African Americans In The Civil War Essay

The American Civil War was fought between the North and the South from 1861 to 1865. The disagreement of whether or not to abolish slavery was what started the Civil war, with the North wanting to rid America of slavery, while the South wanted to keep slavery alive. In the beginning of the Civil War it was considered a “white man’s war”. This seems quite odd considering it was a war fought over the enslavement of African Americans. When learning about the Civil War in school students often hear about Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant and of course Abraham Lincoln, but what about some of the key African Americans during the Civil War, such as Frederick Douglas, Mary Bowser, and Mary Touvestre. Those names might sound familiar, but when asked

The Civil War was a conflict between the Union and Confederacy over the abolition of slavery. There were many individuals white and black that had a major impact on the victory of the Union Army. Both whites and African Americans fought bravely and valiantly, but for African Americans the Civil War meant so much more to them than it ever could for the whites. The Civil War meant freedom, it meant that African Americans could live their life according to themself, instead of according to their masters. It meant that it brought African Americans one step closer to being equal to whites in the society’s eyes. While, the role of African Americans in the Civil War isn’t represented as much in the history books, they had a profound role in tilting the scale towards the Union. Noncombatant labors helped to do the heavy lifting, they built forts, cooked for the soldiers, and even buried the deceased. These tasks while not as glamorous as fighting in battle are necessities in a war. The words of Frederick Douglas helped to rally African Americans behind the Union Army and add more men to the army. African American units like, the 54th Massachusetts, proved that black men were just as capable of fighting in the war as anyone else. The work of African American spies behind the scenes provided the Union Army with information that was extremely valuable to the Union. African Americans faced discrimination, slavery, and death by aiding the Union, but the reward if the Union was