The Peninsula Campaign and the Necessity of Emancipation: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom by Glenn David Brasher (review)

Glenn David Brasher acknowledges from the outset that the task he has set for himself is a difficult one: to show that the actions of slaves during the Peninsula campaign influenced strategy and tactics of both armies and that those actions made the Union call for emancipation as a war objective due to military necessity more persuasive. Brasher acknowledges trouble with source materials—for example, hyperbole from abolitionist newspapers intentionally overstating or exaggerating slave participation; slaves leaving little in the way of firsthand written testimony. Another danger lay in the historical approach—by using a jeweler’s loupe to examine slave participation, one can overstate or overemphasize the subjects and undervalue the political context in which the subjects act. Brasher also admits that his work treats the issue of slaves fighting for and supporting the Confederacy—a notion he emphatically rejects. It is fortunate for his audience that Brasher is a careful and resourceful researcher and a lucid writer who is more than adequate to the task.

The author starts by examining the role of slaves in support of the Confederate army. He need look no further than Virginia during the Revolutionary War period to see how slaves were offered emancipation (by the British) in exchange for their support of a war effort. Such memory carried through to the conflict erupting in 1861. Liaisons between slaves and masters were yet another source of support and participation. Slave labor was also pressed into service during the Peninsula campaign to build fortifications and entrenchments. Brasher further examines alleged stories of slaves observed fighting, often cited as proof positive of black Confederates. For example, he recounts a Union soldier who was convinced his unit fought black Confederates at Ethan’s Landing (132). However, the historical record clearly shows that the Confederacy never seriously considered arming blacks until the last months of the conflict; the soldier probably saw body servants. Brasher covers similar ground in other sections (94–95, for example). Confederate general Magruder ran afoul of local slaveowners and slaves as he continued to impress labor to meet his needs to build and resituate lines of defense. He shows how the constant demand for laborers created friction and ultimately led to legislation allowing free blacks to be impressed. As a whole, these issues highlight a gap in the argument of willing participation en masse by African Americans, free or slave.

Brasher argues convincingly that Confederates effectively utilized slave labor, particularly slave-built entrenchments, to slow McClellan’s advance. By July 1862 the actions of slaves in support of the Confederacy and the invaluable service given to Union forces from black informants forced a consideration of emancipation as a war necessity. “No one person or group of people freed the slaves,” argues Brasher. “From the start of the war the actions and sentiments of a disparate cast of thousands advanced the military necessity argument” (228). It is Brasher’s examination of that cast of thousands and his ability to blend political and military narratives while maintaining contact with the activities of slaves and free blacks that makes this an important book. Although this work focuses on the necessity of emancipation, if other historians are wise they will let it serve as a model of how to unify political, military, and social history for future studies of all the campaigns of the Civil War.