David & Herb......... So very true ! For the "politically correct and historically challenged", there never seems to be enough evidence ! Another of these reports was written by a Union Brigadier from Vermont. An avowed abolitionist, he began attempting to train and arm Black troops in 1862, was ordered by the Lincoln Government to cease, and resigned his commission in protest. He wrote in August 1861, "They—the enemy—talked of having 9,000 men. They had twenty pieces of artillery, among which was the Richmond Howitzer Battery, manned by Negroes."

Brigadier- General JOHN WOLCOTT PHELPS

Illinois Governor and Future Senator Richard Yates

In a letter to Lincoln, the Governor of Illinois, Richard Yates said, "They [CSA] arm Negroes and merciless savages in their behalf. Mr. Lincoln, the crisis demands greater efforts and sterner measures." He is considered by most historians to be one of the most effective war governors in the North.