16. Patrick Cleburne proposed enlisting slaves
Patrick Cleburne, a major-general serving with the Army of the Tennessee, was one of the first Confederate leaders to recognize the South would lose the war without desperate measures. A veteran of Shiloh, Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge, Cleburne earned the sobriquet “The Stonewall of the West”. By December, 1863, Cleburne concluded the shattered Southern armies needed more manpower to survive than the depleted white population of military age could supply. In January, 1864, Cleburne suggested to the leaders of the Army of the Tennessee that black troops be enlisted and armed, from emancipated blacks in the South. Cleburne’s suggestion did not fall on welcoming ears.
When word of the idea leaked out, Cleburne was excoriated in the press, in political circles, and among other Confederate generals. He was accused of collaborating with abolitionists by one general, and Braxton Bragg recommended Cleburne no longer be considered for further promotion. In late November 1864, Cleburne remained in command of his division as it faced Union fortifications south of Nashville. On November 30 he was killed in an assault on Union positions at the Battle of Franklin. An important note is that while Cleburne favored black emancipation, he also suggested that “necessity and wise legislation” would ensure emancipation did not mean equality between the races.