Document 1

Description of image: City Point, Virginia. African American soldier guarding U.S. Model 1857

Source: A photograph of an African American Union Soldier guarding cannons taken in 1865 at
City Point, Virginia. Found at https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018670840/.
Document 2
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 10, 1865

A BILL
[..] An Act to increase the military force of the Confederate States.
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That in order to provide
additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate States,
secure their independence and preserve their institutions, the President be and he is hereby
authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves the services of such number of able
bodied [strong and healthy] [African American men] as he may deem expedient, for and during
the war, to perform military service in whatever capacity the General-in-Chief may direct. [...]
Sec. 3 That while employed in the service the said slaves shall receive the same rations,
clothing and compensation [..] “to increase the efficiency of the army by the employment of free
[African American men] and slaves in certain capacities,” and the compensation so allowed shall
be made to the owner or to the slave as the owner thereof may elect [choose].
Sec. 4. That nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation
which the said slaves shall bear towards their owners as property. [...]

Source: Excerpts from a bill created by the House of Representative in the Confederacy, which
allowed slaves to join the Confederate army. Dated February 10th, 1865. Found at
https://cnu.libguides.com/c.php?g=23197&p=136493. Simplified for easier reading.
Document 3

Transcription of writing: Camp Brightwood, D.C.--Contrabands in 2nd R.I. Camp.

Description of image: Soldiers- Capt. B.S. Brown (left); Lt. John P. Shaw, Co. F 2nd Regt.
Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry (center); and Lt. Fry (right) with African American men and
boy.

Source: A photograph taken of soldiers with African American men and a boy at Camp
Brightwood, D.C. Taken between 1861-1865. Found at
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98500959/.
Document 4

Although the U.S. allowed black soldiers to join the Union army, they were not treated equally.
Black soldiers in the Union army served in segregated troops, often faced inferior assignments,
and received lower pay—$10 per month to white soldiers’ $13. In this letter to President
Lincoln, African American soldier James Henry Gooding is protesting these conditions.

Morris Island, S.C.

September 28, 1863

Your Excellency, Abraham Lincoln:

[...] Now the main question is, are we Soldiers, or are we Laborers? We are fully armed, and
equipped, have done all the various duties pertaining to a Soldier’s life, have conducted
ourselves to the complete satisfaction of General Officers [the leaders of the army]; [...] and
more, Mr. President, today the Anglo Saxon [white] Mother, Wife, or Sister are not alone in tears
for departed [deceased] Sons, Husbands, and Brothers. The patient, trusting [African Americans]
have dyed the ground with blood, in defense of the Union, and Democracy.

[...] We have done a Soldier’s duty. Why can’t we have a Soldier’s pay? You caution the Rebel
chieftain [The leaders of the Confederate Army], that the United States knows no distinction in
her soldiers.[..]. Now if the United States exacts [claims the same] treatment of her soldiers [...],
would it not be well and consistent to set the example herself by paying all her soldiers alike?

[...] Black men, you may well know, are poor; three dollars per month, for a year, will supply
their needy wives and little ones with fuel. If you, as Chief Magistrate of the Nation [the
President], will assure us of our whole pay, we are content. Our Patriotism, our enthusiasm will
have a new impetus [motivation], to exert our energy more and more to aid our Country. [..] But
we feel as though our country spurned [rejected] us, now we are sworn to serve her. Please give
this a moment’s attention.

Source: Excerpts from a letter written by African-American soldier James Henry Gooding to
President Abraham Lincoln. Dated September 28th, 1863. Found at
https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6519/. Simplified for easier reading.
Document 5

Transcription of print: The Gallant Charge of the Fifty Fourth Massachusetts (Colored)
Regiment: On the Rebel Works at Fort Wagner, Morris Island near Charleston, July 18th 1863,
and death of Colonel Robt. G. Shaw.

Source: A print published by Currier & Ives depicting the Black Union soldiers storming the
wall at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. Found at
https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.14770754.
Document 6:

Taken from a speech by Frederick Douglass titled “The Mission of the War.” In this speech, he
reminded his audience that slavery was the cause of the war and that its abolition could not be
complete until the former slaves had full citizenship rights.

[..] What business, then, have we to be pouring out our treasure and shedding our best blood like
water for that old worn-out, dead and buried Union, which had already become a calamity
[disaster] and a curse? [..] What we now want is a country—a free country—a country not
saddened by the footprints of a single slave—and nowhere cursed by the presence of a
slaveholder.

[..] While our government has the meanness to ask Northern colored men to give up the comfort
of home, endure untold hardships, peril [danger], health, limbs and life itself, in its defense, and
then degrades [humiliates] them in the eyes of other soldiers, by offering them the paltry [small]
sum of seven dollars per month, and refuses to reward their valor [bravery] with even the hope of
promotion.

[..] While our Republican government at Washington makes color and not character the criterion
[standard] of promotion in the Army and degrades [humiliates] colored commissioned officers
[African American officers in the army] at New Orleans below the rank to which even the rebel
government [Confederacy] had elevated them, I think we are in danger of a compromise with
slavery.

[..] I end where I began—no war but an Abolition war; no peace but an Abolition peace; liberty
for all, chains for none; the black man a soldier in war, a laborer in peace; a voter at the South as
well as at the North; America his permanent home, and all Americans his fellow countrymen.
Such, fellow citizens, is my idea of the mission of the war.

Source: Excerpt From Frederick Douglass’ speech “The Mission of the War” given at the
Women’s Loyal League at the Cooper Institute in New York City on January 13, 1864. Found at
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss11879.22008/?sp=1. Simplified for easier reading
Document 7

Dutch Gap, Virginia. Picket station of Colored troops near Dutch Gap Canal

Source: A photograph taken at Dutch Gap, Virginia at a picket station of African American
troops. Taken November 1864. Found at https://www.loc.gov/resource/cwpb.01930/.
Document 8:
Taken from a pamphlet, which describes the efforts of African American soldiers in many Civil
War Battles. This excerpt is talking about the battle of Nashville and how African Americans
helped the Union Army in this victory.

Nashville.
In the victory at Nashville, December 16th, 1864, the heaviest loss in any regiment
occurred in the 13th U.S. Colored Infantry, — 55 killed and 106 wounded: total 221. General
George H. Thomas, the hero of that battle, a Virginian and at one time a slaveholder, when riding
over the field, saw the dead colored troops commingled [mixed together] with the bodies of the
white soldiers, and said, "This proves the manhood of the [African American]." [..]The actual
fighting done by the colored troops was not, under the conditions stated, inconsiderable [small].
The indirect benefit to our armies was incalculable [immeasurable].

[..] In conclusion, let us never forget the debt we owe to the colored soldiers. Let us always be
willing to give them whatever credit is their due. We called upon them in the day of trial, when
volunteering had ceased, when the draft was a partial failure [..]. They were ineligible for
promotion, they were not to be treated as prisoners of war. Nothing was definite except that they
could be shot and hanged as soldiers. [..] They saw that the day of their redemption had arrived.
They escaped through the rebel lines of the South; they came from all over the North; and, when
the war closed, the names of one hundred and eighty-six thousand men of African descent were
on the rolls.

Source: Excerpts from the Pamphlet , “The Negro as a Soldier in the War of Rebellion”, which
describes the efforts of African American Union soldiers in Civil War battles. Dated 1897.
Found at https://www.loc.gov/item/22002319/. Simplified for easier reading.
Name _________________________________________

Period ________

African Americans in the Civil War

You will be given eight primary sources and photographs related to the African Americans and
their role in the Civil War. Acting as Historians, use evidence from these documents and your
background knowledge to make interpretations about the following questions in order to better
understand the role African Americans played in the Civil War. Cite the evidence from the
documents that lead to your answers. After filling each box, answer the questions that follow.

Name of the Who Produced the What from this Supporting Evidence
Document and document? (Author, document is
when it was Photographer, etc.) evidence that led to
produced the civil war?
In your opinion, to what degree were African Americans Involvement in the Civil War Effective
in turning the tide of the War? Why or Why not? Divide the circle into slices of pie representing
“E” for “Effective” or “I” for “Ineffective” as shown in the example for Document 1, then
answer why you said so.

Document 1 Document 2 Document 3 Document 4

E
I
Ineffective because
this African
American Soldier is
just watching the
cannons.

Document 5 Document 6 Document 7 Document 8