ched under the command of
Confederate officers and carried shovels, axes, and blankets. The
observer adds, "they were brimful of patriotism, shouting for Jeff
Davis and singing war songs."[19] A paper in Lynchburg, Virginia,
commenting on the enlistment of 70 free Negroes to fight for the
defense of the State, concluded with "three cheers for the patriotic
Negroes of Lynchburg."[20]

Two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter, several companies of
volunteers of color passed through Augusta on their way to Virginia to
engage in actual war. Sixteen well-drilled companies of volunteers and
one Negro company from Nashville composed this group.[21] In November
of the same year, a military review was held in New Orleans.
Twenty-eight thousand troops passed before Governor Moore, General
Lowell and General Ruggles. The line of march covered over seven miles
in length. It is said that one regiment comprised 1,400 free colored
men.[22] _The Baltimore Traveler_ commenting on arming Negroes at
Richmond, said: "Contrabands who have recently come within the Federal
lines at Williamsport, report that all the able-bodied men in that
vicinity are being taken to Richmond, formed into regiments, and armed
for the defense of that city."[23]

During February, 1862, the Confederate Legislature of Virginia was
considering a bill to enroll all free Negroes in the State for service
with the Confederate forces.[24] The Legislatures of other States
seriously considered the measure. Military and civil leaders, the
Confederate Congress and its perplexed War Department debated among
themselves the relative value of employing the Negroes as soldiers.
Slowly the ranks of those at home were made to grow thin by the calls
to the front. In April, 1862, President Davis was authorized to call
out and place in service all white men between the ages of eighteen
and thirty-five; in September the ages were raised to include the
years of thirty-five and forty-five; and finally in February, 1864,
all male whites between the years of seventeen and fifty were made
liable to military service. The Negroes were liable for impressment in
the work of building fortifications, producing war materials, and the
like.[25]

The demand became so urgent for men that quite a controversy arose
over the advisability of employing the Negroes as soldiers. Some said
that the Negro belonged to an inferior race and, therefore, could not
be a good soldier; that the Negro could do m