I have a question about when Lincoln gave his emancipation proclamation speach etc....I have heard that there were Union Units that went home stateing that they would not fight for freeing the slaves. Is this true and if so which units went home? I have also heard that if Lincoln could have won the war without freeing the slaves he would not have freed them. Is this true?

Appreciate your help Alan, and always enjoy reading what you have to say. Thanks!

Nancy F.
23rd TN

Yes it's true I have read many letters by union soldiers that where very angry with Lincoln's EP so much so that one soldier from Delaware said "I didn't enlist to free no Ni##er" or at leat that's what I remember reading.

And they weren't just "units" they where entire companys.

At one point General Grant had to threaten to hang a entire Ohio regiment because they said they where "Going home to plow our fields if we have to fight next to Negros."

I couldn't really say which exact units went home I would point you to the number of desertions afterwards.

What They Fought For, 1861-1865, By James McPherson p. 63

"Desertion rates in both armies rose alarmingly. Many soldiers blamed the Emancipation Proclamation." [James M. McPherson, What They Fought For, 1861-1865, p. 63

But McPherson goes on: "How widespread were such attitudes? How dangerous were they to the morale and cohesion of the armies? The answers are difficult to quantify precisely. For a time during the winter of 1862-1863, antiemancipation expressions seemed to outnumber those on the other side. And morale certainly declined--although defeatism and lack of faith in Union leaders may have had more to do with this than the Emancipation Proclamation. In any case, the decline of morale proved short-lived, for the Union armies did not fall apart and soon won some of their most decisive victories of the war. And of the soldiers in my sample who expressed a clear opinion about emancipation as a war aim at any time through the spring of 1863, two and one-half times as many favored it as opposed it: 36 percent to 14 percent. If we apportion those who did not comment on the subject evenly between the two sides, the picture would conform with the results of a poll in March, 1863, in the 15th Iowa, a fairly typical regiment. Half of the men endorsed the Emancipation Proclamation, a quarter opposed it, and the other quarter did not register an opinion." [Ibid., p. 64]

McPherson does say the antiemancipation figures appear to be understated because the colonel of the 15th Iowa was a strong supporter of the EP and the soldiers who tended to favor it, officers and educated men, were overrepresented in his sample.

"Nevertheless, the evidence indicates that proemancipation convictions did predominate among the leaders and fighting soldiers of the Union army. And that prevalence increased after the low point of early 1863 as a good many antiemancipation soldiers changed their minds." [Ibid., pp. 64-65]

To claim soldiers "deserted in droves" in reaction to the EP is to completely mischaracterize what was written. They both identified other reasons for desertions which actually had more of an effect on bringing about low morale than the EP.

If desertion rates in both armies rose alarmingly and many soldiers blamed the Emancipation Proclamation it sounds to me like they deserted in droves. But may I ask you why did you leave out the following before skipping over to page 64 with "How widespread were such attitudes? Etc.

Here is the rest of it page 63:

“The men are much dissatisfied” with it reported a New York captain “and say it has turned into a Negro war and all the men are anxious to return home for it was to preserve the Union that they volunteered.” Enlisted men confirmed this observation with a blizzard of bitter comments in letters home. “ I am the Boy that Can fight for my Country” wrote an Illinois private, "but not for the Negroes,” A private in the 66th Indiana wrote home from Mississippi in February, 1863, that he and his mess mates “will not fite to free the Negro… there is a Regment her that say they will never fite untill the proclamation is with drawn there is four capt[ains] in our Regt sent in there resingnations and one of the Liutenants there was nine in comp. G. tride to desert.” At the end of 1862 another Illinois soldier with a wife and children reflected on the “cost of freeing the Black Devils. No less than 300,000of our free white citizens have already been sacrificed to free the small mite that have got their freedom,,, I consider the life & Happiness of my family of more value than any negro,”

This is the opinions of soldiers of the "great" emancipator's army you can take it or leave it.