The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation

by Robert F. Durden

Book Overview

That the Confederacy in its waning days frantically turned to the idea of arming slaves has long been known by all close students of the Civil War. Yet the more explosive, if unexamined, issue before the southern people and leaders in this last great crisis was whether or not the South itself should initiate a program of emancipation as part of a plan to recruit black soldiers. Jefferson Davis and other leaders, including Robert E. Lee, attempted...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807125571
• ISBN13: 9780807125571
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Basic book on the Civil War

This isn't the best history book I've ever read -- indeed, purely as a reading experience it was not enjoyable. But as a work of scholarship that explores a complex and too-little-considered subject, Robert Durden's book is extremely informative and worth the time of any Civil War student who wants to go beyond the trumpets and drums to examine the true nature of the Confederate States of America. Durden did not so much "write" as "compile" "The Gray and the Black." About 90 percent of the prose here consists of newspaper editorials, speeches, letters and other Civil War-era documents that express a variety of Confederate views on slavery and, specifically, on proposals made in the last two years of the war to arm and train Southern blacks as combat soldiers for the armies of the CSA. Durden focuses specifically on the efforts by Jefferson Davis and other Confederate leaders late in 1864 that led eventually to action by the Confederate Congress in March 1865. By then, of course, it was far too late for the few southern blacks who got into training to make any difference in the outcome of the war. Less than a month after the law was passed, Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his dwindling Confederate army at Appomattox Court House. The book is most enlightening in illustrating the clash of opinions between those who, with some reluctance, saw the arming and training of black slaves as Confederate soldiers as the major hope for Southern military success after the fall of 1864, and other white Southerners who viewed the proposed transformation of blacks into combat troops as a betrayal of widely held theories of white supremacy that were used to justify black slavery. Durden also shows how legal questions of states' rights and property rights hampered efforts by Davis and others to enlist black soldiers for the Confederate cause, as well as the great awareness among most Confederates that the Union Army had enlisted large numbers of African-Americans to fight against them. Although not its specific topic, this book is especially useful in countering arguments by present-day Confederate apologists who claim that Southern blacks served in the Confederate armies in large numbers. Certainly, many black Southerners did perform various non-combat jobs in Confederate service -- teamsters, cooks, hospital aides, body servants to white soldiers -- but the vehement controversy over arming black men to fight for the Confederacy, as portrayed by Durden, indicates that black combat soldiers in gray uniforms were a novelty -- or an anathema -- to most white Southerners. No doubt there were individual black or mulatto Southerners who fought with a certain Confederate unit on this occasion or that; but did these isolated incidences have any significant impact on the racial attitudes of white Southerners? Even among proponents of training blacks as combat troops, there is little evidence that their desperation to preserve Confederate independence had much influe

Could there have been a Confederacy without slavery?

Prof. Robert F. Durden here examines one of the Confederacy's little known episodes: the effort to recruit black slaves and freemen as Rebel soldiers.Prof. Durden has, within limits, done an outstanding job of presenting the evidence on this controversy. He shows what people said at the time, and while he doesn't hesitate to let you know where he stands, he never mixes his judgements with the evidence.I do have a few criticisms. Durden doesn't always print the documents in chronological order, resulting in potential confusion about what the state of opinion was when. And he relies far to much on 'official' sources, rather than the privately expressed views of Southerners in their letters and diaries.That last is important because one of the great issues of the debate was what effect recruiting black soldiers would have on whites: would they stand for it? Durden quotes various memorials some soldiers made urging the govt. to recruit slaves as soldiers, but I wonder how many dissenting opinions were surpressed by the pressure of officers desperate for troops? James MacPherson's book WHAT THEY FOUGHT FOR suggests that the picture in the Confederate Army was not nearly as one sided as the one Durden's documents present.There are many other fascinating questions worth pursuing in this area: how many blacks would have volunteered (some did), and how well would they have fought? If the fateful step had been taken in time, how would it have affected the war, and postwar relations between blacks and whites in the South? Durden doesn't attempt to answer these questions, but I wish someone would.It's sad that after over thirty years so few have sought to follow Durden's pioneering inquiry. This book is still the only extended treatment of this subject I've found. But even if there were dozens, I believe I'd still recommend it highly. A very good work indeed.

The Finest Compendium of Civil War-Era Opinion

In a brilliant book unparalleled in quality, Professor Robert F. Durden provides the reader invaluable insight into the Confederate struggle over whether to free, and arm, their slaves. This reviewer has read many history books and is a researcher by trade. The book is among--if not the--finest history book he has ever come across. Professor Durden acts as a genial host who introduces the individuals and context, and then steps back into the shadows to permit speeches, letters, and newspaper editorials describe, debate, and unfold. Professor Durden's selection of sources, incredibly well organized, clearly shows the debate over the question of the day: should the South arm the slaves, or should the slave states maintain their Southern "institutions" and perish?This book is a critical resource for individuals interested in "Afro-Confederates" mentioned in other books, and trotted out at the drop of a confederate symbol. The book clearly indicates that the South depended upon its slave system both economically and politically, and many a southerner simply could not imagine Negroes as either Confederate citizens or armed troops. The leadership in much of the Confederacy could never tolerate the concept of Negro soldiers, and would not agree to free even those slaves who might volunteer. Yet by late 1864 many a white soldier in the ranks (including Lee) were apparently willing to accept reinforcements no matter the color. But Negroes in Virginia were not even permitted to carry arms until 1865, at the very sunset of the Rebellion. Those few souls organized at the end of the war never saw combat. Without doubt the finest Civil War book read by this reviewer, there are no criticisms to levy. The "Gray and the Black" is impressively researched, with an excellent historiography and valuable index. The analysis, organization, thoughtfulness and dedication that went into this book are humbling. Those that purchase this book will be thrilled and enlightened.