Black Confederates Part One Slave Requisitions

There is much talk these days on blogs and the internet about “Black Confederates.” Now the only “Black Confederate” I have encountered is H. K. Edgerton shown in the cartoon above. Several years ago I spoke with Mr. Edgerton of Asheville, North Carolina, at the Memorial Day remembrance at the Patrick County Courthouse in the town formerly known as Taylorsville. You can read more about him here.

The idea that African-Americans fought for the Confederate States of America is something that many members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have taken on as a “cause celeb,” but I have found little evidence in Patrick County records to support the idea. In the famous photo showing a reunion of the Confederate Veterans in uptown Stuart, there is supposedly a Rufus Staples, who filled this role. I have been unable to find any evidence in the photo or in the records that Mr. Staples served in the Confederate armies.

What I have found is evidence that many enslaved men found themselves digging ditches for the armies of the South, but I find no evidence that they fought for these same armies. Near the end of 1862, Patrick County’s “Gentlemen Justices” received a request from Governor John Letcher (a cousin of J. E. B. Stuart) for non-combatant slaves “to labour on fortifications and other works necessary for the public defence.” This information comes directly from the Order Books in the Clerk’s Office in Stuart, Virginia.

The county appointed a committee including Barnes Carter, Asa Wood, G. H. Ashworth, J. W. Brammer, Reuben Ziglar, and Richard Wood to procure slaves in each of their districts. Sheriff Turner received 63 slaves on December 30, 1862. The use of slaves as teamsters, cooks, personal servants to officers, and laborers to dig trenches and build earthworks enhanced the Confederate war effort and made up for the disparities in numbers between Union and Confederate forces. September 1863 brought another requisition of forty-eight slaves for delivery on October 12, 1863.

As the war progressed signs of the pressure citizens dealt with included the refusal of Barksdale, Stovall and Company in 1864 to release a list of slaves for possible requisition by the government. During January 1865, the county received the third request for slaves from the Confederate government. Local officials allocated nineteen persons to appear at the courthouse on April 17 and reported 214 able-bodied male slaves in Patrick County. As the war in Virginia ended on April 9, 1865, it is doubtful that these seventeen people ever saw service for the South. The total number of slaves requisitioned for Confederate service throughout the war totaled 130souls. (This information comes from my book The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War. Below is a list of the slave owners and the number of their slaves requisitioned into service.)


Slave Requisitions by Virginia and Confederate Authorities From Patrick County

Name of Owner 1862 1863 1865
Adams, Joshua 1 0 0
Anthony, Mrs. Ben 0 1 0
Auggker, Phillip 0 1 0
Ayres, Martha 0 1 0
Barnard, Isham 0 1 0
Brim, Jospeh 0 1 0
Burwell, William 0 1 0
Carnaday, William 0 1 0
Carter, Madison 1 0 0
Clark, James H. 1 1 0
Clark, Jane 0 1 1
Clark, Robert M. 0 0 1
Clark, Thomas M. 0 1 1
Cobb, John 0 2 1
Cochram, Edward 1 1 0
Conner, William 1 0 0
Critz, Gabe 0 1 0
Critz, James P. 1 1 1
Critz, William 0 1 0
Davis, B. A. 0 1 1
DeHart, Charles 1 0 0
Foster, Abram 5 1 0
Frans, Joseph 1 0 0
Gray, David(Daniel) 0 1 0
Hairston, Samuel 0 3 0
Hubbard, Mrs. E. 0 0 1
Hubbard, Mrs. John 0 1 0
Hylton, Gabe 0 1 0
Hylton, George 1 1 0
Hylton, Valentine 0 0 1
Joyce, John 0 1 0
Kennerly, Joseph 0 2 0
King, Ben S. 0 1 0
Langhorn, James S. 0 1 1
McCabe, Mrs. Mary 1 0 0
Moir, James 0 1 1
Morrison, Thomas 0 1 0
Murphy, Mrs. 0 1 0
Nelson, Charles 1 0 0
Nowlin, Spencer F. 0 1 0
Parker, John 0 1 0
Penn, George 1 0 0
Penn, Jackson 3 1 1
Penn, James A. 1 1 0
Penn, Jane 0 1 0
Penn, Mary 0 1 1
Penn, Mrs. 0 1 0
Penn, Mrs. James 0 1 0
Penn, Mrs. Gabriel 0 1 0
Penn, Peter 0 1 0
Penn, Polly 0 1 0
Penn, Thomas 5 1 1
Rangeley, James 0 1 0
Reynolds, Hardin W. 5 1 1
Sayars (Sawyers), James 0 1 0
Scales, Farmer 1 1 0
Spencer, William B. 0 1 0
Staples, Mary 1 0 0
Staples, Mrs. C. 0 1 0
Staples, Samuel G. 0 1 1
Shelton, Lewis 0 1 0
Smith, Alexander 0 0 1
Stovall,Barksdale 0 4 0
Tatum, Edward 0 1 0
Tatum, Pryor 0 1 1
Tatum, William F. 0 1 0
Thomas, Mrs. Richard 1 0 0
Tuggle, Henry 1 1 1
Turner, E. B. 1 0 0
Via, Alexander C. 0 2 1
Wilson, Samuel 6 1 2
Ziglar, C. 0 2 0
Zentmeyer, John N. 0 1 0

Total 63 48 19 130 Total Persons