George L. Stearns Quotes

The officers were all white, and Higginson was the Commander. It was his first experience with Negro troops, and he had heard much extrapolation from racist attitudes about Blacks not being able to make good soldiers. Ironically, the same suspicions of Blacks as military men carried over into the Second World War when this canard was disproved so publicly that it finally was erased with the exception of the most inveterate racists for whom no evidence would matter.

Just a month earlier Washington had issued a contradictory order. See {614221}. The Continental Congress, under pressure from the Southerners, compromised.

Despite the critical need of the war, racism was so extensive in the WWII military that Blacks were relegated to menial duty of cooking, truck driving and construction but were actually not allowed to fight at the beginning despite the fact that many had volunteered. Many whites—especially the southerners—were convinced that Negroes could not fight, that they lacked the courage and commitment. The need for troops in the Pacific theater was so great that in the invasion of Saipan that was so difficult, Black troops were committed to the fight and performed brilliantly. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Vandergrift was not only the first Marine 4 star general who was on active duty, but he personally was a recipient of the Medal of Honor. When he spoke, all marines and many others in the service listened. This was the break-though. Negroes in combat was no longer some kind of social experiment for most Marines except the most vitriolic rascists.

When the Confederate Government realized that the Union was planning to arm escaped slaves and induct them into the Union Army, they quickly passed a law that declared any escaped slave who joined the Union Army or wore its uniform was guilty of Treason and would be executed. Most Union Generals one way or another got word to the Confederate Officers that they had better treat all Negro Union Soldiers as prisoners of war. Even President Lincoln warned the South. Butler, however, had a large number of Negro troops in his area and had heard threats of some of the Southerners to execute Black prisoners of war. He had a way of making things very clear, and he was able to prevent murder of any of his Negro troops despite the Treason law.

The New England and Middle Atlantic States had recruited and allowed Negroes to serve in their divisions with excellent results. These two Southern states were suffering badly as a result of the British Military dominance and atrocities. Almost all whites who were patriots were already under arms. Hence the recommendation. Despite their precarious position, the Southern States would not follow the recommendation. Many were convinced that the Blacks would never make good soldiers, and the those Southerners who disagreed were terrified that once armed, the Blacks would never submit to slavery and would support slave insurrections of the Black slaves who were not in the military.

By 1863, Negro troops were being used to fill in gaps in the Union forces. Many union generals resisted having colored troops under their command. Thomas, however, welcomed them, and won several major battles where black soldiers were instrumental in victory.

He later changes his mind.

Negotiations regarding the exchange of prisoners and property. This was his view of his supposed obligation to return Negro slaves who had escaped and gone to the British during the war. The treaty of peace specified that all “property” including slaves, taken by, the British be returned to the Americans. But he and other officers did not always do so as they thought they had higher moral obligations. See {621936} for example.

Washington quickly changed his mind when he realized that there were many Negroes fighting for his army and acquitting themselves very well. The pressure for troops and the English invitation to Negroes to help them and get their freedom, caused Washington to flip-flop on this point to the distress of most of his fellow Southerners. See {614220}.

Eggleston was an accomplished writer who had served in the Confederate army of the Civil War. 20 year after the war he wrote a series of articles for the prestigious Northern Atlantic Monthly trying to convey the war from the Southerner’s point of view.

The card was issued to all American troops in the theater. Similar versions were distributed to troops in Iraq, and other Arab countries.

Benjamin was the first African American general.

Benjamin was the Confederacy’s strongest proponent for use of Negro troops in exchange for a promise of freedom. Ironically, the racial prejudice of the Southern soldier may well have doomed the South’s last chance for independence. Lee, although he personally favored such a course of action, could not get a general sentiment from the army as a whole.

General Washington and his officers were constantly trying to get around the Southern bloc in the Continental Congress. South Carolina was willing because, perhaps more so than any other region of the country the South Carolina civilian population were suffering from the British military initiatives. See related quotes.

Miller was the first Black American admitted to a Graduate Program—Johns Hopkins—in Mathematics

Lorenzo Thomas Adjutant General U.S. Army He was a sergeant with a teaching background when he wrote this letter. He volunteered for the new duty and was commissioned an officer in the 9th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry—one of the Negro Divisions. A few months later he was killed in action.

Note the propaganda use of the fear of sexual contact between Black men and white women. Ironically, America was at the time even more fearful of interracial union. The rape accusations had never been documented, but when many racial bigots saw colored offspring of mixed sexual union, the assumed that the white woman must have been raped. This official pamphlet was used in German schools starting in 1934. This propaganda was so effective that by the time the Nazis started the military aggression setting off WWII, the Germans already despised the French, Poles, Russians and other Europeans and were highly anti-Semitic. Americans and others in the world knew about the Catechism but did not believe that such nonsense would be believed by anyone. We have the same reaction today to the propaganda that the Palestinians and some Islamic nations use in their schools teaching hate for America, the Christian West and the Israeli and other Jews.

This letter was signed by a local white Priest and two other leading planters. This quotation gives us a marvelous feeling for what occurred when parts of the South was occupied by the Union Army shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Minor and his fellows just did not “get it.” The concept of freedom of the slaves was intellectually so foreign to them, that they wanted the Union Army to “compel” the freed slaves to work. They were horrified that slaves went wherever they wanted, and they were most outraged when former slaves who had enlisted in the Army, would “visit” their old plantation setting such a terrible example. The letter gives us a perspective on how difficult it was to change the mental set of Southern Whites and why Reconstruction was so difficult. The year of the letter is somewhat uncertain as the original letter appears to be dated 1862 but the writing is not clear and that date does not comport with the history of the era and we believe 1863 was the correct year. The photograph is of the first official colored troops mustered into the Union Army. They were called the Louisiana Native Guards and contained the ex slaves who went over to the Union side just before the time this slave owner complained. These ex slaves, in uniform, and with arms would sometimes visit the plantations where they and been enslaved, thrilling the remaining slaves and infuriating owners like Minor.