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Jaymi Davis December 9, 2023 His 330:Civil War and Reconstruction Professor Satterfield-Price The Emancipation Proclamation: Freedom’s Effects on the Civil War

The Emancipation Proclamation brought forth a multitude of changes that some believe acted as fuel during the Civil War. “And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.” 1 These words would strike fear into the southern states and have them worried about the potential impacts the Emancipation Proclamation would have on their lives. As the Civil War waged on between the Confederate and the Union Armies, the introduction of the Emancipation Proclamation became a turning point for the Union. They always supported the abolishment of slavery and when the Emancipation Proclamation was set into place it made the popularity of the northern states grow because they sympathized with enslaved people and wanted to put a stop to that. Ultimately, the Union gained victory over the Confederates in the Civil War because of their manpower and access to better transportation, but the Emancipation Proclamation afforded them a thrust in the right direction to securing victories over the Confederate Army. The Emancipation Proclamation was a pivotal turning point during the Civil War as it shifted the focus of the Civil War to that of freedom, afforded military opportunities within the Union Army to newly freed black men, and was the initial steppingstone toward the total abolition of slavery within the United States. Abraham Lincoln was elected president on November 6, 1860 and was a candidate for the newly formed Republican Party. Lincoln and his administration had the goal of limiting the expansion of slavery with the ultimate goal of ending slavery altogether. Lincoln’s election would spark rage among southern states, with some of them threatening to leave the Union in the event of his election. The Republican party tousled with the decision to possibly remove Lincoln and find a different candidate that would not be as controversial and there were several Republicans from New York who suggested removing Lincoln in hopes that it would save the 1 National Archives. “Emancipation Proclamation,” May 5, 2017.

Union. The Republican party was also fearful that southern states who wanted to succeed would boycott the Electoral College process so that Lincoln’s presidency would not be certified. Ultimately, southern states would participate in the election, but not before seven states left the Union. Lincoln’s presidency would become official in February 1861, with him taking office on March 4, 1861. A decade before the election of Abraham Lincoln, The Compromise of 1850 was set into place, which added California to the Union as a free state, allowed New Mexico and Utah to decide for themselves if they wanted to be slave states, created the Texas-New Mexico border, called for the abolishment of slavery in Washington DC, and introduced the Fugitive Slave Act. 2 Congress believed that The Compromise of 1850 and its statutes would bring peace between the northern and southern states while ending the crisis that was caused by territorial expansion. What The Compromise of 1850 ended up doing was making the divide between the two even greater, leading to the Civil War and both sides fighting to protect what they believed to be right. The introduction of the Fugitive Slave Act required all citizens to return fugitive slaves back to their masters, while also placing heavy fines and punishments on those who harbored or helped escaped slaves to freedom. The North simply refused to abide by this law which generated greater tensions between the northern and southern states, and following the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, southern senators began to resign from their seats to draft up ordinances of secession. One such senator, James Hammond of South Carolina pledged to support the Confederacy “with all the strength I have.” 3 On January 9, 1861 Mississippi voted to secede and issued a warning to the Senate “If 2 National Archives. “Compromise of 1850 (1850),” May 10, 2022. 3 “U.S. Senate: Civil War Begins,” September 8, 2023.

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you will not have it thus . . . , a war is to be inaugurated the like of which men have not seen.” 4 By the time Lincoln would take office only 41 of the 66 senators would remain and the Union was wounded but still established the Committee of Thirteen. The Committee of Thirteen’s goal was to consider all peace proposals but this was a failure and the Confederates attack on Fort Sumter was imminent. The Confederates would fire shots upon Fort Sumter causing the Union forces to surrender. Lincoln heard the call for action by the North to reinforce Fort Sumter with supplies but it was to no avail, Fort Sumter fell marking the beginning of the Civil War. The lines were clearly laid out for both north and south, as Senator Stephen Douglas proclaimed “every man must be for the United States or against it, there can be no neutrals in this war.” 5 Early on in the Civil War the northern states were forced to look at addressing the issues surrounding emancipation. One of the first instances we see of this happened in May 1861, when three slaves escaped from Hampton, Virginia where they had been placed to work for the Confederacy. These slaves were owned by Confederate Colonel Charles K. Mallory and upon their escape they sought protection from the Union soldiers at Fortress Monroe, before their owner sent them any further south. 6 Colonel Mallory demanded that his slaves be returned under the Fugitive Slave Law, but instead Union General Benjamin F. Butler appropriated the slaves because of their value, labeled them “contraband of war”. Butler’s actions led to the creation of the First Confiscation Act, enacted on August 6, 1861, which stated that “fugitive slaves were declared to be "contraband of war" if their labor had been used to aid the Confederacy in anyway. If found to be contraband, they were declared free.” 7 “The Contraband Policy, still recognized slaves as property in principal, led to the liberation of those slaves who managed to 4 Ibid 5 Ibid 6 The Library of Congress. “Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation | Articles and Essays | Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Library of Congress,” n.d. 7 “Living Contraband - Former Slaves in the Nation’s Capital during the Civil War (U.S. National Park Service),” n.d.

make their way to Union army lines.” 8 On April 16, 1862, Congress abolished slavery in the District of Columbia and established a compensated program for freed slaves, where they would be paid up to $1.00 a day to learn skills and become educated to later work in society. In July 1862, Lincoln was feeling pressure from other Senators to issue his Emancipation Proclamation, thus the preliminary proclamation was released ending slavery in the United States, and on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued and enacted ending slavery in southern states as well. It stated that "all persons held as slaves within any state or states, wherein the constitutional authority of the United States shall not then be practically recognized, submitted to, and maintained, shall then, thenceforward, and forever, be free." 9 This was different from the Confiscation Act that freed slaves of individual owners who displayed disloyalty to the Union, as it freed slaves of all owners who lived in geographic areas that were rebelling against the Union. Lincoln viewed this as "a fit and necessary military measure" which would turn the tides of the Civil War in the Unions favor, and shift the focus of the war from being one surrounding the preservation of the Union, to a war over the fight for freedom. 10 There was mixed reactions from Congress because some members did not fully understand the push for emancipation but one man was able to interpret the reasoning behind it. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton realized that the push for emancipation was a military strategy meant to end the Confederacy’s use of slave labor while at the same time, opening up military service to black men, meaning additional troops for the Union army. 8 Sinha, Manisha. “Architects of Their Own Liberation: African Americans, Emancipation, and the Civil War.” OAH Magazine of History 27, no. 2 (2013): 5–10. 9 National Archives. “Emancipation Proclamation,” May 5, 2017. 10 The Library of Congress. “Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation | Articles and Essays | Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Library of Congress,” n.d.

The Emancipation Proclamation received mixed reviews from people living in the North, as they were concerned about what life would be like moving forward. Abolitionists on the other hand were free to rejoice as millions of humans had just secured their freedom, simply by the President declaring it so. The Union Army realized this would be a great opportunity to allow black men to enlist because they were facing a decline in the number of white volunteers. On July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation and Militia Act. This act freed slaves who had owners in the Confederate Army and on July 22, when the preliminary proclamation was given, black recruitment began. Initially, recruitment was slow until black leaders like Frederick Douglass began to encourage black men to enlist in the Union Army because it would eventually lead to full citizenship. Black men from South Carolina, Tennessee, and Massachusetts were some of the first to enlist and fill the first black regiments and by May of 1863, the Bureau of Colored Troops was formed to organize and place black soldiers who enlisted. As the Civil War came to an end, nearly 179,000 black men were serving as Union soldiers, which made up roughly 10% of the entire Union Army, with another 19,000 serving in the Navy. 11 Black soldiers were placed into many different positions throughout the military with some serving in artillery and infantry, and others being placed in noncombat positions. This could mean placement as cooks, chaplains, carpenters, nurses, scouts and spies. Black women were not allowed to formally join the army yet they volunteered their services to the war efforts as well, becoming nurses and spies for the Union Army. One of the most famous African- American scouts was none other than abolitionist and Underground Railroad runner Harriet Tubman. She was recruited by fellow abolitionist and governor of Massachusetts, John Andrew 11 National Archives. “Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military during the Civil War,” October 4, 2023.

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to help in the war efforts and assist the Union forces that were occupying the Southern Carolina coast at the time. During her time there, Tubman recruited other escaped slaves who fled to Union lines in hopes of freedom, providing them with medical attention and recruiting them to turn them into scouts and spies for the Union army as well. Tubman and her scouts were vital in providing the Union army with classified information collected from spying. They were able to offer intelligence that would help liberate the slaves as well as destroy the goods and property of a local plantation owner. 12 Tubman also participated in the successful Combahee Raid, that destroyed the crops of several plantations and simultaneously freed more than 750 slaves from their oppressors, many of which would show their loyalty by enlisting in the Union Army themselves. Harriet Tubman made a name for herself, not only as an abolitionist, but as an honored member of the Union military who was awarded a military pension for her service and military honors at her funeral in 1913. 13 The Union army now had the numbers they needed to bring victories over the Confederate army, thanks to the abolishment of slavery. Black soldiers proved their fighting abilities time and time again because they were fighting not just for the Union, but for the freedom of all African-Americans. In addition to providing the North with numbers, they bolstered a fight that the Southern states could not contain, which would award more than a dozen Medals of Honor for their courage and sacrifice. The Emancipation Proclamation and the subsequent freeing of African Americans directly changed the course of the Civil War because it changed the basis on which the war was being fought. What was once a war to preserve the Union, shifted to a full-fledge war for the freedom of millions of people who were forced to live a cruel life of slavery. Despite the controversy surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation, it 12 Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “INTEL - Harriet Tubman,” n.d. 13 Ibid

did what it intended to, which was to abolish slavery, yet it was just the beginning of the fight. African-Americans were now freed people but they needed to start their lives over with nothing. Nevertheless, the Emancipation Proclamation and African-American’s involvement in the Civil War is what carried the Union Army to victory over the Confederates, ending the times of slavery in American history. References: National Archives. “Transcript of the Proclamation,” May 5, 2017. https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation/ transcript.html.

The Library of Congress. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” n.d. https://www.loc.gov/item/82225385/. “Living Contraband - Former Slaves in the Nation’s Capital during the Civil War (U.S. National Park Service),” n.d. https://www.nps.gov/articles/living-contraband-former-slaves-in-the- nation-s-capital-during-the-civil-war.htm#:~:text=At%20Fort%20Monroe%20in %20Hampton,they%20were%20classified%20as%20property. The Library of Congress. “Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation | Articles and Essays | Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress | Digital Collections | Library of Congress,” n.d. https://www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/articles-and-essays/ abraham-lincoln-and-emancipation/#:~:text=Although%20he%20already%20had %20a,was%20to%20save%20the%20Union. Maltz, Earl. “The Trial of Anthony Burns (1854) - Encyclopedia Virginia.” Encyclopedia Virginia, February 9, 2023. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/burns-anthony-the trial-of-1854/. National Archives. “Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military during the Civil War,” October 4, 2023. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war. National Archives. “Compromise of 1850 (1850),” May 10, 2022. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/compromise-of-1850#:~:text=The %20acts%20called%20for%20the,amended%20the%20Fugitive%20Slave%20Act. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “INTEL - Harriet Tubman,” n.d. https://www.intelligence.gov/evolution-of-espionage/civil-war/union-espionage/harriet- tubman. “U.S. Senate: Civil War Begins,” September 8, 2023. https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Civil_War_Begins.htm#:~:text=At %204%3A30%20a.m.%20on,beginning%20of%20the%20Civil%20War.

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