Fighting for the Confederacy
The Native American role in the U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War transpired from April 12, 1861, to April 9, 1865. Over these four years, 620,000 lives were lost, millions more were injured, and the South was left in nearly total ruin. The war erupted after decades of clashing had transpired between the Northern and Southern states regarding economic interests, cultural values, western expansion, and the implementation of slavery in American society.
While the American Civil War was the bloodiest and most divisive conflict in U.S. history, the war led to slavery finally being properly addressed. The Founding Fathers knew that slavery would become an issue, but conveniently left any direct mention of it out of the United States Constitution put into place in 1789. Essentially, they left the issue to be a problem for another day. As it would turn out, a little over sixty years later the conflict over slavery could no longer wait to be addressed.
It is believed that the first African slaves reached the shores of present-day United States in 1619. However, European merchants had begun bringing Africans to the New World in the early 16th century. Regardless of the exact date, the United States was quite literally built on the backs of African slaves. The United States was not only built through the enslavement of…
