BEFORE You READ MAIN IDEA The Civil War led to new roles, rights, and freedoms for African Americans in the North and the South. READING Focus What events led to the outbreak of war between the Union and the Confederacy? In what ways did African Americans contribute during the Civil War? What led Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation? KEY TERMS contrabands First Louisiana Native Guards 54th Massach usetts Infa ntry border states Emancipation Proclamation Juneteenth fiullding BACKGROUND I:ft:r years of painful dispute, the United States broke apart. Several southern states formed the Confederate States of America to protect their way of life, including the institution of slavery. Secession, however, did not end the dispute between the North and the South. The tense situation would require only a spark to unleash the heat of war. War Breaks Out On March 4,1861, Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States. He immediately set out to assure southerners that the U.S. government would not provoke war. Like most Americans, Lincoln hoped the southern states would return peacefully to the Union. In less than two months, however, civil war had broken out. An Attack Leads to War During the months before Lincoln took office as president, Confederate officials had begun seizing federal arsenals, forts, and other property in the South. Once in office, Lincoln declared that all federal property, even that in the Confederacy, belonged to the United States. He then ordered the U.S. military to protect all such property. In South Carolina, Confederates were determined to take Fort Sumter, which f guarded Charleston Harbor. U.S. forces were equally determined to keep the fort. -0 '" 2: i To help defend Fort Sumter, President Lincoln sent in ships with essential supplies. «When Confederate leaders learned of the ships, they worried that troops might f01- '" low. Before that could happen, the Confederates decided to take action. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces began firing on Fort Sumter. After more than 30 hours of cannon fire, the U.S. forces at the fort surrendered. The Civil War had begun. _c:: In response to the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln declared that the South was in a state of rebellion. He called on each state to send troops to put down the rebellion. f Most states rallied to his call. However, several of the slave states that were still in --g, the Union refused. Instead, shortly after Lincoln's call for troops, Virginia, Arkansas,. 8" Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded and joined the new Confederacy. ACADEMIC VOCABULARY 1. Use the context, or surrounding words in the sentence, to write a definition of essential. STEPS TO FREEDOM 119
INFO TO KNOW After Union leaders called for volunteers, some former slaves who had escaped to Canada wrote to Lincoln offering to return and fight for the Union. V Reading Check 2. Analyze Early in the war, how were Confederate slaves able to contribute to the war effort in the North? Preparing for War With the outbreak of war, armies on both sides prepared to fight. When US. leaders called for volunteers, many black men in the North were eager to join. Armyofficials hesitated to accept them, however. Many northerners did not consider African Americans to be equals and were afraid of arming them. As a result, the Union army turned away black volunteers, although the navy accepted them. Unable to serve in the army, African Americans in some northern cities created informal military units. The units then trained in preparation for the day they might be called to duty. A few Union generals disagreed with the decision not to use black troops and took African Americans into their ranks. of these African Americans were escaped Confederate slaves, who became known as cont.rabancls. Shortly after the war began, runaway slaves had begun showing up at Union army camps seeking protection and offering to help. Soon, Union leaders compromised and allowed some black men to join the army in noncombat positions such as cooks or hospital orderlies. Meanwhile, the US. Navy approved the active enlistment of black men in September 1861. In the Confederacy, African Americans contributed to the war effort as well Slaves on farms and plantations grew much of the food for the South. The labor of these slaves freed up white men to fight for the Confederacy. Slaves also performed many Confederate noncombat jobs, such as cooking and driving wagons. V African Americans in the Civil War African Americans eventually received the chance to fight in the Union army. Once able to participate, they played a crucial role in the war effort by going on dangerous missions as soldiers and spies as well as serving in other capacities. The Enlistment of Black Troops The Union did not experience the quick victory in the Civil War that leaders had 1e-, expected at first. As the war continued and more soldiers died, northern attitudes about : the use of black troops began to change. InJuly 1862 the US. Congress approved the -..<::.2' s, 0. limited enlistment of black men in areas of the South where the fighting was heaviest. (3
By the end of 1862 several black regiments had been formed in areas of the South under Union control. One such regiment was in New Orleans, Louisiana. This black regiment had been part of a Louisiana state militia. After Union forces gained control of New Orleans in 1862, General Smalls soon became an expert steamboat Benjamin F. r organized the regiment into the First LOUisiana Native Guar, also known as the Corp d'afrique. Within a few months, Butler had enough volunteers to field two additional black regiments. In 1863 the US. Congress approved the general recruitment of black soldiers. Recruiting efforts began immediately, and black leaders such as Frederick Douglass called on African Americans to join the fight against the South. One of the first black regiments organized un&r the new law was the 54tl1 Massachusetts Infantry. At first, the regiment was allowed to perform only manual labor. Later, however, the members of the regiment fought in battle and distinguished themselves as some of the Union's most heroic soldiers. In March 1865 the Confederacy also began to recruit black troops. Few black men enlisted, though. Less than a month later, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant. The Civil War was over. Born into slaver-yin South Carolina, Robert Smalls was hired out to work on steamboats as a youth. Intelligent. and a quick learner, pilot. In 1861, after the CivilWar began, he was forced to serve in the Confederate navy aboard the Planter, a medium-sized warship. On May 12, 1862, the ship's white officers went ashore, leaving Smalls and seven other black men to guard the ship incharleston Hatbor. During the night, Smalls piloted the ship out of the harbor. After stopping brieflyto pick up family and friends, he steered the ship into Union territory and then handed it over to officials. Smalls's heroic exploit gained him fame and admiration. Lincoln made him a pilot inthe u.s. Navy,and Smalls later became a captain, the highest rankof any black naval officer at that time. 3. Identify What event gained Smalls fame and admiration? Hardships and Heroism During the Civil War black troops faced hardships not shared by white troops. For example, black troops often received fewer supplies and less training than white troops, as well as less pay at first. Many African Americans took steps to counter such discrimination. Members of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, for instance, protested unequal wages by refusing pay for more than a year. The US. government eventually agreed to pay black troops the same wage as white troops. In addition, black soldiers -0.faced more severe treatment if captured. Confederate troops enslaved or executed captured black soldiers but held captured white soldiers as prisoners of war. In spite of discrimination and hardship, more than 186,000 black men bravely «served in the Union's armed services during the Civil War. African Americans were '" especially noted for their service in the US. Navy. Fully one- fourth of all Union sail- I 1 ors in the Civil War were black. These heroic black sailors, such as Robert Smalls, proved their bravery and loyalty to the Union.,1 In all, black troops fought with distinction in more than 250 skirmishes and battles.! Black soldiers also won 23 Congressional Medals of Honor, the nation's highest military i -!' award. One of the black soldiers awarded this medal was Sergeant William H. Carney of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. During the regiment's famous assault on Fort Wagner in 1863, Carney risked his life to protect the Union flag. 4. Identifythe steps that led to the recruitment of blacktroops in the CivilWar. STEPS TO FREEDOM 121
Heroic Black Women in the Civil War Black women also displayed outstanding bravery during the Civil War. Many of these women served as nurses, while others traveled with the troops and helped cook, sew, and wash. The most common job for women during the Civil War was that of nursing the sick. One well known black nurse was Susie King Taylor, whose husband was an officer in the First South Carolina Volunteers. Not only did Taylor.nurse the sick and cook for the troops but she also taught many soldiers to read and write in her spare time. Sojourner Truth, a leading black abolitionist, also worked to support the war effort. During the war, Truth helped raise money and supplies for southern black refugees. Inaddition, she met with President Lincoln, who convinced her to nurse wounded black soldiers in the Freedmen's Hospital. Reading Check 5. Summarize In what ways did African Americans contribute to the war effort for both the North and the South? Black Military Spies Some African Americans contributed to the Union war effort by serving as military spies. Union officials soon learned that black spies could more easily pass on valuable Confederate information without being detected than white spies could. One black spy was Harriet Tubman, the famous conductor for the Underground Railroad. Tubman spied for three years by gathering information from southern slaves. Union general Rufus Saxton praised her "remarkable courage, zeal and fidelity:' Mary Elizabeth Bowser was another well-known black spy. Bowser, who pretended she could not read, worked as a servant in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. There, she listened to conversations and examined documents. Later, she passed on any valuable military information to Union officials. V' The Emancipation Proclamation During the first part of the Civil War, one crucial question remained unanswered: What would President Lincoln do about the issue of slavery? Many abolitionists argued that the war was pointless if it was not being fought to end slavery. Yet many white northerners opposed emancipation, or the freeing of slaves. INFO TO KNOW President Abraham Lincoln also worried that freeing millions of slaves would lead to unrest in American society. For this reason, he favored the voluntary colonization of African Americans in Africa, Central America, or the Caribbean. Support for the colonization movement faded over time, however. Resolving the Issue of Slavery Such differing opinions put Lincoln in a difficult position. Although he was opposed { to slavery, he did not want to lose northern support for the war. He knew that many 4: c: white northerners would not risk their lives for African Americans. Therefore, " Lincoln did not initially make ending slavery a war aim. Rather, the war was being -g fought to restore the Union. In addition, Lincoln feared that ending slavery might "' lead to the secession of the slave states still in the Union. The slave states of Delaware, / '" Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri-known as the borcleli states-had stayed in the U Because of their location between the North and the Confederacy, these bor- 9 der states had strategic military importance. The Union could not risk losing them. -". 3 122 CHAPTER5
, Yetthe issue of slavery continued to come up as the war progressed. As Union troops pushed into Confederate territory, thousands of contrabands sought refuge with them. At first, the Lincoln administration supported returning contrabands to slaveholders. Some Union commanders even did so. Such actions infuriated abolitionists, however. They pointed out that every enslaved African American who left the South meant one less person to help the Confederacy. Lincoln and his advisors soon decided he had to take some action against slavery. The president.faced a dilemma, though. He did not think the US. Constitution gave the president the power to end slavery. Lincoln therefore proposed a plan for compensated emancipation in the border states. Under this plan, the border states would receive federal funds in exchange for passing state laws to abolish slavery over time. Although loyal to the Union, the border states were not ready to end the slave system on which their economies were based. All four states rejected Lincoln's plan. As Union forces struggled in the war, however, Union leaders convinced Lincoln.that ending slavery in the South was of military importance. They explained that the Confederacy would be crippled without slave labor. Lincoln decided that he could use his constitutional power as commander in chief to end slavery in the areas that were rebelling. He began forming a new emancipation plan. In April 1862, Lincoln and Congress took the first step by ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Soon after, Congress outlawed slavery in all US. territories. Lincoln wanted to wait for a major Union victory before announcing his full emancipation plan. In September 1862 the victory came at the bloody Battle of Antietam. With the win he wanted, Lincoln announced his new plan. Once again he offered compensated emancipation to slaveholders in the border states. More important, though, he declared that on January I, 1863, he would free all enslaved African Americans in rebel areas of the South. Response to Lincoln's Plan The reaction to Lincoln's announcement was mixed. Some abolitionists were hopeful, that his plan would deal a deathblow to the institution of slavery. Other abolitionists were angry, however, because Lincoln's plan did not end slavery everywhere in the United States. Slavery would continue in areas that were not in rebellion, such as in the border states and those parts of the Confederacy under Union control. Some other northerners also opposed Lincoln's plan. As he had feared, some -u white Union soldiers resigned rather than fight to end slavery in the South. In addi- tion, many unskilled workers in the North were upset. These workers feared that ending slavery would lead to a flood of black workers from the South who would :;;: increase job competition. When the US. government had hired former slaves to help c harvest crops in Illinois in 1862, white workers had rioted in protest. Similar riots -u had occurred in other northern cities. " Yet many northerners rallied behind Lincoln and his plan. These Americans 6. Use the graphic organ izer below to identify the arguments for and against emancipating enslaved African Americans. For Emancipation Against Emancipation ":"" 'K.'.::...;'.. ---, - I.'.<:: hoped that freeing the Confederacy's slaves would help shorten the war. One Cincin- nati newspaper declared that Lincoln was destroying the "labor system which feeds f the enemy." Many Union soldiers supported the plan as well. A Union colonel noted. that even though few of his soldiers were abolitionists, they were eager "to destroy..'3 everything that... gives the rebels strength" STEPS TO FREEDOM 123
Goonline to read a historicaldocument from the CivilWar. Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincolnissued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation freed all enslaved people in states under Confederate control and was a step toward the Thir-. teenth Amendment, which ended slavery inthe United States. "That on the 1st day ofjanuary, in the year of our Lord 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free... And Ifurther declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison [station troops in] forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service:' 124 CHAPTER5 Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation The night before Lincoln's plan was to go into effect, black and white abolitionists gathered anxiously at watch meetings across the North. Qa-Jahuary 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This groundbreaking order proclaimed all enslaved African Americans in rebel areas to be emancipated, or free. As news of the Proclamation spread, many African Americans and abolitionists rejoiced. A major step toward the end of slavery in the United States had been achieved. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had a large emotional impact in the North, it initially had little effect in the South. The Proclamation applied only to slaves in areas held by the Confederacy-the very areas in which the Union had no power to enforce the order. Gradually, though, the Proclamation did begin to have an impact in the South. As Union troops advanced into Confederate territory, they freed the slaves they encountered. Some historians estimate that Union troops liberated thousands of enslaved people each day. At the same time, many northern African Americans risked their lives to spread the word of freedom in Confederate-held parts of the South. Many slaves, on learning of their freedom, put down their rakes and hoes and escaped to Union lines. As Union leaders had hoped, the Emancipation Proclamation began to weaken the Confederate war effort. The reduction in the slave labor force hurt the Confederacy's armies and plantations. In addition, the Proclamation ended any hope of foreign support for the South. Great Britain, a major importer of southern cotton, 7. Inaddition to freeing slaves inareas under Confederate control,what didthe Emancipation Proclamation do? had considered aiding the Confederacy, However, abolitionism was strong in Britain. After the Union made ending slavery a war ami, Britain was no longer willing to help the South. While weakening Confederate forces, the Emancipation Proclamation strengthened Union forces. As mentioned earlier, the Union began the general recruitment of black soldiers in 1863, after the Proclamation. Most African Americans who served in the Union military enlisted during this period. These black soldiers and sailors played an important role in the., Union victory. They knew that they. were fighting not only for the preser- vation of the Union but also for the s: freedom of African Americans...3
l 1 Most of all, the Emancipation Proclamation had a profound impact on enslaved African Americans. In the South, Union troops freed millions of African Americans from lives of cruel labor. In areas where the Proclamation did not apply, many slaves simply decided they were free as well and courageously escaped. The Emancipation Proclamation is one of the key documents of American history. President Lincoln himself recognized the historical significance of his actions. In 1865 he called the Emancipation Proclamation "the central act of my administration and the great event of the nineteenth century:' The Proclamation's main significance was that it set an important legal precedent for African Americans. It was the beginning of the end of slavery in the United States. Near the end of the Civil War, Congress passed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery throughout the nation. The Emancipation Proclamation's Legacy Today a number of African Americans remember the legacy of the Emancipation Proclamation by celebrating Juneteenth. This event commemorates June 19, i865, the date when the Emancipation Proclamation was announced in Galveston, Texas. Federal troops did not reach Texas and free the slaves there until after the Civil War was over. In Texas, June 19 came to be known as Juneteenth, on which African Americans celebrated their freedom. In 1980 Juneteenth became a state holiday in Texas. Although not an official holiday elsewhere, Juneteenth has gradually gained popularity in other parts of the United States. In fact, some of the largest Juneteenth gatherings are now held in the northern cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Juneteenth festivities take many forms, including public speeches, parades, rodeos, and picnics. Many people also gather with their families on the holiday to rejoice in the gains that African Americans have made and to reflect on their hopes for the future. V'... The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, freed all enslaved African Americans in rebelling areas. Reading Check 8. Summarize Whom did the Emancipation Proclamation free, and how did African Americans react to it? Reviewing Ideas, Terms, and People "t:i 9. Recall What triggered fighting between the Union and the Confederacy in 1861? '".s: en.;:: 10. Infer Why might Union black troops have faced more hardships than Union white troops during the Civil War? "tj c:: 1:: '".s: '" '", c '".g' 11. Elaborate Do you think that President Lincoln should have freed all the slaves in the :c Union and Confederacy in 1863? Why or why not? o z,'2' s, a..3 STEPS TO FREEDOM 125