Question of the Week: What would you ask a Black soldier or sailor from the Civil War?
If you could go back in time and interview one Black soldier or sailor from the Civil War, who would it be and why?
If you could go back in time and interview one Black soldier or sailor from the Civil War, who would it be and why?
I would ask either a soldier or a sailor why they were fighting … and, looking ahead, what was their hope for negros in the United States.
I would ask if they can live free, would they want to travel to the places their ancestors came from?
I would ask how white soldiers initially treated them, and if that treatment changed after they proved themselves in combat, including if they were accepted after the war in GAR posts.
did ya kill any rebs?
What are your hopes for the future, after the war?
I would have loved the chance to speak to Evans Covington. He was an antebellum sailor assigned to USS Richmond who remained in the navy on the blockade and in cutting the Mississippi River in 1862 and 1863. Discharged in 1863, he then immediately enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts, joining them by late 1863. Would love to just pick his brain to see the dynamics of the different aspects of the war he had direct involvement in.
I would ask a black veteran if after the Civil War, did he try to join his local GAR Post and if so, how was he received?