Black Confederates

Throughout the war there were scattered numbers of black Confederates. Most of the time they were slaves of officers or enlisted men who went to war with them and were not actually enlisted. There was a debate throughout the war on whether slaves should be armed in excahnge for their freedom, but it wasn't until February 1865 that they got deperate enough to try it. Very few black units were raised and only a handful saw combat (though there are revisionists out there who will try to tell you that tens of thousands of blacks fought as Confederate soldiers.)

Holt is a believable character - the guerillas had very few rules (as the term applies to the regular military) and I would not doubt that the occasional black guerilla was in existence.

"If I owned Hell and Texas I'd live in Hell and rent out Texas." --- Phil Sheridan

Oh they had them its just its not widely taught in history anymore. You have to sometimes do searches on your own.

Think of it as a Woman would never allow another to be assualted it happens.

That sort of thing. It's Ugly but its History.

Also, because of the lingering influence of the French, there was relatively a lot more freedom for African-Americans in New Orleans than anywhere else in the south. There were even a handful of black architects and lawyers. (It's a long, complicated story but a lot of it had to do with the fact that many rich white men kept black mistresses and went on to support their second set of children).

When the war started, the African-American middle class formed their own militia regiment called the Native Guard. They never saw action but a lot of them switched sides when the city fell and went on to fight for the Union.