Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Black Americans Were the Critical Factor in Winning the Civil War

Black Americans Were the Critical Factor in Winning the Civil War

Last updated on: May 20, 2021 at 11:31 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Black Americans Were the Critical Factor in Winning the Civil War 2021-05-20T23:31:14-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/285756

Black Americans liberated themselves.

The moment that there was a possibility of freedom, enslaved Americans took history in hand and fought. With John Brown, they fought against all odds. When Union armies arrived in slave states, black Americans forced those armies to deal with the real cause of the war. They refused to let the war of rebellion be about “union” or “states rights” or any other abstraction.

They placed their own bodies on the line for liberty.

Hundreds of thousands of white Americans helped, but Black Americans took rifles in hand to win liberty. Whenever a Union army got near a planation, the black folk came ready to help and fight for freedom. They sang the songs of Zion and supported Lincoln and liberty too. Wise generals like US Grant before Vicksburg armed black Americans as quickly as possible and this action, multiplied one hundred thousand times, transformed any future discussion about slavery.

A man who will fight for freedom is fit for freedom.

You cannot doubt the courage of men who will fight. You cannot deny the franchise to men whose brothers gave all they had to the Union. Slavery was dead the moment the first black man put on a uniform, picked up a rifle, and fought. There is not evidence, none, that a single black man ever voluntarily fought for the Confederacy, but Sherman’s march from Atlanta to the sea showed that the “happy slave” was a myth.

When an unknown foe came to attack “master,” the enslaved overwhelmingly left “home” and worked hard to tear down “master’s” cotton empire. The slave masters knew nothing about their slaves: nothing. As one formerly enslaved man now wearing Union blue said to his “master,” now a prisoner of war: “The bottom rail is on the top.” The economy of the Southern states could not stand this hard truth: the wealth of the cotton states depended on keeping good men subordinate to worse men in an evil system.

A tragedy after the War was the growth of a lie about the enslaved: passive and not so unhappy.

The moment the War began, the enslaved began to stop work. The plantation economy began to falter as the enslaved demanded payment to work. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the grapevine of the enslaved passed on the word. At that moment, there was no chance, whatever the military outcome that the millions newly freed, would return to the old ways. The myth of white supremacy ends the moment a black regiment makes the Southern tyrants flee.

The Black volunteers in the Union army used their time to learn literacy, demand equal pay, and learn to manage their own lives. These men went on to represent their home states in Congress and in state constitutional conventions.

In the end, the Union betrayed these men and their families. The white Christians of the North lost the will to fight by 1876. The Republican Party chose “lily white” Republicanism over the policies of Lincoln, Grant, and especially Frederick Douglass. Virtue won the war, lost the peace, and let the defeated write the history. In history, a slave called “uncle” by his “master” once the War began demand to be called “mister.” In fantasy, the Black American was happy to return to his old plantation home and jump Jim Crow.

If tempted to see any justice in the Confederacy, ask why Black men fought.

They faced discrimination in the Union army. For much of the War, they did not get equal pay. Only one hundred or so ever achieved officer rank, regardless of merit. They were in a segregated force. Yet for all the problems of the white Christian who fought for the Union, the Black Christian found more common cause with this alien Yankee than with the slaver. Why?

There was nothing good or desirable in slavery. The religious man who chose slavery was a hypocrite.

Too many do not see the War as it was: Black people seizing liberty against all odds. They did so even though many Northern states tried to bar all Black Americans from coming. Instead, they fought to educate themselves and showing that Black Americans were the paradigm Americans.

They looked to Jesus: killed on a lynching tree in His day.

They looked to God: father of all mankind.

They sang the songs of Zion.

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free.

Culture

On Books

Pop Culture

Previous Post

May 12, 2021

The Lover Lives by Faith

Next Post

May 14, 2021 And also . . . (A Mistake in Reading Older Books)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the last judge of Israel and also a prophet?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nathan Eli Samuel Saul

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »