The Sable Arm; Black Troops in the Union Army, 1861-1865
Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1987. Third Printing stated. Trade paperback. xviii, 342 pages. Includes a new Forward by Herman Hattaway, Preface, Acknowledgments, Notes on Sources, Critical Bibliography, Bibliographic Update, and Index. Some edge soiling noted. This work was originally published in 1956. Eight years after President Harry S. Truman ordered an end to racial discrimination in the United States armed forces in 1948, Dudley Taylor Cornish, a thirty-year-old veteran of World War II, who had acquired a Ph.D. degree in history from the University of Colorado and begun his teaching career at Pittsburg State University in Kansas. He moved on to Pittsburg State University from which he retired and became a Professor Emeritus. The Sable Arm traces the development of Union policy on the use of black troops in the Union army, and analyzes the problems connected with the implementation of that policy. The idea of using black troops was a daring one at the time. One of the author's great strengths in The Sable Arm lies in the book's probing of background and underpinning. For example, one of the more significant and interesting stories Cornish recounts is that of the exemplary program formulated and executed by the Union army to educate white troops to accept their black comrades. It is striking that the United States government apparently did a better job in this regard during the Civil War than it did during either World War I or World War II.
Derived from a Kirkus review: In 1863, after limitless debate and procrastination, Negro regiments at last became officially part of the Union Army -- the first colored soldiers in American history to be fully sanctioned by the Federal Government. This fact distinguished them from the cooks, orderlies, fortification laborers, etc., who had traditionally participated in American wars, and especially distinguished them from the many trained and armed Negroes who had fought sub rosa from soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. The Confederate use of Negroes for heavy manual tasks did much to absolve the Northern bias but perhaps the critical factor was the decision that states whose loyalty was uncertain would finally accept the Negro in uniform. The total number of Negro troops to serve the Union has been variously estimated from 100,000 to 200,000: over 60,000 perished of wounds or disease. Denied full pay and benefits, the Negroes nevertheless fought with outstanding courage and were everywhere respected for their powers of endurance. This work is noted by scholars for the quality of temperate judgment and its anticipated enduring value. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Civil War, Black Troops, Union Army, Military Units, Slavery, Racism, Discrimination, Benjamin Butler, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Higginson, David Hunter, James Montgomery, Edwin Stanton, Lorenzo Thomas, Negro
ISBN: 070060328X
[Book #79613]
Price: $25.00