http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=35
We had to fight for the right to fight for our own freedom in the Civil War, both sides deeming it to be a "white man's war," that would quickly be over. The blacks knew, however, that this great opportunity was that FREEDOM WAR, for which they had long labored, hoped, and prayed. Prolonged Union losses, declining white volunteers, and 'contraband' overwhelming Union lines, were motivating factors.Others included, Generals like Fremont and Hunter issuing their own Emancipation Proclamations freeing slaves in their military departments in Missouri and South Carolina, in 1861 and 1862, respectively. Their bold 'military necessity' actions, though later revoked by President Abraham Lincoln, put a spur to politicians like Lincoln. Sen. James Lane's 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry's victory at the Battle of Island Mound, on October 28-29, 1862, put a burning whip to Lincoln. It was the clinical evidence, plastered on the pages of HARPER'S WEEKLY, that blacks 'fought like tigers' even when confronting mounted, better-armed opposition, that were twice their size! So on January 1, 1863, an Executive Order, freeing the slaves in certain parts of belligerent states was issued by Lincoln, as threatened by him in September 1862. On May 22, 1863, a Bureau of Colored Troops was created to manage the thousands of black men who rallied to the flag, following appeals from Douglass, Langston, Delaney, and many others.
We had to fight for the right to fight for our own freedom in the Civil War, both sides deeming it to be a "white man's war," that would quickly be over. The blacks knew, however, that this great opportunity was that FREEDOM WAR, for which they had long labored, hoped, and prayed. Prolonged Union losses, declining white volunteers, and 'contraband' overwhelming Union lines, were motivating factors.Others included, Generals like Fremont and Hunter issuing their own Emancipation Proclamations freeing slaves in their military departments in Missouri and South Carolina, in 1861 and 1862, respectively. Their bold 'military necessity' actions, though later revoked by President Abraham Lincoln, put a spur to politicians like Lincoln. Sen. James Lane's 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry's victory at the Battle of Island Mound, on October 28-29, 1862, put a burning whip to Lincoln. It was the clinical evidence, plastered on the pages of HARPER'S WEEKLY, that blacks 'fought like tigers' even when confronting mounted, better-armed opposition, that were twice their size! So on January 1, 1863, an Executive Order, freeing the slaves in certain parts of belligerent states was issued by Lincoln, as threatened by him in September 1862. On May 22, 1863, a Bureau of Colored Troops was created to manage the thousands of black men who rallied to the flag, following appeals from Douglass, Langston, Delaney, and many others.
