African Americans Role In The Civil War

Great Essays
1. The Civil War was very different from past conflicts. To start, African Americans played a huge role in the Civil War. For the North, African Americans were enlisted in the army and fought alongside other Americans, and for the South, African Americans slaves were “camp servants,” for their masters. The slaves would cook meals, raise tents, and carry supplies for their masters. There is actually a stretch to claim saying that not a single African American ever fired a gun for the Confederacy. Women also had a role in the Civil War. Women impacted the war in many ways: through their violet actions such as leading mobs to protest food shortages, spying on the enemy, and using their organizational skills in hospitals. Women took on key roles within hospitals both North and South. Lastly, medical practices were very unsanitary. The medicine during the time focused exclusively on curing the patient rather than preventing disease. Vaccines for diseases such as smallpox were largely unavailable to those outside of towns, this led to …show more content…
• We are still afflicted by the painful sequences both of slavery and the late rebellion, so let us have peace, but let us have liberty, law, and justice first. – All citizens are still mourning from the tragic events of the war but now is the time to have peace, liberty, law and justice for all.
• Not be asked to put no difference between those who fought for the Union and those who fought against it, or between loyalty and treason. – To put aside the past conflicts and unite as a country.
• It was a war of ideas, a battle of principles and ideas, a war between the old and new – Douglass believed this because the North and South had clashing opinions and ideas against each other because both wanted to operate differently.
• From the far-reaching, unchangeable and eternal principles in dispute, and for which our sons and brothers encountered hardship, danger, and death. – The disagreement between the North and South, led to

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    At the beginning of his speech, Douglass establishes all that America stands for according to the founding fathers. He depicts them as advocates of “justice, liberty and humanity,” inspired by “glorious patriotism” and “sincerity” (Douglass 5). The founding fathers are described as what Douglass believes to be the essence of what America seeks to represent: freedom, equality and independence. However, when Douglass transitions from past to present, he claims that “the rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence...is shared by you, not by me” (Douglass 7). His depiction of America in 1852 sharply contrasts the idealistic nature of colonial America.…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil War took place from 1861-1865 and it was fought between the Union and the Southern Confederate States. The Confederate Army fought for their right to own slaves while the Union fought to abolish all slavery. In the book Confederate Reckoning by Stephanie McCurry, she explains things that take place during the war but are not apart of the battle. McCurry thoroughly explains African slaves and white women during the civil war and their political state of mind and political consequences of their actions and behavior. The Confederate government had to deal with both slaves and white women because of their own choice to fight against the Union in the Civil War.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    They served for both sides of the army (Union and Confederate) during the war. Approximately 179 000 African American in the North contributed in the war by serving as army however those in the South only served the labor positions since there were still considered as slaves. Other than that, the African Americans also served as nurses and blacksmiths. The labor positions that the South African American had was such as to build fortifications. http://www.historynet.com/african-americans-in-the-civil-war…

    • 3821 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The North and South have always followed different paths and by the mid 1800’s the differences were even more pronounced. The North was becoming more industrial, dedicated to immigration, free labor and supported a federal government. Slavery was not common in the North and it was even banned in some states. The South’s agricultural economy was founded on slavery and cotton and they supported a government that allowed states to make their own rules. Southerners viewed the North and their views as them trying to destroy Southern culture with their industrialism and growing abolitionist movement.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    African American Dbq

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It didn’t matter if the African American was free of a runaway slave, they both enlisted in the war. After the war waged on for more than a year, the northerners were growing tired of the war and the north needed soldiers fast. Then, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation states that all slaves in the Union and in the Confederacy should be freed. This is extremely important because when the…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    For these reasons, Douglass is far from shocked that Civil War has started in America. Throughout his speech, Douglass over and over pushes the point that this war is not one of political or economical, but of moral importance (414, 16). That is why the only way to resolve this problem is so…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Was the Civil War predictable? Did any events indefinitely cause the South to desire a split from the North? The North and the South had a growing tension between them for many reasons, and the northern abolitionists encouraged a Civil War through their actions of protest. Although many Americans were affected minimally by the changes of the nation, abolitionists inevitably foresaw a Civil War because the growing tensions between the North and the South became apparent in political and social changes, slavery issues, and the growing occurrence of rebellions. Political and social changes occurred in many ways, including The Second Great Awakening, Lincoln’s presidential election to office, the way the North and the South dealt with one another,…

    • 1394 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A major event in United States history, that shaped the way our country is today, was the American Civil War (1861-1865). Some of the people that played a huge role in the war include, Ulysses S. Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, and President Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War was a fight between the Union army (the North) and the Confederate army (the South) about whether or not slavery should be practiced in the United States. Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman played key roles in the North’s victory over the South. Grant and Sherman were both generals of the Union army during the civil war.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Spies In The Civil War

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages

    For four years between 1861 and 1865 the United States engaged in a civil war. The war started all over some disagreements between the free and slave states. It helped determine what kind of nation they would be. The Civil War was the first total war, meaning it not only inflicted on soldiers, but civilians, land, and cities. This impacted the women in many different ways.…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Native American role in The Civil War is not a subject that has been widely discussed or taught in general United States History classes. However, there has been a fair amount of documentation and research on tribal participation with bands ranging from the Seminoles of the southernmost Florida region to the Delaware tribes of the Northeastern territory. Many people are unaware of the loss of life that the Native Americans suffered as participants of a war they did not have an overwhelming amount of interest in. When the Civil War, commonly known as The War Between The States, broke out in Charleston, South Carolina in January of 1861, there were several Native Americans who were African slave owners that were owned by some of certain tribes’…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first black women were deployed to West Africa in 1943. These women helped the only black soldiers when they were in need of it. At the end of the war, out of a corps of 50,000 nurses, only 479 of these women were African American (Moore 115). This is disappointing. If the war department would have considered desegregating the army sooner, these women could have played a much larger role than they already had.…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Initially, no one really was in favor of the idea but as the war wore on and more soldiers died, people became more interested in the idea. Abraham Lincoln eventually supported it, understanding that they were willing to fight and taking advantage of that fact. Despite how unpopular the idea was in general, he went ahead and allowed the creation of all-black regiments because he knew that whites were, at this point, uninterested in fighting to free the slaves while the African Americans were ready to go fight and possibly even die for the sake of their brethren and the preservation of the Union (Doc. C). Once it became a major war aim of the Union to end slavery, African Americans in the north were subject to random acts of violence, especially once a draft began for the Union army. Draft riots began, the most violent occurring in New York City.…

    • 1283 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the Civil War both African American men as well as women contributed towards the Union’s victory against the confederacy through the roles of fighting, spying, and nursing. Although the participation of African Americans within the war was controversial at first, the help acquired from fighting wars, spying, and even nursing was handy for the North and pushed the nation a step closer towards victory and success. The involvement of African American’s participation within the war was at first controversial in the North. The idea of having blacks bear arms seemed foolish and even dangerous, while others, being the abolitionist, thought it was a step closer towards equality.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In this part of his speech he uses antithesis to show the contrast in how people living in America experience freedom. Douglass continues to build on his ethos appeal; he again establishes that he is capable of empathizing with the slaves by siding with the slaves and separating himself from the white. He says, “The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn” (286).…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    There is a “single story” that men were the only real participants in the war because they were the ones that went off to battle. However, the women were not quietly sitting at home; their actions had a direct impact on the war effort and continuation. Three major occupations they had were fundraising for the war and troops, carrying on work on farms and plantations while their husbands were gone, and working outside the home for the war effort. In both the North and South, fundraising done by white women was necessary to support the Union and Confederate armies. In particular, the support of Southern women was crucial.…

    • 1922 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays

Related Topics