Bruce Levine’s Confederate Emancipation analyzes the controversial decision of whether or not to enlist and free black slaves in the Confederacy, during the latter stages of the Civil War.
Levine explores the support and the resistance to the confederate propositions of emancipation, and the results of said propositions. The book is influenced by the research of historian Robert F. Durden, who according to Levine, had the “only published book-length study” of this particular subject prior to Levine’s work (5-6). Utilizing the letters of Confederate military officers, soldiers, and civilians on the homefront, Levine is able to draw from a wide range of sources in order to investigate the effects that Confederate emancipation had on the…show more content… The polarizing issue of arming slaves was one that “fluctuated in intensity” in 1863, until it was strongly considered in 1865. The account of War Department clerk John B. Jones stated that emancipation of slaves was “the desperate remedy for a very desperate case”(16). Levine argues that enlisting slaves was a “common-sense solution to the South’s manpower problem” (17). This statement is supported by the state of the Confederate war effort following a string of defeats during 1862, most notably the loss of Fort Henry and Donelson in Nashville, and the fall of New Orleans. The Union’s successful campaign on the Mississippi River, and the defeat of Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg both played a crucial role in the desperate proposal to enlist slaves. Levine contends that the capture of the Mississippi “physically split” the Confederacy, allowing Union “penetration into the Confederate heartland”. The defeat at Gettysburg arguably had a more devastating effect on the Confederate war effort, as Lee suffered over 28,000 casualties. According to Levine this amounted to “a third of Lee’s effectives on the eve of the battle”, and even further highlighted the lack of manpower the Confederates had at their disposal (21). Prominent cabinet member Judah P. Benjamin recognized the lack of manpower, and in 1864 stated that “war is a game that cannot be played without men … where are the men to come
