Confederate States of America's Plan to Put Slaves in the Trenches

NOTE: The war ended before such a plan could be implemented.

Researched and Compiled by Bennie J. McRae, Jr.


In order to disarm opposition as far as possible and to produce prompt action, I proposed that those slaves only who might volunteer to fight for their freedom should be at once sent to the trenches. Excerpt from a letter by Secretary of State J. P. Benjamin to General Robert E. Lee - February 11, 1865



SOURCE: United States War Department. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.


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