous for negro troops is at
Smith's factory, 21st street. T. P. Turner (Libby Prison) is one of the
officers |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
3/23/1865; description of the
Winder-Jackson Battalion's parade at Capitol square |
|
Richmond
Sentinel |
3/30/1865; a free negro in Maj.
Turner's battalion grows tired of the drill and decides to walk off with
stolen clothes |
|
OR, Series IV, Vol. 3, p. 1194 |
4/2/1865; T.P. Turner writes about raising negro troops |
Confederate Congress: Second Congress, Second
Session, Senate, March 7, 1865: The Negro Soldier Question. Southern Historical
Society Papers 52 (1959), pp.
452-457.
Preisser, Thomas M. "The Virginia Decision to Use Negro Soldiers in the
Civil War, 1864-1865." VMHB 83 (Jan. 1975), pp. 98-111.
Page
last updated on
03/12/2008
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