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Posts tagged Civil War

Jun 9

Civil War Story

‘To Have a Revolver’

It was an extraordinary moment for George Scott, and perhaps even for the nation. Just weeks after Fort Sumter, this black man, a gun at his side, was preparing to lead thousands of Union soldiers forward into combat — indeed, into the first significant land battle of the Civil War.

This landmark episode, almost completely forgotten today, came more than a year before Congress officially allowed the enlistment of African-American troops, and more than two years before the 54th Massachusetts (the famous “Glory” regiment) would win laurels on the battlefield. As the Civil War began, the idea of arming blacks still seemed highly dangerous, even harebrained, so much so that President Abraham Lincoln refused to consider it. When, just after the attack on Sumter, hundreds of free blacks in Philadelphia had rallied near Independence Hall and offered to form two regiments of colored troops “in whose hearts burns the love of country,” they were ignored by the military authorities.

via @NYTimes

Jan 1

January 1, 1863: Freedom

The Emancipation Proclamation

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.