Were there black soldiers in the civil war?
Thousands of Blacks served the Confederate forces as teamsters,
cooks, servants and laborers. Some no doubt "saw the elephant."
That number, however, is much disputed. Although some Black
Confederate regiments were organized in early 1865, they never saw
action. Some websites, however, assert that thousands fought for
the South. "There were many Black regiments," they say. The problem
with that argument, quite simply, is that there is no proof --- no
Confederate records, nothing in the "Southern Historical Society
Papers," nothing in the "Official Records," nothing in diaries. If
thousands had fought, if there had been Black regiments, somebody
somewhere would have made a note of it. Figures for the North are
much better documented. According to Boatner, about 300,000 served
in some 166 Union regiments. Of these, about 175,000 saw
combat.