This is a question that will stir up an entire hornet’s nest of issues if you ask most people today. Americans are taught from the time they are in school that the Confederacy was a racist monster that had to be destroyed.

The Union is hailed as having been a champion of equality and freedom. They were the heroes of the black people in our nation.

So what more is there to be said regarding the matter?

I’m not one to blindly follow anything or anyone. My parents raised me to study things out for myself and use the brain the Lord gave me to weigh the information and discern what is true. This has been my best tool in both learning and teaching history.

Growing up, I read almost nonstop. Books were my best friend, and I especially loved historical books. But the more I read, the more I came to realize that some things pushed in the general narrative just don’t add up. That was why I started doing research and trying to find out just what was actually right.

This especially seemed to be the case regarding the War Between the States.

Here are some of my findings on this particular topic that I hope will both educate and help you.

1. The Confederacy Was An Integrated Military Force

Did you know that the Confederacy actually integrated their military forces? Blacks served equally alongside whites.

This did not officially become written into CSA law until early 1865, but we know from eyewitness accounts, diaries, military documents, etc that most officers in the Confederate military did not care what color a man’s skin was. They willingly enlisted people of all races and creeds.

It has been estimated that roughly 8,000-10,000 Native Americans and 13,000 Latino Americans served proudly within the Confederate ranks. Several hundred Asian-Americans, 20,000 Irish immigrants, and even Hawaiian natives fought within the Confederacy.

And yes, roughly 65,000 blacks proudly served as well.

Not only did the Confederacy willingly accept blacks into their ranks, but they also issued them the same uniforms, food, etc as the white troops.

One officer with the Union said this, regarding the Confederate forces he encountered,

“Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc. They were supplied with knapsacks, haversacks, canteens, etc and they were an integral portion of the Southern Confederate army. They were seen riding on horses and mules, driving wagons, riding on caissons, in ambulances, with the staff of generals…”

Union Dr. Louis Steiner, 1862

Frederick Douglas also stated, “There are at the present moment many Colored men in the Confederate Army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but real soldiers, having musket on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down any loyal troops and do all that soldiers may do to destroy the Federal government and build up that of the rebels.”

Oddly enough, the Union did not have integrated forces. In fact an article I read by the Constitutional Rights Foundation states,

“…at first they (blacks serving in the Union military) were denied the right to fight by a prejudiced public and a reluctant government. Even after they eventually entered the Union ranks, black soldiers continued to struggle for equal treatment. Placed in racially segregated infantry, artillery, and cavalry regiments, these troops were almost always led by white officers.“

Constitutional Rights Foundation

That was the Union denying them the right to serve as equals alongside their counterparts. Isn’t it odd that the side claiming to be the friend of the slaves, wouldn’t allow them equality? Not only would they not allow the black soldiers to be integrated with the white soldiers, but they wouldn’t even allow the black regiments to be commanded by another black soldier. This was because they didn’t allow blacks the equal right to become officers, and they viewed them as being stupid.

Funny how the history books don’t teach kids this anymore, huh?

2. The Confederacy Maintained Equal Wages

Not only was the Confederate Military integrated, but they maintained an equal balance of pay for soldiers across the board. Black privates serving in the ranks earned $11 a month—the same amount of money per month as their white counterparts—and they received equal rations.

During the War Between the States, black skilled workers at Buffalo Forge in Rockbridge County, Virginia earned three times the wages of white Confederate soldiers, and on average more than most Confederate officers.

Let’s compare that with the Union.

The Union army did not begin allowing blacks to enlist until June of 1862—a year after the first Confederate state enlisted blacks. When they finally did allow them the opportunity to enlist, they paid them $3 less than their white counterparts.

When they finally did allow blacks the opportunity to enlist, they paid them $3 less than their white counterparts.

It’s odd to me that the Union would discriminate against colored soldiers when they claimed they wanted to help them.

3. The Confederacy Had A Plan To End Slavery

Most people don’t know this, but slavery was actively being opposed in the South by southerners before the War Between the States began. That opposition continued during the war.

It has been a common misconception that all southerners were bigoted racists who were fighting to keep slavery alive. In reality, less than 30% of southern families owned slaves. Of that 30%, roughly 75% of slaveholding families owned less than 10 slaves and often worked beside them in the fields. Not to mention a large portion of southerners actually were against slavery.

In the CSA, plans were already being made to abolish slavery permanently.

In the US Constitution, transatlantic slave trade was abolished in 1808. When the Confederacy was founded, it kept those restrictions on foreign slave trade. If they had truly been fighting to keep slaves, why would they maintain their stance to prevent more slaves from being brought to their country?

Also, within the CSA Constitution, states were granted the individual rights to decide if slavery remained or not. This gave the opportunity for slavery to be dismantled piece by piece.

Oddly enough, on the eve of Lincoln’s inauguration, an amendment was proposed in Congress that would permanently establish slavery in the the US Constitution. After Lincoln was elected, he fully supported this amendment. He and his party-affiliates wanted it to pass!

Here is the proposed amendment:

“No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any state, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.”

If the Confederacy was racist and fighting to keep slavery, it would make no sense for them to go to war after this amendment had been proposed. Why would they go to war only a few weeks later if they were fighting for slavery? They could have voted to pass the amendment and avoided a bloody conflict that cost them hundreds of thousands of lives.

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There are so many things about the Confederacy that have been swept into the recesses of history. So many lies have been taught for so long that most don’t even know half of the story. The three points I mentioned today are only a few of the things that have been removed from history books, but reveal the Confederacy’s lack of racism.

You tell me who the racists were—the ones who fought side by side with people of all colors right from the start of the war, or the ones who never allowed integrated forces? The ones who paid an equal wage to all, or the ones who discriminated based on skin color?

We have to stop sacrificing history on the altar of deception.

I am proud to bear the heritage of being descended from a whole passel of Confederates. I will never apologize for that. The heritage and causes for which the Confederacy was fighting were true and right. Those who are offended by the Confederacy and its symbols are ignorant of history.

What are your thoughts on the subject? I’d love to hear!

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8