Searching for Black Confederates

The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth

By: Kevin M. Levin

Narrated by: JD Jackson

More than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, scores of websites, articles, and organizations repeat claims that anywhere between 500 and 100,000 free and enslaved African Americans fought willingly as soldiers in the Confederate army. But as Kevin M. Levin argues in this carefully researched book, such claims would have shocked anyone who served in the army during the war itself. Levin explains that imprecise contemporary accounts, poorly understood primary-source material, and other misrepresentations helped fuel the rise of the black Confederate myth. Moreover, Levin shows that belief in the existence of black Confederate soldiers largely originated in the 1970s, a period that witnessed both a significant shift in how Americans remembered the Civil War and a rising backlash against African Americans' gains in civil rights and other realms.

Levin also investigates the roles that African Americans actually performed in the Confederate army, including personal body servants and forced laborers. He demonstrates that regardless of the dangers these men faced in camp, on the march, and on the battlefield, their legal status remained unchanged. Even long after the guns fell silent, Confederate veterans and other writers remembered these men as former slaves and not as soldiers, an important reminder that how the war is remembered often runs counter to history.

©2019 Kevin M. Levin (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Heart Felt and Brutally Honest

I loved that the book addressed a lot of questions for me personally . The facts given outweighs the feeling on many topics . The book goes into detail on why the myth was established and the reasoning why it must continue for others. This is sad but yet very true.

Well researched

The author is thorough and makes well reasoned arguments. The amount of research done for this must have been immense and it is well worth the listen (or read)!

Non GMO History

Awesome research based work on an opinionated subject. I really enjoyed it and I’m not the biggest History buff, but It stirred up a keen interest in American history for me.

Great back story.

Great back story on how the story of the CSA war should have been told.

For those who care about facts

It's sad thing when an author ends his book-length refutation of a popular myth with the acknowledgement that to many, the myth will endure despite the facts because the myth is so popular and serves such an important purpose. But I appreciate his having written this nonetheless. For those truly interested in understanding the role of African Americans in the American civil war, this is an invaluable resource. Not overly long, but full of context and facts and compassion for the lived experience and the complex loyalties at work in the confederacy.

Another reviewer said that it was more political commentary than history and I could not disagree more. This is history, written by a historian. Is there interpretation of the facts? Yes. That is what historians do. But some facts are simply facts, even if they hurt the feelings of the Lost Cause defenders.

As for the narration, I'd have bought this book regardless but when I realized the narrator was the same man who has excellently narrated some of Attica Locke's mystery books. I was extra hooked and was not disappointed.

My only quibble is that I suspect the ebook or physical book includes photos, besides the cover photo, that would provide even more context and humanity to the stories of African Americans living in the confederacy. If those are included in the text copy, I wish they were available as a pdf to audiobook listeners. If they are not included, they should be.

Author didn’t do any real research

The book starts out with an infactual statement talking about The Confederacy only being only fought by white men well that’s not true there was actually a native American who was a confederate general. get your facts together. I can go on but why bother.

One red flag but overall interesting

The red flag that sent my “history nerd” senses into a frenzy was when the author stated Rosencrans won the battle of Chickamauga.

Bragg beat Rosencrans like a drum and so bad that the defeated union commander had a mental break down following his return to Chattanooga.

I agree with the author’s thesis overall, but when I heard this piece of revisionist history, it did make me wonder if he was overlooking evidence somewhere in the same light that his antagonists, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, do when claiming that there were black Confederate combat troops.

It was good overall, but I was really hoping it would be more about the camp slaves during and after the war. More specifically a ratio of 3:4 in regards to camp slaves personal experiences to discrediting the SCV. When in reality I feel that the book was more of a 1:4 personal experiences: SCV discrediting.

The reason for the authors ratio is understandable when you consider the primary sources he used though.

I do wish there was more work about camp slaves as I feel it’s a largely untouched topic.

Needing to “Search” More

I would say that Mr. Levin seems to have an axe to grind with his refutation of black Confederates. He is blinded by his need to be correct. In his “search” he overlooks obvious resources to perpetuate his claims. I would point to other sources such as;

1. Charles Kelly Barrow, et. al. Forgotten Confederates: An Anthology About Black Southerners (1995)

2. Ervin L. Jordan, Jr. Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (1995)

3. Richard Rollins. Black Southerners in Gray (1994).

For general historical information on Black Confederates, contact Dr. Edward Smith, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20016; Dean of American Studies. Dr. Smith is a black professor dedicated to clarifying the historical role of African Americans.

modern political commentary

This book is more of an expression of the author's modern political beliefs than anything.