The road to freedom from slavery was a long and hard for the African Americans. In the northern states the Civil War began as a fight against the succession of the Confederate states from the Union. Abraham Lincoln, who was President at this time, wanted to save the nation by bringing the southern states back to the Union, but this “Great Emancipator” ironically did not have much intention of freeing the slaves. His greatest interest lie in preventing a war from occurring. However, even he could not stop the outb

On July 17, 1863, the 1st Kansas Colored, a regiment said to be the first African American infantry to fight in the Civil War, fought at Honey Springs, in what is now Oklahoma (Carle). Union troops under General James Blunt ran into a strong Confederate Force under General Douglas Cooper…. The 1st Kansas, which had held the center of the Union line, advanced to within fifty paces of the Confederate line and exchanged fire for some twenty minutes until Confederates broke and ran (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). The regiment had shown their ability to hold off the Confederates attacks. Later General Blunt commented that the African Americans made better soldiers than some of the white troops he had commanded. African Americans had proved themselves to be equal to the whites in their ability to fight.

With the war just beginning, ex-slaves and other African Americans wanted to get in on the action. They wanted to fight against those who had enslaved them and their families for generations. They began volunteering and trying to enlist, but everywhere they went they were rejected. “In general, white soldiers and officers believed that black men lacked the courage to fight and fight well” (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). Even some abolitionists believed putting them in the battlefield would be putting African Americans higher than they should be. They said that though blacks should not be enslaved, they should not be equal to the white male. The African Americans, however, refused to give up their fight to be allowed to defend their country with pride. Pressure from blacks eager to fight, from abolitionists and from a few Army officers who needed men, as well as changing circumstances, eventually altered Lincoln’s policy. Along the way, convoluted legal questions involving the Constitution and slaves as property had to be got around (Fincher).

Perhaps the most famous regiment to fight for their equal rights was the 54th Massachusetts (Fincher). Col. Robert Shaw, commander of this infantry, was one of the few white commanders who treated his troops with dignity and respect. He helped them fight for their rights as soldiers. The entire regiment, including white officers, began refusing pay until blacks were given the same pay that white soldiers were being given (Fincher). President Lincoln began supporting the ideas of equal treatment for both blacks and whites in April 1864. Finally, three months later, “pressured by public opinion and encouraged by many white officers of these black troops Congress enacted equal pay legislation” (The American Civil War: A Multicultural Encyclopedia 56). African Americans had won the battle in the war of equality.

The massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee on April 12, 1864, was probably the bloodiest battle the African-Americans took part in (History of African-Americans in the Civil War). General Nathan Bedford Forrest led Confederate troops and held the fort. The fort held 557 black soldiers and a unit of white Tennessee unionist. They stormed the fort, then butchered as many as three hundred of its disarmed defenders, black and white. ‘…deluded Negroes would run up to our men,’ a rebel soldier recalled, ‘fall upon their knees…scream for mercy, but were ordered to their feet and shot down’ (Ward 335). Though the casualties were many the bravery of the black men who died in this bloodbath was apparent. This tragedy gave many other African Americans the motivation to continue and for many the battle cry had become “Remember Fort Pillow!” (History

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