Black soldiers served in the Union at extraordinary rates despite facing higher risks

Evidence

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation. It no longer included the mention of colonization, and it also provided for something Black leaders had long advocated for: the ability for Black men to enlist in the Union and fight for their freedom. Eventually, some two hundred thousand Black Americans would serve in the Union, accounting for one in ten Union soldiers. An astounding 78 percent of free Black military-age men living in free states would serve in the Union army, even as they faced greater risk than white soldiers. Confederate troops often killed Black soldiers rather than capture them and also enslaved Black war captives. Thousands of Black women also contributed to the war effort, serving as cooks and nurses and spies, and withdrawing their valuable labor from Confederates by escaping to Union lines. About one in five Black soldiers died in the war, mirroring the percentage of white soldiers, and Lincoln acknowledged that Black contributions helped turn the tide in favor of the Union. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 135

Categorization

• SHARE: The 78 percent of free Black military-age men in free states serving, and one-in-five death rate, are striking numbers a historian friend would appreciate.
• XREF: connects to: Black Civil War service marked blacks as loyal Americans unlike other ‘foreigners’ — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 540