African Americans during the Civil War
In the 21St Century, the Year is 2009; there is currently an African American male as president of the United States. Two Hundred years ago that wouldn’t have been an impossible act. Before The American Civil War them majority of African Americans were slaves. However, during the American Civil War many slaves escaped To Join the Union army and fight for their Freedom. Life was not easy for African American during the Civil War.
The Civil War Took Place Mostly in the Southern States of America between 1861 and 1865. It was fought by the north and the south. Even before President Abraham Lincoln announced the emancipation proclamation, which freed the slaves in the Southern states, numerous slaves had escaped behind the Union lines. Once the escaped slaves reached union lines they were considered free Men/Women. The American Missionary Association joined the war efforts by sending teachers south to teach the escaped slaves to read and write. The escaped slaves wanted to help their brothers and sisters in the bondage so nearly 200,000 men joined the union as soldiers and sailors.
The Confederate states were furious that the union allowed the escaped slaves to join the Union army. As a result whenever the confederate army captured an African American soldier they enslave them once again or shot them. One such battle was the battle of Fort Pillow otherwise known as the Pillow Massacre.
Countless African American soldiers had been surrendering when they were brutally beaten and massacred. Another form of cruelty during the war for African American were the war prisons, one famous prison was the Andersonville prison. Of the 45,000 Union soldiers that were brought their 12,913 soldiers that of Starvation, Malnutrition, Diarrhea, and Diseases.
Even though the confederate states did everything in their power to keep their slaves, God had a purpose for the African Americans,...