still reluctant to allow blacks to serve. President Lincoln insisted the Civil War wasn’t about freeing the slaves, but rather to restore the Union (Africana.com/tt_202.htm.). Therefore, initially the war was strictly a white man’s war. However, influential people pressured the Union to allow blacks to fight. A prominent black man, Frederick Douglas, complained, “Colored men were good enough to fight under George Washington, but they aren’t good enough to fight under McClellan.” (Blacks in the American Army). Social pressure alone wasn’t enough to convince President Lincoln to change the policy. As in the Revolutionary War, once all other efforts were exhausted were blacks once again allowed to serve. In November of 1863 President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation giving blacks their freedom and allowing them to serve, but even then they were used mainly in support roles. The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all of the slaves, but before the end of the Civil War the 13th Amendment freeing all slaves was added to the constitution.The life of the black soldiers during the Civil War was one filled with discrimination and hardship, but it also gave blacks the opportunity to prove themselves in combat. Initially blacks were used strictly in support roles, but after the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina black regiments were given more opportunity in combat (Africana.com/tt_202.htm). Although black regiments were paid at a lower rate than white regiments, the military was a bastion of opportunity. Black Americans proved themselves time and again in combat, earning the respect of their (white) peers. Martin Robison Delany became the first black field officer and Elizabeth Bowser served as a Union spy in the Confederate White House in Richmond (Africana.com/tt_202.htm). However, perhaps the most important consequence of military service was the education of former slav...
