ng to the act. On March 30, 1865,
Captain Edward Bostick was ordered to raise four companies in South
Carolina. Others were ordered to raise companies in Alabama, Florida,
and Virginia.[46] Lee and Johnson, however, surrendered before this
plan could be carried out. If the Confederate Congress could have
accepted the recommendation in the fall of 1864, the war might have
been prolonged a few months, to say the least, by the use of the Negro
troops. It was the opinion of President Davis, on learning of the
passage of the act, that not so much was accomplished as would have
been, if the act had been passed earlier so that during the winter the
slaves could have been drilled and made ready for the spring campaign
of 1865.

Under the guidance of the local authorities, thousands of Negroes were
enlisted in the State Militias and in the Confederate Army. They
served with satisfaction, but there is no evidence that they took part
in any important battles. The Confederate Government at first could
not bring itself to acknowledge the right or the ability of the man
who had been a slave to serve with the white man as a soldier.
Necessity forced the acceptance of the Negro as a soldier. In spite of
the long years of controversy with its arguments of racial
inferiority,[47] out of the muddle of fact and fancy came the
deliberate decision to employ Negro troops. This act, in itself, as a
historical fact, refuted the former theories of southern statesmen.
The Negro was thus a factor in both the Union and Confederate armies
in the War of the Rebellion. These facts lead to the conclusion that
the Negro is an American not only because he lives in America, but
because his life is closely connected with every important movement in
American history.

CHARLES H. WESLEY.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Davis, _The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida_, p. 220.

[2] For summary of such, legislation to prevent this, see J.C. Kurd,
_The Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States_, Vol. II. In
Florida, 1827, a law was enacted to prevent trading with Negroes. In
1828, death was declared the penalty for inciting insurrection among
the slaves and in 1840 there was passed an act prohibiting the use of
firearms by Negroes. In Virginia as early as 1748 there was enacted a
measure declaring that even the free Negroes and Indians enlisted in
the militia should appear without arms; but in 1806 the law was
modifie