Ex-slaves could not advance into the ranks of commissioned officers until the end of the war. Batty and Parish note that less than 100 ever became officers and none ranked higher than captain. Sewell states that with rare exception, the only blacks to obtain commissions were Chaplains and surgeons. McPherson, who agrees with other historians that the blacks were considered second class soldiers, cites statistics to support this theory He shows the contrast in the number of white and black soldiers killed in action and in the rate of death from disease among the white and black soldiers. The black soldiers faced the prospect of execution or sale into slavery if captured. Wilson reports that one of the worst atrocities allegedly committed against the black soldiers occurred at Fort Pillow, Tennessee on April 12, 1864, when the Confederate Army indiscriminately killed some three hundred black soldiers. The fort, stormed by General Nathan Bedford Forrests troops, had surrendered. Union officials claimed that the killing of the black soldiers was a massacre, however, the Confederate denied this claim, maintaining that the soldiers died in the fighting before the surrender. Wilson gives a detailed account of the battle to support the massacre theory and Harpers Weekly called the battle, Inhuman, fiendish butchery. Stokesbury, in concurring with Wilson, notes the weight of evidence ... suggests a massacre. This massacre failed to weaken the courage of the black soldiers, but rather fueled them with a desire of determination.Just as the Union Army realized the importance of black soldiers, so did the South. The readiness to which these slaves responded to the call of fighting for the confederacy is explained by the fact that the failure of Nat Turner, among others, was held up to them as their fate, should they attempt to free themselves from their masters. In the early years of the war some Confederate states accepted black...
