The roll of the black Confederate soldier during the War of Southern Independence  was one of remarkable courage and patriotism. Tens of thousands of blacks, both free and slave, served the Confederacy with loyalty and pride. Some 25% of free blacks and 15% of all slaves took it upon themselves to volunteer and actively participate in actions against the Union Armies; many, before it was even officially sanctioned.

Major Theodore Winthrop was the first Union officer to be killed in the Civil War and it was Sam Ashe, a black Confederate soldier defending the south that fired that fatal shot. Another former black slave also served the Confederacy well.  Horace King became the most famous bridge building engineer of the period, North or South, and received government contracts from the Confederate Government to build Confederate battleships for the southern navy.

One Confederate black captured by the Union, Dick Poplar, suffered unimaginable cruelty at the hands of black “Yankee” guards while imprisoned at Ft. Lookout; tortured by his own race. A black private, one John W. Buckner, was seriously wounded at the battle of Fort Wagner while fighting off the U.S. 54^th. Massachusetts Regiment; which was an all black regiment. There are many other such incidents in the annals of history of loyal Confederate blacks fighting to protect southern land and homes.

One fact ignored by many “pseudohistorians” is that there were many blacks that owned slaves themselves; people of their own race. It was said those masters were the worst of the worst and hated for their betrayal. In 1850 eight black planters in South Carolina owned a total of 17 Negro slaves. One free black planter living in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861 owned and held in bondage, 70 of his own race. The largest slave owner in North America was a northern black living in Louisiana; owning over 2,500 African slaves and selling and trading many more. A provision in the Confederate Constitution, unlike the U.S. Constitution, flatly prohibited the African slave trade and Confederate General Robert E. Lee freed all slaves he had inherited and owned, before the war even began. Union General Ulysses S. Grant, however, continued to own and work slaves well into the war.

When recruits were signed up for the Union Army each was asked their race on their applications, and blacks were not allowed to serve in the ranks with whites; they were segregated. On the other hand, in the Confederate Army black and whites served, fought, ate, slept and died side by side; they were never segregated. Confederates felt if blacks were good enough to fight for the southern cause they deserved the respect they earned; regardless of their race.

Slavery was indeed wrong and 99% of the southern people recognized that. That’s why slaves were already being freed and steps taken to do away with it completely, even before the war began. In addition, the age of the machines was far cheaper than keeping slaves. If slavery is to be used as a reason for the war, which is totally false to begin with, one must examine both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line to learn the whole truth. The Union and free black men were much more at fault than the south for slavery. It was the north that instituted slavery, northern merchants that got rich transporting and selling slaves, black leaders that captured and sold their people into slavery and the north that participated in slavery even during and after the war had ended.

All men, though, should be proud of their heritage, no matter what race they might be; white southern, Irish, Chinese, American Indian or African. All were sold into bondage at one time or another. Immigrants to America when they stepped off the boats in the north were never given a choice; they were immediately pressed into service in the Union Army. That’s how the Union replaced many of their casualties. It may not have been slavery, but it sure wasn’t the freedom in a new world that they expected.

Today, all races in America are united and live under one flag, one constitution  and fight and die to defend one country; America. As is the American flag honored and revered as our heritage, so should all people in America honor and respect the heritage and flags that were a part of their ancestral lineage. Those of the southern states, the Irish, Scottish, Chinese, Japanese and all other ethnic groups. The people of southern heritage look at the Confederate flag as a symbol of history and heritage; not as a symbol of hate for anyone. True, there are those radical groups that use the Confederate flag for hateful purposes, but the same can be said for the U.S. Flag, the German flag, the Irish flag and others. One must never give in to the radical madness of single minded individuals who want to blame all people for what a few simple minded radicals believe.

The true symbolism of the Confederacy, its flag and symbols are one of history and heritage for people of all ethnics and color; and anything less should never be tolerated. No one should ever deprive or refuse to honor black descendants of black Confederates of their right and privilege of honoring their ancestors heritage and flag.