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| Posted: Wed Feb 10th, 2010 05:44 pm |
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ole Member
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Yes, no matter the rank or station they were seen as fellow soldiers. Thank you sir; may I have another? The Union Armies also employed black, civilian cooks, launderers, teamsters, laborers, farriers, artificers, et alii. If they were counted as actual mustered-in soldiers, I suspect that the 178,000 USCT would quickly expand by at least twice. If a black Confederate musician was enrolled, issued a uniform, and paid army pay (such as it was), he was a black Confederate soldier. If he was a hired freedman or a servant or an impressed slave, he wasn't. The contracted civilians in the present army are not soldiers. Harm's way is adequately compensated. It is the enrollment as a soldier that marks the difference and, I strongly suspect, that civilians "serving" is the basis for the inflated number of black confederates. A second motivation is an effort to prove that many, many blacks voluntarily served; therefore, they were loyal to their "country," and therefore, they were content with their lot. Ole
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