The Roles African American In

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However, even he could not stop the outbreak of the Civil War (Fincher).
With the war just beginning, ex-slaves and other African Americans wanted to get in on the action. They wanted to fight against those who had enslaved them and their families for generations. They began volunteering and trying to enlist, but everywhere they went they were rejected. “In general, white soldiers and officers believed that black men lacked the courage to fight and fight well” (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). Even some abolitionists believed putting them in the battlefield would be putting African Americans higher than they should be. They said that though blacks should not be enslaved, they should not be equal to the white male. The African Americans, however, refused to give up their fight to be allowed to defend their country with pride.
Pressure from blacks eager to fight, from abolitionists and from a few Army officers who needed men, as well as changing ...

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by all white officers. There were not to be any black officers commissioned and all African American soldiers were to be regarded as laborers. They would receive less pay than a white soldier. Instead of $13 plus clothing expenses, they would only receive $10 without clothing expenses (The American Civil War: A Multicultural Encyclopedia 55).
When word of African Americans enlisting in the Union Army got out, the Confederate Army lashed out many threats. They .…warned that Union officers recruiting and arming slaves were ‘outlaws’ and would be subject to execution as felons when President Davis gave the order. And all ‘slaves captured in arms’ would be handed to state officials ...

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