I'm in belief a lot of history written is assumed and not researched.

For example the following letter and response.

General SAMUEL COOPER,

Adjt. and Insp. Gen, C. S. Army, Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: I again call your attention to my request to accept into the Confederate service the company of creoles of Mobile, because I think that perhaps the War Department is not exactly informed about the people I have reference to. When Spain ceded this territory to the United States in 1803, the creoles were guaranteed all the immunities and privileges of the citizens of the United States, and have continued to enjoy them up to this time. They have, many of them, negro blood in the degree which disqualifies other persons of negro race from the rights of citizens, but they do not stand here on the footing of negroes. They are very anxious to enter the Confederate service, and I propose to make heavy artillerists of them, for which they will be admirably qualified. Please let me hear at your earliest convenience if I may have them enrolled in a company, or in companies if I can find enough of them to make more than one company.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
DABNEY H. MAURY, Major- General.

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERALS OFFICE,

November 20, 1863.
Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War. An application to have a company of creoles at Mobile accepted into Confederate service.
By order, & c.:

JOHN W. RIELY,
Captain and Assistant-Adjutant- General.
[Second indorsement.]

[NOVEMBER] 24, 1863.

Our position with the North and before the world will not allow the employment as armed soldiers of negroes. If these creoles can be naturally and properly discriminated from negroes, the authority may be considered as conferred; otherwise not, unless you can enlist them as ”navvies” (to use the English term) or for subordinate working purposes. J. A. S., Secretary.

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Here are some questions about this exchange between an office in the field looking to use a practical idea and a desk officer, basically a bureaucrat in Richmond, being loose with his words, to show his way of saying no and at the same time saying yes.

1. Are laws supporting "will not allow the employment as armed soldiers of negroes." State or Confederate?
2. Are laws defining negroes State or Confederate?

So I ask for some assistance.

I cannot find a Confederate law setting the standards to the legal use of "negro or negroes" or exactly where in Confederate law it states that a "negro or negroes' cannot be armed. Slaves-- yes.

State laws are more detailed. Alabama and Virginia laws of the 1840s define the "negro" race down to the third generation but are different and confusing. Alabama- any Black within three generations even if there is a White in each-- Virginia- "Every person who has at least one fourth of negro blood, and every person who had a full negro grandfather or grandmother, shall be deemed a negro within the meaning of every statute."

1840s -- Virginia restricts mixed marriages to a degree... Alabama allows the marriage of free persons without restrictions.