Education

A New Birth of Freedom: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

K Company, 54th Massachusetts Infantry reenactors Ray Wozniack, James Hayes, and Bob English describe the difficulties faced by black soldiers and their white officers. First they fought for the right to fight when many whites did not want them to take up arms, and then they fought and died for a cause bigger than themselves.

Standards
Vocabulary

A New Birth of Freedom: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

From Georgia Stories, Change and Conflict

A New Birth of Freedom: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

Diary of an Anti-Slavery Plantation Daughter

Social Studies

SS8H5.b

Explain Georgia's role in the Civil War; include the Union blockade of Georgia's coast, the Emancipation Proclamation, Chickamauga, Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and Andersonville.

1. Why was a regimental flag so important to soldiers?

2. Why was Sgt. Carney awarded the Congressional Medal Honor?

3. As a rebel soldier, what would you think about free, African Americans opposing you as Union soldiers on the field of battle?

1. Discuss why African Americans believed they had to prove themselves and what they wanted to prove by fighting in the Civil War. Come to a class consensus about their success in doing so.

conscription: the draft; a government act requiring men to enlist in the military

proclamation: a formal announcement (from "proclaim")

demoralize: to weaken one's spirit

menial: tasks associated with drudgery; repetitive, dull labor

1. Why was a regimental flag so important to soldiers?

Here, the regimental flag is described as the "soul of the regiment" inscribed with all of the battles that particular unit had fought in. To that degree it represents all of those who have been a part of the unit - both and alive and dead during the current conflict.

2. Why was Sgt. Carney awarded the Congressional Medal Honor?

Sgt. Carney should heroic valor and courage in the face of enemy fire, taking up the 5th of Massachusetts regimental colors during battle - placing at the top of the wall during a siege, and retrieving them when the unit was pushed back.

3. As a rebel soldier, what would you think about free, African Americans opposing you as Union soldiers on the field of battle?

Student answers will vary but inevitably will mention former slaves now able to enact retribution.

Georgia Stories Segments

Civil War

As the threat of abolition intensified with the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, Georgia joined other slave-holding states in seceding from the Union to form a new nation, the Confederate States of America. Over the next four years, Georgia witnessed success on the battlefield and devastation in its capital as Sherman marched from the Atlanta campaign to the sea. At the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, America had suffered its deadliest war, and the charred remains of Georgia were readmitted to the United States.