For anyone who has doubts about the mindset of the Black men recruited to fight and defeat their former masters, the following letter will let you know how many of them felt.
A letter home.
Samuel Cabble, US Colored Troops 55th Massachusettes Infantry(colored) 1863
Dear wife,
I have enlisted in the army. I am now in the state of Massachusettes but before this letter reaches you I will be in North Carolina, and though great is the present national difficulties I look forward to a brighter day when I shall have the opportunity of seeing you in the full enjoyment of freedom.
I would like to know if you are still in slavery. If you are, "it will not be long before we shall have crushed the system that now oppresses you". In the
course of three months you shall have your liberty. Great is the out pouring of the colored people that is now rallying with the hearts of lions against that very curse that has separated you and me. Yet, we shall meet again, and what a happy time that will be when this ungodly rebellion shall be put down and the curses of our land are trampled under our feet.
"I am a soldier now", and I shall use "my utmost endeavor to strike at the rebellion, and the heart of this system that so long has kept us in chains"...I remain your own affectionate husband, until death-
Samuel Cabble
The names of over 212,000 brave US Colored Troops are engraved in The African American Civil War Memorial on U Street, in Washington, D.C., across the street from Ben's Chili Bowl restaurant. Also, visit the Freedom Foundation and Museum nearby, in the True Reformer Building.
For more info go to, afroamcivilwar.org
A letter home.
Samuel Cabble, US Colored Troops 55th Massachusettes Infantry(colored) 1863
Dear wife,
I have enlisted in the army. I am now in the state of Massachusettes but before this letter reaches you I will be in North Carolina, and though great is the present national difficulties I look forward to a brighter day when I shall have the opportunity of seeing you in the full enjoyment of freedom.
I would like to know if you are still in slavery. If you are, "it will not be long before we shall have crushed the system that now oppresses you". In the
course of three months you shall have your liberty. Great is the out pouring of the colored people that is now rallying with the hearts of lions against that very curse that has separated you and me. Yet, we shall meet again, and what a happy time that will be when this ungodly rebellion shall be put down and the curses of our land are trampled under our feet.
"I am a soldier now", and I shall use "my utmost endeavor to strike at the rebellion, and the heart of this system that so long has kept us in chains"...I remain your own affectionate husband, until death-
Samuel Cabble
The names of over 212,000 brave US Colored Troops are engraved in The African American Civil War Memorial on U Street, in Washington, D.C., across the street from Ben's Chili Bowl restaurant. Also, visit the Freedom Foundation and Museum nearby, in the True Reformer Building.
For more info go to, afroamcivilwar.org
Excellent insight!!
ReplyDeleteDamani