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Robert E. Lee and the Arming of Black Men
- Louisiana State University Press
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28 ROBERT E. LEE AND THE ARMING OF BLACK MEN leonne m. hudson B y 1865, it was apparent to many southerners that the collapse of the Confederate States was imminent. To stave off the inevitable, the southern nation turned to a desperate measure to resuscitate the dying republic . The last hope of saving the government was to tap black men as a military resource. The plan to reinforce the Rebel armies with African American manpower generated a rancorous debate among politicians, military men, and civilians. The decision to elevate slaves to the rank of soldiers seemed to contradict the Confederacy’s “cornerstone” doctrine of black inferiority. The fact that the drastic plan was anathema in many quarters did not dissuade General Robert E. Lee from putting his prestige and reputation on the line by supporting the freeing and the arming of slaves. The South had been driven by necessity to the point of no longer enjoying the luxury of an army consisting of white men only. On January 2, 1864, General Patrick R. Cleburne, a superb divisional commander in the Army of Tennessee, announced his “Proposal to Make Soldiers of Slaves” as a plan of salvation for the Confederate nation. The Ireland native arrived in the United States in 1849 and settled in Helena, Arkansas, a year later. He penned his famous statement in support of black enlistment against the backdrop of the Rebel defeat at the battle of Missionary Ridge in Tennessee in November 1863. The death of so many soldiers weighed heavily on General Cleburne. The “long lists of dead and mangled” convinced him of the futility of trying to achieve political independence without the introduction of black soldiers into the Confederate army. Certain that the war would “exhaust the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 29 Robert E. Lee and the Arming of Black Men white race,” Cleburne proposed that the Richmond government “immediately commence training a large reserve of the most courageous of our slaves, and further that we guarantee freedom within a reasonable time to every slave in the South who shall remain true to the Confederacy in this war.”1 The Irish general made it clear that any hope of European recognition and assistance hinged on freedom for the slaves. He believed that the implementation of his idea would solve the army’s dire need for soldiers. The author declared that the time had come for the Davis administration to tap the manpower reservoir in the Confederate States, which contained approximately 680,000 slave men between the ages of seventeen and forty-five. Nonetheless, the Union possessed a significant numerical advantage over its adversary. According to one source, the United States had “approximately three times as many military-age white males as did the Confederacy.”2 Upon learning of the proposal, which contained the signatures of several officers in the Army of Tennessee, Jefferson Davis ordered its suppression. The Irishman’s statement struck some of his fellow officers as treasonous. Knowing that Cleburne’s document would be controversial and divisive, the Confederate president did not want the public or the press to learn of its existence. Davis’s success in preventing the circulation of the proposal would only delay what would become one of the most contentious debates in the history of the Rebel nation. The upheaval in political and military arenas caused by what Clement Eaton called an “eloquent document” reverberated from Virginia to Texas. The death of General Cleburne at Franklin on November 30, 1864, denied him the opportunity of knowing the outcome of his bold announcement. As historians Herman Hattaway and Richard E. Beringer have noted, Cleburne’s “idea was far from dead. By now the issue had engaged the minds of many thoughtful Confederates.”3 The debate over the recruitment and enlistment of the slaves did not escape the attention of Lee, whom one scholar calls “the single most prestigious and influential person in the Confederacy.”4 A few days after Virginia adopted an ordinance of secession the fifty-four-year-old soldier resigned his commission in the United States Army. The West Point graduate and Mexican War veteran’s elevation to the position of commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia coincided with the wounding of Joseph E. Johnston at the battle of Seven Pines. He accepted the responsibility of leading that army, knowing that the Union posed a formidable obstacle to southern autonomy. Lee’s soldiers viewed [44.210.120.182] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13...