Thousands of school teachers, both black and white,
flocked into the South to help prepare the ex-slave for his new
life.
In the beginning, Lincoln had been very reticent in permitting
the use of slaves or freedmen in the army. As early as 1861
General Sherman had authorized the employment of fugitive slaves
in "services for which they were suited." Late in 1862 Lincoln
permitted the enlistment of some freedmen, and, in 1863, their
enlistment became widespread. By the end of the war more than
186,000 of them had joined the Union forces. For the first time
in American history, however, they were forced to serve in
segregated units and were usually commanded by white officers.
One of the ironies of the conflict was that the war which
terminated slavery was also responsible for initiating
segregation within the armed Forces. In a way this fact became
symbolic of the role which racial discrimination and segregation
eventually came to play in American society. Besides fighting in
segregated units, the Negro soldiers, for about a year, received
half pay. The 54th Massachusetts regiment served for an entire
year without any pay rather than to accept discriminatory wages.
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