NEGRO SOLDIERS SNAP TO ATTENTION

From the start of the Civil War, abolitionists of the North had enthusiastically urged President Lincoln to accept Negroes into the military forces of the Federal Government. One of Lincoln's main concerns had been that doing so might trigger the loss of border States, loyal to the Union, should they see such a move as a Republican attempt to gain equality for the black man. And so, throughout 1861 Lincoln resisted the inclination. He had, as President, the "legal discretion" to employ Negroes by the military; that became the ground upon which Negro troops could be activated. As, during that first year, it became apparent the war would not be short term, Lincoln acquiesced. "Legitimate" acceptance of Negroes, as soldiers into Union Forces, first, became underway in Louisiana (September 26, 1862). "The First Louisiana Native Guards" were mustered into service under General Benjamin Franklin Butler ("Spoons", they use to call him, for having seized a 38-piece set of silverware in New Orleans from a woman who tried crossing Union lines).