Battles Without Black Soldiers example essay topic

The Black Soldiers All through our country's history, African Americans have had to choose whether they were meant to live in the States or if they should go live somewhere else. Slavery without a doubt had a strong impact on their decisions. Despite the troubles African Americans have had, they made a great contribution and a very big impact on our military and armed forces since the Revolutionary War. The black man has fought against his country's wars, and he has also fought the war with their country to gain the right to fight and the right to freedom. America's first war was the war for independence from Great Britain was a major achievement. This accomplishment could not have been done if it was not for the African American soldiers in the armies.

The first American to actually shed blood during the revolution that freed America from being under British rule was Crispus Attucks, a Black seaman. Attucks and four white men were killed in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Attucks was still willing to fight against England along with other whites, although he was a fugitive slave running from his master. The colonists probably would have kept African Americans out of the military during the war if it was not for the proclamation by the Lord of Dunmore. He said 'I do hereby... declare all... Negroes... free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining his Majesty's troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this colony to a proper dignity.

' This meant that if any black man was willing to fight for the British they would become legally free. Then, the Americans could not afford to not let black men from joining the army. After that General George Washington officially reversed his policy about letting 'free Negroes to enlist. ' 'Of the 300,000 men that served in the Continental American Army during the War of Independence, about five thousand were Black. In addition to several all-Black companies, there was also an all-Black regiment was from Rhode Island. Between 1775 to 1781 there were no battles without Black soldiers.

African American soldiers defended for the colonies at Lexington, Ticonderoga, Concord, Bennington, White Plains, Saratoga, Brandywine, Savannah, and Yorktown. There were two Blacks with George Washington on the day he crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Day in 1776. Unfortunately despite African Americans' help to the war effort and the large amount of deceased Blacks, only few of them were freed. Another war Black Americans fought in was the American Civil War. This war would eventually result in the end of slavery it began between 'Northern industrialists and Southern Slave owners to desire who would have more power over the federal government and who would be able to expand into the new territories of the West'.

The question of slavery would come later. 'In the beginning of the Civil War, blacks were not allowed to fight for the Union army. ' Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was more concerned with political relations than the treatment of Afro-American slaves. ' The Union army and the federal government only began to 'adopt a policy of allowing and even encouraging the recruitment of Blacks when it became clear that the war would be a long and drawn out conflict in which it was essential to mobilize all the resources possible and to weaken the enemy as much as possible. Even then Black troops weren't really used. In M uly 1862, Congress authorized the use of black soldiers in the Civil War, but there 'was no follow-up until January 1, 1863' when Abraham Lincoln put the 'Emancipation Proclamation into effect.

' After the Emancipation Proclamation, the War Department moved quickly to start the enlistment of Black Americans. During January 1863, the War Department authorized Massachusetts to raise two Black regiments. Because of this nearly 200,000 Black American soldiers were serving the army and an another 300,000 were serving as laborers, spies, servants or general helpers. By the end of the war there had rarely been a battle where Black soldiers had not fought. The African American soldiers' most outstanding achievement was the 'charge of the Third Brigade of the Eighteenth Division on the Confederate fortifications on New Market Height near Richmond, Virginia. ' Due to their heroic courage in that battle, thirteen Black soldiers received Congressional Medals of Honor in one day.

' In all, twenty Negroes received the medal in recognition of gallantry and intrepidity in combat during the Civil War. ' 'John Hope Franklin estimates that the Black mortality rate in the Army was nearly 40 percent higher than among white soldiers. This was partially due to unfavorable conditions, poor equipment, bad medical care, and the rapidity with which the Blacks were sent into battle. ' However as W.E.B. Du Boise pointed out that the Black troops were 'repeatedly and deliberately used as shock troops, when there was little or no hope of success. ' The African-American soldier not only had success on land but on water as well.

Once the Civil War had ended, the army was reorganized in 1886. Six Black regiments were ordered by law to be a part of the regular army for their valor during the Civil War. In 1866, Congress passed an act creating four regiments: the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry and the Twenty fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry. These regiments were to be permanent army regiments. Of those four regiments, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry distinguished themselves during the Indian Wars in the West between 1870 and 1900.

The Ninth and Tenth Cavalry were given the nickname 'Buffalo Soldiers' by the Comanche and Cheyenne, and these soldiers were widely feared by the Indians. The Buffalo Soldiers constituted about 20 percent of the armed forces in the West. The Buffalo Soldiers service in subduing Mexican revolutionaries, outlaws, hostile Native Americans, comanche ros, and rustlers was as invaluable as it was unrecognized. It was also accomplished over some of the most rugged and inhospitable country in North America. A list of their adversaries - Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Victoria, Billy the Kid, Lone Wolf, and Pancho Villa. The Buffalo Soldiers also explored large areas of the southwest and added thousands of miles of telegraph lines.

The Black Soldiers fixed and built frontier outposts where towns and even cities would begin. 'Without the protection provided by the 9th and 10th Cavalries, crews building the ever expanding railroads were at the mercy of outlaws and hostile Indians. ' The Buffalo Soldiers had to undergo many extreme prejudices and the worst assignments but they always did their duties to the best of their abilities. This is why they continued to receive more citations for valor than any other group in the United States military. The Spanish-American War gave them another chance to prove their abilities. African American soldiers were involved in the war from the beginning.

Thousands of blacks volunteered to join the American deficient army. In the beginning, the newly formed Black regiments didn't have any Black officers. 'But a widespread campaign around the slogan 'No officers, no fight's ucceeded in winning some concessions. In all about one-hundred officers were commissioned i the volunteer units in the course of the war. ' 'In fact, Black troops played a conspicuous part in all three of the major Cuban campaigns.

Their performance became a source of pride to Afro Americans years afterward. ' Most of the Buffalo soldiers fighting in Cuba won the commendation of their 'white officers. ' The well distinguished Black Ninth and Tenth Cavalry saved Roosevelt and his Rough Riders from being completely slaughtered. Theodore Roosevelt gave great praise to the African American soldiers at that time.

The very well know heroism shown by the African American soldiers ended up with six of the Buffalo soldiers receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.