I am reading a history book on the Civil War and the author was no fan of the Confederacy. The so called “free states” in the north freed their slaves in 1862 at the urging of Lincoln trying to bring the war to a close. Lincoln wanted to arm them and send them to fight the war but the so called nonracist Yankees didn’t think they were smart enough to be soldiers. They wanted them to do back up work like digging trenches, etc. Lincoln agreed.