Comments on: Did blacks fight in combat for the Confederacy?

By: David S

David S — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:48:16 +0000

Does the “anecdotal” support mentioned include newspaper articles of the time? There are a number of wartime newspaper articles from Northern and Southern papers that mention armed Black men fighting for the South.

By: Kenneth Rearden

Kenneth Rearden — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:47:06 +0000

Name: Samuel Jackson Doyle
RFN: 328
Change Date: 5 DEC 2006
Sex: M
Birth: 31 JUL 1837 in Knoxville, Knox Co, TN
Change Date: 24 MAR 2006
Death: 1908 in Nashville, Davidson Co, TN
Change Date: 24 MAR 2006
Note: Civil War records show he was a Private 11th Tennessee Cavalry.

Father: John Stafford Doyle b: 10 AUG 1807 in Columbia, Maury Co, TN
Mother: Polly Ann Thomas-Banns b: 02 AUG 1811
Suggested Next Step:
Search OneWorldTree for:
Doyle, Samuel Jackson

Marriage 1 Sarah Adeline Shires
Married:

Children
William Samuel Doyle b: 19 JAN 1865 in Columbia, Maury Co, TN
Benjamin Franklin Doyle Sr b: 27 OCT 1873 in Columbia, Maury Co, TN

Let me know if you would like more info. I’ll see what I can find.
Ken
——————————————————————————–

By: Samantha Heatherly

Samantha Heatherly — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:13:47 +0000

I’ve come across some records listing my great great grandfather as Samuel Jackson Doyle, born 31 July 1837 in Rally Hill Tennessee, and his wife’s name as Sarah Adaline Shires born September 1836 in Rally Hill, Tennessee. Any information about them, their plantation (gifted to them as newlyweds) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

By: alfred teixeira

alfred teixeira — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:08:24 +0000

Black confedate soldiers may be in the ranks, they did not fight as a group
for love of my people , why would they associate themselves with a
people that lynch, hungs us from the nearest tree to part of that history.
You cannot grab something out of thin air and say we have a part to
defend a way life that enslaved us. Those black soldiers were tricked for that purpose only if the south had won the war, we would be enslaved
all over again. You cannot be friends with a notion that something good is
going come out and everything going be just fine. Black would have been
enslaved all over again with no way out. Foolish way to think that things
or a way of life would disappear by a war between the whites.

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:38:54 +0000

Here is a quote from Frederick Douglas “It is now pretty well established, that there are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may to destroy the Federal Government”.

By: Samantha Heatherly

Samantha Heatherly — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:46:46 +0000

I’m trying to find out information about my great great grandfather’s personal slave, who was also his friend. My ancestor was Samuel John Doyle. He and his personal slave were buddies growing up together. They received their schooling in the same barn together with the rest of the family’s children. I was told that Samuel Doyle released his slaves before the war, each with an education and an acre of land, because he believed that there was no true freedom unless you had an education to understand it and a way to make a living to preserve it. According to my grandmother, who was raised by her grandparents, Samuel and Sarah Louisa Shires Doyle, Sam’s personal slave/then freeman/friend fought with him on the side of the Confederacy. I only wish I’d remembered to ask the name of this man. After my great great grandfather died, several of the freed slaves would come to her during the depression to earn some money or a handout. Even when it was the roughest during the depression, she always had a job and some sort of payment for them, as she felt her family was still responsible to help them out, no matter how hard the times were. I can look and see if I can find the regiment number. Their plantation was in Tennessee, and Sam was known for breeding/raising/training Tennessee Walker Horses. Any information shared would be greatly appreciated, as one of the halls of records was burned down during the war, and so what I’ve gleaned so far is very sparce. Thank you!

By: Secesh

Secesh — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:12:16 +0000

I agree with Jeremy. This article appears to be Northern-biased. There are many references to blacks fighting for the Confederacy. Here’s a few your biased article missed:

1. Dr. Lewis Steiner, Chief Inspector of the United States Sanitary Commission, observed General Stonewall Jackson’s occupation of Frederick, Maryland, in 1862. He wrote:

Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number [of Confederate troops]. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie knives, dirks, etc. … and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederate Army (in Barrow, et al., 2001).

This description of men wearing shell jackets or coats and carrying weapons suggests soldiers. It does not appear indicative of cooks or musicians or body servants. Of course, we cannot know by the description, but it suggests 3,000 armed black Confederate soldiers.

2. 2. Report of Frederick Douglass

“There are at the present moment many Colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but real soldiers, having musket on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down any loyal troops and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the rebels” (In Williams “On Black Confederates”).

Douglass’s report is clear: Black Southerners were fighting “as real soldiers.”

3. Monuments to Black Confederates – The Moses Ezekiel sculpture in Arlington Cemetery to the Confederate dead – his circular frieze clearly shows one of the Confederate soldiers as a black man in uniform and under arms.

4. Individual witnesses to black Confederates. See the following link for much more information: http://www.rebelgray.com/blacksincombat.htm

By: Doug Spearman

Doug Spearman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:09:19 +0000

We have a story in my family about my great, great uncle who took up his father/master’s rifle (my great uncle evidently went to war with him as a body-servant) when he died during battle, I believe in TN. Also, I’ve been reading Douglas Southall Freeman’s biography of Lee and in it, toward the end of the war it talks about Lee going to Richmond personally to plead with Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Congress to enroll blacks in the army – he was at that point desperate for troops. And evidently from what’s in the book, they reluctantly gave him the go ahead to conscript and enlist black troops.

By: jeremy baysinger

jeremy baysinger — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:33:04 +0000

I think it obvious that more research on this matter is required. it seems to me that you are jumping to conclusions quite readily, which leads one to wonder what YOUR motives are for besmirching the memory of these brave men… it is a widely accepted fact that black men fought for, and supported, much of the confederate way of life. I personally do not think it necessary to place such emphasis on numbers, suffice it to say they were there, and they are remembered with honor.

By: borderuffian

borderuffian — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:45:32 +0000

“CWG has discovered that historians and staff – notably Robert Krick – at Spotsylvania National Battlefield Park have sifted through about 100,000 soldiers’ records to see how many non-whites were represented. Non-whites could be blacks, Native Americans, and mulattoes. They found that only 20-30 non-whites were found out of 100,000 soldiers’ records. That is less than 1/300th of one percent….estimate that if that same ratio of 1/300th was applied to the figure-range of 750,000 – 900,000 Confederates serving during the war from 1861-1865, then one could only reasonably conclude that, at best, between 250-300 black soldiers may have served in the Confederate Army, and of those an even much smaller percentage would have been entrusted to take up arms.”

====================

So Krick found 20-30 in 100,000? Maybe so.

But I found 29 in one regiment (~1,000 men).

Apparently the ratio is not consistent.