Sherman and Grant thought very very poorly of blacks as soldiers and would not let any fight in their armies. But yet blacks served in other parts of the union armies (albeit they had to buy their own uniforms and were paid less).
Numerous blacks served in the Southern armies too, regardless of what a few folks may have thought about it. Many southern generals (like Lee) were in favor of having blacks in the southern armies. Get over it.
Apparently true of Sherman. Not true of Grant.
One case I'm familiar with was the Battle of the Crater, where a black regiment had been specially trained to lead the attack after the detonation of the mine. In an early case of political correctness, the black unit was replaced at the last moment by an untrained white unit, which bungled the operation and turned it from a likely great Union victory into a major Union defeat.
Three of the 17 regiments that blocked Confederate escape at Appamatox Courthouse were black.
From March 1864 on, Grant was General in Chief, so all troops, including all black troops, were under his command.
He may or may not have thought poorly of them, but he was certainly willing to let them fight for him.
Grant, as President, fought more effectively for the rights of blacks and freedmen than any president of the 19th century.
You are incorrect. Sherman had many in his army, as did Grant. Grant also depended on black soldiers in his army to act as guides as he cut off Vicksburg. A black division figured prominently at the Battle of the Crater. Sherman depended on Black soldiers as he cut across Georgia, and in his linkup to the Atlantic Coast.
Of all the ‘Black Confederates’ at Gettysburg, apparently they all fit in a single tent.
If it had been up to many Southern generals like Virginians Lee and George Thomas, there would have been no secession at all. My disdain is for the secessionist politicians.
If it had been up to many Southern generals like Virginians Lee and George Thomas, there would have been no secession at all. My disdain is for the secessionist politicians.