re: #9 MandyManners

By the way, why didn’t you quote this section from that page?

A Confederate officer, who rode upon this situation as it was transpiring, recalled: “Several engineer officers were superintending the construction of a line of rude breastworks…Ten or twelve negroes were engaged in the task of pulling down a rail fence; as many more occupied in carrying the rails, one at a time, and several were busy throwing up the dirt…The [Blacks] thus employed all wore good gray uniforms and I was informed that they belonged to the only company of colored troops in the Confederate service, having been enlisted by Major Turner in Richmond. Their muskets were stacked, and it was evident that they regarded their present employment in no very favorable light.”

These weren’t soldiers. They were still slaves.