Where Did That Come From?

[poliphilo]

I dreamed I was sitting on a stage with an audience round me and I was holding a Davy Crockett rifle and wearing a flat cap and impersonating a former slave who had fought for the Confederacy. His name was Jed. I explained to my hearers that I couldn't do the deep South accent and the costume was approximate but the words would be right. It wasn't exactly acting and it wasn't exactly mediumship but had elements of both. Jed was an angry soul, burning with indignation at the injustice he'd seen...

Did slaves or former slaves fight for the Confederacy? I looked it up online. And the answer is yes but not officially. There were no black regiments but plenty of black people who hung out with the regiments- in one capacity or another- and some of them were armed and are recorded as having fired on Union troops- so Jed with his grey kepi and antiquated fire-arm is not an historical impossibility.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Yes they did but as you say, there's no evidence of organised units as there were on the Union side.

[poliphilo]

I get the impression that the Confederate forces were fairly loosely organised- lots of militias and guerrilla outfits- all playing by their own rules.

[cmcmck]

They had organised regiments at the beginning but as things fell apart it became a lot looser and you ended up with raiding/terrorist groups in the hands of people like Mosbey and Quantrill not to mention one Jesse James.

[poliphilo]

A time of myth and legend...