In South Carolina a group of soldiers stacked their arms in front
of their captain's tent in protest against the prejudicial pay
scale. Sgt. William Walker, one of the instigators of the
demonstration, was court-martialed and shot for this action.
Finally, in 1864 all soldiers received equal pay.
The South was outraged by the use of "colored troops." It refused
to recognize them and treat them as enemy soldiers, and,
whenever any were captured, it preferred to treat them as runaway
slaves under the black codes. This meant that they received much
harsher treatment than they would have if they had been treated
as prisoners of war. Also, the South preferred to kill them
instead of permitting their surrender. As a result more than
38,000 of them were killed during the war.
Many Northerners were also upset by the use of "colored
troops." They did not like to have the Civil War considered a
war to abolish slavery. Many of them feared that this would only
increase competition. As a result, when white longshoremen
struck in New York and blacks were brought in to take their
place, a riot ensued.
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