Читать книгу Historical Moments: Military Contributions of African Americans - Роберт Харрис - Страница 16

African Americans in the Civil War

During that dark chapter in our nation’s history known as the Civil War or the war to end slavery, over 179,000 black men served in 160 units as soldiers, sailors, and in support positions. This number comprised of northern free black men and runaway slaves who enlisted to fight. Many white people believed that the black man would not be brave enough to fight in battle; however, Company A of the 4th Infantry Regiment proved them wrong. They fought with courage and bravery in the face of gunfire and death, and their commanding officer, Gen. Nathaniel Banks praised their valor, courage, and bravery. Black men took up arms in defense of the union in the hope that at the end of the war, they would be set free and given land—forty acres and a mule—but unfortunately this was not to be. The period of reconstruction after the war was filled with Jim Crow laws, lynching, separate and unequal facilities, discrimination in housing, jobs, and denying black people the right to vote. Terrorist groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, all made life very unbearable for the black man.

Company A of the 4th Infantry Regiment