African Americans -- The Forgotten Heroes of the Civil War
Jeffrey P. Salerno
Axia College of University of Phoenix
In September 2008, a one thousand five hundred square foot confederate flag rises above a public park one hundred and thirty feet high in Hillsborough County Florida. This heinous display symbolizes hate and slavery; it is an insult to the African Americans contributions to this free land and all Americans. This flag is the symbol of the defeated enemy of the civil war! Beck, T. (2008)
The United States of America engaged in civil war on April 12, 1861, when southern confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter, a U.S. military post in Charleston, S.C. In fact, more people died in this war then any other war in the history of the United States. It is equally important to recognize that the African American played a substantial role in helping the Union win the civil war and they are barely recognized, just blurbs in history books.
African Americans accounted for ten percent of the Union Army; major contributors in helping the Union win the Civil War. Seven national museums dedicated to the confederacy, seventeen national museums or monuments dedicated to the Union and only one dedicated to the African American.
The numbers
African Americans totaled 163 regiments.
Ten percent of the Union Army was comprised of African Americans.
One hundred and eighty six thousand African Americans served for the Union
Over 9,000 African Americans served in the Union Navy.
Quarterly muster rolls of vessels clearly demonstrate the navy's reliance on
African Americans between 1862 and 1864, for instance the following table below indicates the vast amount of African Americans serving in the U.S. Navy.
|Table 1: Aggregate Percentages of African American Enlisted Men Serving on Board U.S. Naval Vessels by Quarter of the Calendar |
|Year, 1862 - 1865...