Bobby Lovett The Negros Civil War Summary

Bobby L. Lovett writing for the Journal of Negro History gives an account of African -Americans in the Civil War, in his article the “The Negros Civil War 1861-1865”. Lovett opens his article by explaining how Tennessee officially seceded on June 8 1861, and how eight months later taken the state was over by the Union Army. In the first part of his article, Lovett gives us some background information about how the Confederacy and the state of Tennessee planned on using the “quasifree” African-Americans. Lovett goes on to explain how some free blacks of the city of Nashville sided with the Confederacy along with the captured slaves, and servants. Although some fought for the Confederacy, most fled to the Union line to enlist in the Union Army

Lovett moves his article to the how the Black Artillery Unit’s were involved in the Civil War’s various battles in Tennessee, breaking them apart by the Tennessee’s Middle, West and East divisions. He moves his article to the Middle Tennessee African-American units 12th United States (Colored) Troops Regiment, 14th U.S.C.T, 15th, 16th ,17th,18th and the later editions of 40th,42nd,44th, and 100th U.S.C.T units. Lovett explains the various middle Tennessee units and what role the played during the Civil War. This usually involved securing the Union’s territory and guarding railroads. Lovett then moves onto the West Tennessee divisions 55th, 59th ,61st,63rd 64th,88th U.S.C.T. Mainly the West Tennessee regiment defended the area of Memphis and was involved in the Fort Pillow Massacre, against General Nathan

Lovett’s article “The Negro’s Civil War in Tennessee 1861-1865” to be an interesting read. The structure of the article flowed well and was easy to understand. The subject of African-American soldiers during the Civil War is an interesting topic. However, there are some minor issues with the article. The first issue I had with this article was how Lovett briefly mentions how East Tennessee and West Tennessee held different views during this time-period. I think he should have expounded more on the subject, considering the dividedness of Tennessee’s during the Civil War. Another important subject Lovett skimmed over was the Memphis Race Riot. The Memphis Race Riot seems like a good area to explore for this topic. I would also like to have seen Lovett explore the African-American regiments who fought for the Confederacy. They did exist and probably fought for different reasons than their Northern counterparts; it would have been an interesting comparison. Overall, Lovett’s article for the Journal of Negro History does what it set out to do, which was to give us a detailed history of the African-American Union soldiers in