By early 1863, voluntary enlistment to the Union army had so sharply deteriorated that an unpopular military draught was instituted by the federal government and black and white troops were enlisted. Indeed, President Lincoln seems likely to be resisting requests for a negotiated peace that would have included maintaining slavery in the United States by the availability of a large number of African American soldiers. 186 000 Black soldiers, representing almost 10% of all Union forces and 68 178 dead or missing Union troops, served in the Union army and another 29 000 served the Navy. 24 African Americans have been awarded the medal o by Congress
Explanation:
Former slaves were three-fifths of all black troops. Black soldiers were active in the struggles and the probability of Africans remaining in slavery after the Civil War was much lower.
While some of the white officers were proud to lead black troops during fighting, like Robert Gould Shaw (1837 - 1863), commanding the 54th Massachusette regiment, others showed deep resistance.
Black soldiers took part in a war with a great life threat. The government of the Confederate threatened to execute or sell captured Blacks union soldiers summarily into slavery and sometimes threatened them. When Black soldiers were killed or enslaved, Lincoln responded by menacing retaliating against the Confederate prisoners.
The first black regiment raised in the North, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, conducted a fitting attack on Fort Wagner in July1863 and guarded Charleston's Port, South Carolinas. The regiment was made up of two of Frederick Douglass' sons. In the unsuccessful attack, over forty% of members of the Regiment were killed or injured including Colonel Gould Shaw, who was shot dead in charge, in a leading anti-slavery family.
During the war, African-US troops also waged another fight: the fight against pay discrimination, advocacy and medical care. Despite their promises of equal handling, Black people were relegated to white officers' separate regiments. Black soldiers had less wages, lower benefits and poorer foods and equipment than white soldiers.
While a white private has received $13 a month and a clothing allowance of $3,50, the blacks have only received $10 a month, of which a $3 clothing allowance. Furthermore, the enrolment bonus commonly paid for white soldiers was not provided to black soldiers, and the federal government refused to commission black officers until the end of the war.
The black troops were constantly humiliated within ranks, mostly in menial tasks and fatigue jobs in rear echelon. They were punished with whips or thumbs; they were executed when captured by the Confederates. However, African American soldiers won the fight for equal pay in 1864 and they could act as line officers in 1865. In 1865 they had the right to fight. Based on training and education received in the military, during the course of the reconstruction many former troops became community leaders.
One Union commander explained the importance to the attitudes of many white soldiers of black military participation. "He wrote, a large number [white people] have the idea that the whole Black race is very deprived of it. I think a couple weeks of calm, unprejudiced life would disappoint them. I have a higher opinion than I ever had about their capabilities before. I know many of them were vastly the superior... to the brutal degradation of those who would convict their lives."
