It does not appear from the records of the Military Secretary at Washington that the Negro is lacking in any essential quality for the performance of the duty of a soldier.
The people of that section of the country where most of the argument against his ability as a soldier originates were quite willing enough to enlist him in the Confederate States Army, or that portion of the race which had been made free previous to the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1864 the Confederate Congress, at Richmond, passed an act making all male Negroes, with certain exceptions, between the ages of eighteen and fifty liable for the performance of such duties in the Confederate Army, in the way of work in connection with the military defenses as the Secretary of War might prescribe, and provided for them in rations, clothing and compensation. Provision was also made at the same time for the employment of 20,000 Negro slaves for similar duty by the Secretary of War.
In November, 1861, at a review of 28,000 Confederate troops in New Orleans, one of the most prominent regiments was colored, consisting of 1,400 free Negroes. The members of the companies comprising this regiment according to The Picayune of that city, supplied themselves with arms without aid from the Confederate Government.
The worst that can be said against this regiment is that it existed at all for the defense of a government that sought to continue its members in perpetual slavery.
Nearly 200,000 Negro soldiers were employed in the United States Army in the Civil War. These formed 161 regiments of which 141 were infantry or cavalry, 12 heavy artillery and 1 light artillery.
The Negro troops fought gloriously in many of the bloodiest battles of the war. Among the engagements in which they were particularly distinguished for bravery and heroism were the battles of Milliken’s Bend on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, in July 1863, the assault on Port Hudson near Baton Rouge, La., in 1863, at Fort Wagner, a Charleston, S. C., defence, in 1863, and at all the assaults on Petersburg, Va., in 1864 as well as in the battle of Nashville, Tenn., fought in December 1864.
In the Revolutionary War as well as in the War of 1812, Negroes were enlisted and served with such distinction in the latter as to inspire the following address by General Andrew Jackson, afterwards President of the United States.
“To the men of color—Soldiers: I knew before your enlistment that you could endure the hardships of hunger and thirst and brave the dangers of war. I knew that you loved the land of your nativity, and that, like ourselves you had to defend all that is most dear to man. But you have surpassed my hopes. I have found in you, united to these qualities, that noble enthusiasm which impels to great deeds.
“Soldiers! The President of the United States shall be informed of your conduct on the present occasion; and the voices of the Representatives of the American nation shall applaud your valor as your General now praises your ardor.”