"Davis: ‘We are Reduced to Choosing Whether the ..." Topic

…Negroes Shall Fight for or Against Us.

"The idea of forcing slaves to fight in the Confederate armies was one of the hottest debates in Richmond. The day previous, the House voted to allow slaves to be drafted as soldiers. Now it had to face the Senate and then the President.

Jefferson Davis had already voiced his approval of the measure, though only as an absolute necessity. As things stood now, however, that time had come. At the end of December, the editor of the Mobile Register and Advertiser send Davis an editorial supporting this view, something that paper had expounded nice November of 1863.

In it, the editor thought that Richmond should make "a permanent levy or draft of a certain proportion of the slave population." Since there seemed to be no way to coax the "stragglers, skulkers and absentees" back into the armies, and since, as the paper suggested, the Union had "marshaled 200,000 of our slaves against us," the slave population, it was proposed, should be tapped…"
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Two questions please.

a)Are here wargamers of ACW who played with full African American Regiments on the table?

b)Anyone tried to wargame "what if" involving African American soldiers from EACH side?

c) If you answer yes to a) which was the rate of the unit?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

For my 15mm ACW army I painted up the 54th MA.

One figure did not have a kepi, but a large amount of hair. I painted that up in Rasta colors like it was a hair cap. Fun look on the board when people noticed.

A: Yes…USCT
B: Not that I know of…
C: In RRTF, like most units I have, I make them "average". I don't change their fighting skill and ability due to the color of their skin…

A) Yes About a bde for (16 stands) the old "Stars &
Bars" rules, and still use them in F&F
B) No

C) Depends. They were rated as Veteran for a Olustee game
once. But most times I just use them as
"generic" Union troops

b)Anyone tried to wargame "what if" involving African American soldiers from EACH side?

That is a sticky problem, because there were 178,000 freedmen fighting for the North, but no evidence for any organized units of slaves or former slaves for the South despite an ongoing historical revisionist campaign here in America that is pushing the narrative of Black Confederates. It's just another part of the Lost Cause Myth.

c) If you answer yes to a) which was the rate of the unit?

I haven't, but they are pretty much average infantry for the war, with their share of wavering green troops and Medal of Honor recipients. Depending on what game system is being used, some USCT regiments around Petersburg could be considered veteran. Likewise some of the state troops like the 54th Massachusetts.

That there were probably some African-Americans in Southern ranks is true. There existed freedmen in the south and some of them took the Southern side. But nowhere the numbers of the North and not in their own units I think. You could paint the odd Confederate as African american. But a whole unit? Probably not.

Thanks for the answers boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand