s into their units, much to Jefferson Daviss opposition. Black workers found their way into armament factories and into the Confederate Army doing anything short of handling a gun. Throughout the war effort in the South, blacks willingly dug field fortifications, mounted cannons and built entrenchments to fortify cities and towns. Wilson cites an article in the Charleston Mercury on January 3, 1861, which reported, One hundred and fifty able-bodied free colored men yesterday offered their services gratuitously.... to hasten forward the important work of throwing up redoubts...along our coast. Likewise, the states of Tennessee and Virginia enlisted the aid of the blacks. Often after completing the needed fortifications the slaves returned to the fields to help supply the needs of the confederate soldiers who were fighting to keep the blacks as slaves. As the Confederacy faced a mounting shortage of white soldiers, General Pat Cleburne developed a plan to use the blacks in the fight for the Confederacy. This plan promised freedom for the slaves but Jefferson Davis rejected the idea. In the dying days of the war in early 1865 the Confederacy faced an army that was daily thinned more to desertion than bullets. General-in chief of the Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee persuaded the Confederate Congress to arm slaves to fight for the South. These slaves trained, drilled and paraded in some cities. However, the war ended before this program could begin.Their importance in the fighting is found in the claim they staked to equal rights following the war. Former slave Frederick Douglas wrote, Once let the black man get upon his person the brass U. S. ... and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship. . The role of the black soldiers also influenced moderate Republicans to believe that the federal government should guarantee the equality before the law of all citizens. Small...
