CORNISH : The sable arm (ajánló)
"It is hard to realize, so many years after the Civil War, how revolutionary the experiment of permitting Negroes to bear arms was considered, how fraught with imagined dangers to the Union cause, how galling to white pride, how difficult of popular acceptance." Negroes had fought in earlier wars, but never had they been permanently accepted as part of the military establishment. After each crisis, they had reverted to their status as slave or free colored. At the beginning of the Civil War, when Northerners rallied to the cry of saving the Union, only a few lone abolitionists spoke up for mobilizing Negro troops. Even Lincoln hesitated to endorse the use of Negro soldiers until after January, 1863, when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Professor Cornish tells the history of this long struggle. Quoting extensively from contemporary sources, he brings out explicit sentiments of Northerners, Southerners, Congressmen, military men, and all those who voiced an opinion on the question. Viewpoints changed quickly in many cases and "the whole movement to arm the Negro moved off its original amateurish, haphazard, and volunteer basis to a new footing of professional, organized, regularized activity under central control from Washington." Specific problems that arose once Negro regiments were organized are discussed: the prisoner-of-war problem (selling Negro prisoners into slavery and Southern reluctance to exchange Negro for white prisoners-of-war), recruiting qualified officers for Negro regiments, and efforts to establish equal pay and other rights throughout the Unioii army regardless of color. By the end of the war about 180,000 Negro troops had served the Union, including some 7100 officers. Here is the record of their splendid achievement, a milestone in the history of the Negro's integration into American society.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
