[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Actually, in 1864, a great many black soldiers saw action and died , most notably at Petersburg (in the Battle of the Crater), and at Fort Pillow, Tennessee and at Saltville, Virginia (where, in both cases, those that surrendered were massacred by their outraged Confederate captors). By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) had served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 had served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war—-30,000 of infection or disease, and the rest in battle.

[PJammers]

VR,

I never disputed the fact that black solders died. I know they did. Let's look at your numbers. If 10 percent of the Union forces were black at 179,000 then there were approximately 1.79 million union troops. If 40,000 black soldiers died then it might be possible that (by the numbers) 400,000 white troops died. Not to mention wounded and disfigured.

What I wanted to point out is that the overwhelming amount of deaths were white. As far a reparations go it is my humble opinion that this debt has been paid.

v/r

[TexConfederate1861]

That part about Ft. Pillow is bull....a Congressional Committee after the war debunked that myth. Those soldiers were killed in the heat of battle.

[PeaRidge]

"Fort Pillow, Tennessee and at Saltville, Virginia where, in both cases, those that surrendered were massacred by their outraged Confederate captors."

You use an extreme, undocumented generalization to try to make a point.

If you do a search on Ft Pillow massacre, you will see many different, conflicting accounts.

Ft. Pillow was Union propaganda. President Lincoln directed that the alleged event be investigated in 1864. His people found no evidence of a massacre, other than a dominant Confederate battle victory, which they passed off as a "massacre."

Later, in 1871, a new Congressional investigation revealed no evidence of a massacre. Chairman William T. Sherman made that statement.

In so far regarding Saltville, again there are all sorts of assertions. However your own Richmond Times Dispatch (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/5thuscc/richmondtimes.htm) verified that any degree of massacre could not be proved.

The final proof that no documentation existed for the Union assertions was that no one was arrested or charged with massacre at Ft. Pillow. Only one Confederate infantry man was arrested for Saltville. Thus, no evidence for massacre.