Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War

Bruce Levine's book, Confederate Emancipation, helps to explain why the South lost the Civil War, and won the peace that followed. This is an excellent addition to any college course on the Civil War, because it fills in many of the blanks left by K-12 education on the same subject. Southern slaves were unhappy with their lives and their masters, and their masters were frequently unhappy with the Confederacy, particularly if it meant giving up their slaves for free. By the time the bulk of Confederate leaders decided to free their slaves, in order to make them Confederate soldiers, it was too late to do them any good. Levine points out that many intelligent Confederate leaders, military and civilian, were not only anti-slavery, but they were also in favor of offering slaves their freedom to serve in the military. This book shows the initial Confederate reluctance changing by late 1863, as the South got more desperate. Unfortunately, it also shows that the bulk of southerners were so supportive of slavery, or the feeling that slaves were inferior, that they could not agree to arm slaves until it was too late. Southern elites were finally convinced, when they realized that they could either free the slaves and win the war, or not free them and lose the war. If they lost the war, they realized their slaves might actually become their masters, but if they won the war, they would still be able to control this source of cheap labor. Although the South did not win the war, they found a way to keep their source of cheap labor in another 100 years of virtual bondage. They turned defeat into victory. After the Civil War, many southerners portrayed the Reconstruction Period (run by Yankees and African Americans) as a rape of the South. Through propaganda and political efforts, they convinced the United States to remove their soldiers from the South. This allowed them to resume their stranglehold on the South. Southern historians and politicians painted a picture of failed Reconstruction, while falsely claiming that plantations were not just benign, but actually education systems for slaves. All of these efforts allowed the South to re-subjugate African-Americans, using their cheap labor for "King Cotton" and other agricultural efforts. This book is easy to read and well worth the effort, particularly if you believe that the Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery, not states rights. Well into the latter half of the 20th century, southern states were still teaching that it was over states rights, not slavery. Hopefully, they have started to step up to the reality of what actually happened.

When this book first came out, I had little interest in reading it. Titles like this usually indicate an author with an agenda. The book becomes their soapbox and they inflict a shrill partisan speech on the poor reader. In a classic case of judging a book by its' cover, I rejected it at once. At the Sarasota Civil War Seminar, this book was listed as one of the most important books of 2006 by a panel of authors. Based on their recommendation, I picked up the book to try to read it. Historians can read things that will induce a coma in an active five-year old. The panel understated how good the book is. Anything dealing with race and the Confederacy is a highly charged and subject for both the Lost Cause Myth and Politically Correct Myth of the war. Bruce Levine reports without taking sides, providing a balanced account. In addition, he is has a very readable style, free of jargon, informative and interesting. The result is an intelligent, thoughtful book that is comprehensive and stimulating. This is the story of conflicting ideas and basic assumptions being tested by the realities of war. America was sure that Blacks could not be soldiers. The South was sure that slavery was the best condition for both races. The realities of war caused the Union to create the U.S.C.T., enlisting thousands of Blacks. The South, with a smaller white population, first instituted conscription to fill her armies. Still with smaller armies, by 1863 people started talking about using slaves to make up the difference. In 1865, a few Black men were enlisted after a gut wrenching debate over independence, slavery, society and race. How the idea develops from outright rejection through cautious acceptance to national policy is the heart of the book. Using letters, speeches and newspapers, the author has the participants to tell the story. Both sides have a fair, complete presentation of the issues as they see them. Congressional debates, Administration bills and the compromises result in a badly flawed law that is to little to late. Acceptance of Black Confederates by the Army of Northern Virginia is a sub issue that stymied CSA leaders and required multiple meetings. Even Robert E. Lee is subject to questions, when he endorses this idea. A second and equally important story line is slavery and the war. Starting in 1863, the advances of Union armies end slavery with no requirements on or restrictions for blacks. Information to slaves was restricted but it was impossible to hide the realities of war. Coupled with the absence of white males, modifications where made in the treatment of slaves and the expectations of owners. In the end, Confederate emancipation was inferior to that offered by the North. The slaves understood this and took sides based on that. Not fully developed is the refusal of slave owners to provide slaves to the Confederacy. Lee's letters and newspaper stories highlight the "rich man's war, poor man's fight" that has only bee

So well written, and so well researched. Breathtaking in its scholarship. The bad reviews seem to be inspired by the sort of foaming at the mouth that neoconfederates, caught up in the fantasy seem to specialize in. A truly worthwhile read. It speaks for itself; after reading it, one can have no doubts.

Lost Causers will hate this book. If your goal is simply to feel good about the Confederacy regardless of what the actual historical truth is, then you won't like this book. If, however, your goal is to learn what actually happened, then this book is for you. In this well-researched, well-documented book, Prof. Levine takes us beyond Robert F. Durden's _The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation_ and tells us the story of how the idea for emancipation of Confederate slaves came about, how it grew from an extremely unpopular idea to almost passing, and why it ultimately failed. In the process he also demolishes (again) cherished Lost Cause myths about slavery not having much to do with the war, about tens of thousands of black Confederate soldiers fighting alongside white Confederate soldiers, about slavery being on the way out in the Confederacy, about slaves being faithful to their masters, and about Robert E. Lee and to a lesser extent Jefferson Davis actually being antislavery. His book is solidly grounded in primary source material, as he directly quotes politicians, newspaper editorial writers, private citizens, generals, and common soldiers, showing without a doubt that it was impossible for there to have been tens of thousands of black Confederate soldiers, that it was impossible that slavery had little to do with the war, and that rather than being antislavery Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and even Patrick Cleburne were supporters of the institution. Prof. Levine shows clearly that slavery would have lasted in an independent Confederacy for as far as the eye could see, and that claims the Confederacy was planning to emancipate its slaves are simply preposterous. The idea for the emancipation of slaves who would fight for the Confederacy was put forward not to end slavery but rather to maintain control of slavery. The goal was to sacrifice control of some slaves by emancipating them in order to retain control over the majority of the slaves by winning the war and keeping those slaves in chains. Prof. Levine allows that there were some who argued to do away with slavery altogether in order to maintain control over how slavery would be abolished and thus maintain a system of white supremacy after slavery. Those who argued for slavery's complete abolition were a distinct minority. In the end, the Confederacy did allow blacks to enlist in the Confederate Army, very late in the war, but this was far too little and far too late. The proposed emancipation of slaves who fought for the Confederacy was defeated in the Confederate Congress, so never came about. Even though Confederate recruiters promised freedom for the slave soldiers anyway, the slaves themselves realized that if the Union won the war, they were all free while if the Confederacy won only those slaves who fought would be free; their families would remain slaves. Thus, few slaves volunteered to fight to keep their families in chains, contrasted wit