Initially, the Union Army refused to accept blacks who had volunteered to join the army in the north. The government is worried that whites are unwilling to fight side by side with blacks; it is also worried that the enlistment of blacks will cause dissatisfaction among the border slave states that remain within the Union. By the end of 1861, the Union Army had used black people as cooks, launderers, and laborers. In 1862, the Union Army began to take steps in several areas in the south to recruit and organize black troops. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a white abolitionist, was sent to the South Carolina island area earlier occupied by the Federal Navy to recruit blacks into the army and form the First Volunteer Regiment of South Carolina. However, only after the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect, the recruitment of black soldiers could be effectively carried out.
By the end of the Civil War, more than 180,000 blacks had served in the federal army, and 24,000 blacks had served in the federal navy. One-third of them were killed, injured or died of disease in battle. Fifteen black soldiers and eight black sailors received the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award the federal government has given to the bravery and fearlessness of American soldiers. Some black troops have gained a reputation, including the 54th Volunteer Corps in Massachusetts. This is a team composed of free blacks from all over the north. The commander of the regiment is the young reformist Robert Gould Shaw, who comes from a famous family in Boston. In September 1863, when the 54th Volunteer Corps attacked Fort Wagner in South Carolina, the regiment lost nearly half of its officers and soldiers, including Shaw. The heroic deeds of the regiment helped dispel some of the widespread suspicions that black soldiers could withstand pressure on the battlefield.
Most black soldiers were slaves enlisted from the south after liberation. After the Federal Army took control of the fertile plantation territory in the Mississippi Valley in 1863, General Lorenzo Thomas formed 50 regiments of black soldiers with a total of 76,000. Another large number of black troops came from border states not covered by the Emancipation Proclamation. For most of the Civil War, joining the Union Army was the only way for blacks in these states to gain freedom. Here, the blacks joining the federal army also cracked down on slavery, because Congress expanded the scope of application of the Emancipation Proclamation to include black soldiers and their families in the scope of emancipation.
But after the end of the Civil War, racial discrimination did not disappear. A black man said: "We have nothing but freedom." It can be seen from the deeds of the 24th black company captured by the Volunteer Army during the Korean War.
In fact, Lincoln always believed that there was a difference between blacks and whites before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. In August 1862, when meeting with a delegation of black leaders at the White House, Lincoln urged them to promote a plan for black emigration from the United States. "They are a different race from us." He declared, "Separation is better for both of us."
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