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"The Civil War is probably one of
the most misunderstood pieces of American history. The war is more
complex than what people see. I think that if most black people
look, they will find that they are sons of Confederate veterans." |
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It's great. After more than 130 years, black Civil War soldiers who fought for the North got their due. The recent unveiling of the Spirit of Freedom sculpture in the nation's capital is a breathtaking reminder of the more than 208,000 African Americans who risked their lives. Yet, sadly the whole story remains untold-African Americans who fought for the Confederacy were left out. Blacks who wore the gray are not heroes to most African Americans, but their stories are as important as the reason many southern blacks fought for the North. Without acknowledgement of the role of an estimated 90,000 African Americans who joined rebel ranks, we celebrate a half-truth. That robs us of the chance to understand blacks' complex participation in the war. Researchers have fought hard to earn African Americans even a footnote in chronicles of the nation's bloodiest conflict. University of Virginia Associate Professor Ervin L. Jordan, whose 1995 book, Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, was a landmark study, said most African Americans can't look objectively at what he calls "Afro-Confederates." "It's not going to happen," he said. "Look at what the Confederacy stood for, and look at how the Confederate flag is being used. When black people see a Confederate they see an enemy." That's a fact. Yet reading about black Confederates adds a peculiar twist to what many historians try to portray as a simple story. In the end, to grasp how some blacks acted against their best interest 130 years ago, might help some African Americans today. Even on November 11, when the granite panels with 208,943 black Union soldiers and sailors' names will be added to the $2.6 million, 11-foot, bronze monument in Washington, D.C., most Americans will still see the Civil War as a white struggle on behalf of blacks. Within 10 years of the war, Union and Confederate officials whitewashed (no pun intended) the roles. Black Union and Confederate veterans who applied for soldiers pensions were often denied, or reclassified as laborers, feeding the myth that their contributions and numbers were insignificant. As University of Pittsburgh art historian Kirk Savage described the situation to States News Service, statues cast after the war were erected by white men in public spaces controlled by white men. Often, such statues depicted black slaves kneeling and white soldiers standing. Efforts by black Confederate soldiers' descendants to piggy-back the July 19 African American Civil War Monument dedication were squelched. According to a press release from the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization that honors the rebels' cause, one of their members, Dr. Emerson Emory, a black Dallas physician, was invited to participate in the ceremony in April and dropped from the program in May. Apparently, the African American Civil War Monument Committee saw any recognition of those who fought for the losing side as an embrace of the Confederacy's ideals. In truth, many on both sides battled for self-interest. "I think a lot of it was heritage and pride," said Stan Armstrong, a Las Vegas filmmaker. His current documentary project, "Forgotten Heroes," is about black Confederate soldiers. "New Orleans boasted about having the richest blacks in the South. At the start of the war, when the South left the Union, 2,500 men of color in New Orleans were the first one's to come to the aid of the Confederacy. Some of them were even captains, lieutenants and other officers." Jordan said some of them were plain crazy. " Some of them were only looking out for themselves," he added. "Some of them were being pragmatic about where they were, especially free blacks. They felt if they demonstrated loyalty to the Confederacy that would keep them from being enslaved." The Jim Crow era shows those who fought on both sides were deceived.
Even white Americans are sometimes ashamed to admit that so many
blacks gave all for a freedom that never came. But, black Confederates
are still considered the bigger fools. That is why most African
Americans want them to be forgotten.
Webster's Dictionary defines "oxymoron" as
"a combination of contradictory or incongruous words."
When the Civil War siege of Vicksburg, Miss., ended, Stan Armstrong's great-great grandfather, Confederate Capt. John David Herndon and his son, Joseph, returned home to Louisiana on mules. Although parolled by Gen. Ulysses Grant's forces after losing at Vicksburg, the two Rebel soldiers soon picked up their guns for the battle of Mansfield, La., where they again fought the "Yankees confiscating the land." Armstrong is well versed in his ancestors' Civil War experiences. Like many whose roots stem from the Old South, his family history was passed down orally from generation to generation. But the Las Vegas filmmaker's roots put him in a quandry. His ancestors, the Herndons, were more than just father-and-son soldiers. John Herndon was white, Joseph Herndon was black. The son was a slave. The father was his master. Armstrong started to come to grips with his family's dual roles in the Civil War five years ago, when he was invited to help reenact a Civil War battle in Tennessee. He couldn't bring himself to put on the the gray coat that symbolizes Dixie. As a black man, he said "he didn't feel comfortable." "You wear the coat of the good guys," Armstrong's friend told him. Armstrong assumed he'd wear blue, he "just wanted to be a Yankee." "No," his Southern friend corrected him, "I said the good guys." In the past 2 1/2 years, the line that separates the "good" and the "bad" and the black and the white has become a little blurry for Armstrong who has been buried in research while piecing together his latest documentary, "Black Confederates: The Forgotten Men in Gray." The documentary includes accounts from historians and blacks who say their forefathers were Confederate soldiers. Film footage from the 1930s of black Confederate veterans declaring their allegiance to the Confederacy is also included. Armstrong, a UNLV graduate who majored in communications, is the first to admit that the film may make some people just as itchy as he was when he first considered wearing that gray coat. The idea of black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy is a hotly debated subject. Rarely is it mentioned in mainstream history books, and many blacks and historians are adamant that it never happened. The documentary also arrives in the middle of the ongoing and rancorous divide between black leaders, lawmakers, historians and Southerners over the display of the Confederate battle flag at state buildings in the South. But to Armstrong, the denial of black Confederates only says "Americans really don't know enough about our history." "The Civil War is probably one of the most misunderstood pieces of American history," Armstrong said. "The war is more complex than what people see. I think that if most black people look, they will find that they are sons of Confederate veterans." Many slaves fled to the North and fought their former masters, he said. Others stayed in the South. "We're looking into why the slaves were so loyal to their masters," he said. "Was it a sense of duty? Was it a sense of honor? Was it out of fear or loyalty? Who knows." The native Las Vegan's motive for making the documentary comes from his own history and perspective on the war. The land the Herndons' fought for in Louisiana is still owned by Armstrong's family. And stories about the Herndons' war records spurred him to dig into historical archives for more information. That personal research completely changed Armstrong's view of the Civil War, the South and the Confederates. It also turned him into a Civil War buff who is now a member of the Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp # 215, Sons of Confederate Veterans. Armstrong sees Forrest, a Confederate cavalry leader and one of the first leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, as a man who changed his ways and later supported blacks. Forrest also became the subject of Armstrong's first film documentary, "The Forgotten Battle of Fort Pillow and the Birth of the KKK." He is working on a third film, which portrays the American Indian's involvement in the Civil War. "Black Confederates" is now in the final editing stages. Lee Millar, an Alabama historian and field producer of "Black Confederates," said 96,000 blacks were enlisted as soldiers, sailors and laborers for the Confederacy. That number comes from research into war records, diaries and historical accounts, by Edward Smith, a professor of African American Studies from American University in Washington, D.C., Millar said. Millar said his own research at the Tennessee Department of Archives revealed that pensions were provided to black Confederate veterans. In Tennessee 286 wounded black Confederates applied for pensions after the war, he said. "There were about 5 million blacks in the South during the Civil War, but little is known about their contribution," Millar said Although slaves were used as labor during the war, some fought out of allegiance to their masters, Millar said. Freed Southern blacks fought to prove they could fight, he said. Others fought because the "South was their home too." The Civil War film, " 'Glory' opened a whole new window that blacks did fight," Millar said. "But what about blacks who fought for the South?" Rainier Spencer, an assistant professor of African American studies at UNLV, who covers the topic of black Confederates in class said the idea of blacks fighting for the Confederacy, is complicated. "The key will be to intelligently and thoughtfully dissect what is there rather than have a gut reaction," he said about the film. Sons of Confederate Veterans have a big investment in claiming that blacks fought, he said. "It makes them look less evil." Some light-skinned blacks who were "passing" may have fought, he said. There were forced laborers and slaves serving their masters and at the very end of the war there may have been black Confederate soldiers. Walter Hill, senior archivist at the National Archives and Records administration, says blacks never fought for the Confederacy. There's no such thing as a black Confederate soldier, Hill said. "The question of black Confederacy -- No. 1. It's concept only. It's a thought. It's an idea. There's no reality to it. "When you say black Confederate what do you mean? That's the question here," Hill said. "The Confederate army used slavery to help them win the war. Keep in mind, these are slaves. They were instructed and told what to do. They didn't support the Confederacy." Hill said he has been disputing the idea of black Confederate soldiers for nearly 30 years. Supporters of the Confederacy are trying to eliminate or minimize slavery as the cause of the war, he said. "One strategy is to say 'well, blacks fought for the South.' Well that's just not accurate." The staunch opposition is nothing new to Armstrong. When his documentary on Forrest was shown on PBS, people told him he was too soft on Bedford Forrest, Armstrong said. "Southerners said 'you were too hard on him.' " "Black Confederates" will allow people to form their own opinion, he said. "As a director and a producer, you have to be open minded," Armstrong said. "Hollywood tends to portray liberalism too much. "There's a lot of documentaries on black Union soldiers," he said. "This one has never been done. The History Channel won't even touch stuff like this." Produced by Desert Rose productions, the documentary narrated by singer Charlie Daniels will be shown at CineVegas. The film is funded through grants from the Nevada Gaming Foundation for Educational Excellence and the Orleans hotel-casino. "I know in some ways the response will be negative, but hopefully
we'll get some people to open books. I hope people will walk away
with a better understanding that everything isn't black and white."
Dyslexia can mean a life filled with learning difficulties, challenges and frustration. But for Stan Armstrong, it also meant excelling in his chosen career. "It really helps in film because I see things differently," he said. "Other film students who were getting A's in college are now cocktail waitresses and dealers." He said he feels like Gen. George Armstrong Custer, who finished
last in his class at West Point but "went on to great things."
"When I look at people, I see them as celebrities or historical figures," he said. As a university student, Armstrong hosted "Rebel Vision", the in-house television station. He also interned as a production assistant, videotapes events and works behind the scenes of HBO and Showtime sporting productions. A member of the stagehands union, he works conventions but his passion is making documentaries. Armstrong has two documentaries to his credit, "The Forgotten Battle of Fort Pillow and the Birth of the KKK," finished in 1999, and the just-completed "Forgotten Men in Grey, Black Confederates." Both are products of his company (along with partners John Barrett and Jackie Powell) Desert Rose Productions. Before funding came through for "Forgotten Men," he traveled to Tennessee with $500 in his pocket. By day he interviewed people and shot videotape to show potential investors. By night, he slept in a rental car parked in downtown Nashville. Two years later, a $50,000 grant from the Nevada Gaming Foundation for Educational Excellence and money from The Orleans, a local bookstore and friends made finishing the film possible. The film includes local actors portraying slaves, film shot in the 1930s and coverage of battle reenactments. Armstrong traveled to California, Tennessee and Mississippi to make his film. The Sons of Confederate Veterans eagerly reenacted battles for him, providing uniformed actors, weapons, horses, canons and caissons, all at no cost. That was appreciated as the high-quality Beta camera equipment and its crew ran $600 an hour. The nearly 20 hours of raw film was edited down to 58 minutes. He said the most surprising thing he learned while making the documentary was that Americans don't know their country's history. "The average person can't tell you when the Civil War was," he said with amazement in his voice. He also said many people deny that blacks fought for the Southern
cause. Now that "Black Confederates" is finished, Armstrong
is busy at work on his next documentary project. The topic covers
another area with a link to his own life -- Las Vegas in the 1950s.
IF I MADE a bet that this fella Stan Armstrong likes to ice-skate uphill, I'd probably get no takers. Armstrong's a filmmaker, not exactly the easiest of careers to break into. You have to get the training. Then have to hope financing comes from somewhere for a film. To make matters even more difficult, Armstrong's a documentary filmmaker. Remember documentaries? Good. I barely do. Few directors bother to make them anymore. It's rare for a major studio to fund one. Armstrong is also a black documentary filmmaker and, so the perception goes, faces the obstacle of race in a white-dominated field. So with all those hurdles in front of him, what topic does Armstrong select for his second documentary feature? How does the title Black Confederates: The Forgotten Men in Gray grab you? "Black people tend to look at me as if to say, 'Wow, we didn't know this,'" Armstrong said last week as he stood outside the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown, where his film had just ended a two-night run. Armstrong was selling videos of Black Confederates and his first documentary, The Fort Pillow Massacre, about an infamous Civil War incident in which Confederate troops are alleged to have slaughtered unarmed black soldiers. With Armstrong was Jack Maples, author of Reconstructed Yankee, a Civil War novel about two men, one black and one white, who first fight for the North but then fight for the South after witnessing Union atrocities. Maples assisted Armstrong in answering questions about Black Confederates. Armstrong came to Hagerstown from Las Vegas, his home, where, he said, folks don't appreciate Civil War history like we Marylanders do. He couldn't make a living off proceeds from documentaries, of course. He supplements that income by doing disc jockey work and teaching courses called "Ethnic Awareness in Film" and "The Civil War in Film" as an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Black Confederates is a 70-minute work that tells the story of those African-Americans who fought for the South in the War between the States. Using interviews with historians and ancient newsreel footage of actual black Confederate veterans, Armstrong tells the tale of their service as laborers, teamsters, body servants and, in some instances, combat troops. Here are a few facts from the documentary: Estimates of the number of blacks fighting for the South range from 50,000 to 100,000. Some 3,000 blacks, armed with muskets and Bowie knives, were in the Army of Northern Virginia that marched north to its fateful meeting with the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg. There were even blacks who rode with Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest when he gave Union generals fits in Mississippi and Tennessee. "Better Confederates did not live," Forrest said of the blacks that rode with him. Interesting comment, coming from a guy most folks think started the Ku Klux Klan. Armstrong cleared up that misconception in a question-and-answer period after the film ended. "Nathan Bedford Forrest didn't start the Klan," Armstrong said. "He was the first Grand Dragon of the Klan." Not much better, most would think. But Forrest was an enigma. A slave trader before the war, he left the Klan and criticized it when the terror group became "too violent." Armstrong said that Forrest also donated money to a black church and, to the dismay of many of his fellow whites, advocated equal rights for African-Americans. "Do we call him the first civil rights leader?" Armstrong asked. "I don't know." Let's call Frederick Douglass the first civil rights leader, thank you very much. Forrest was the Confederate general in command at the Fort Pillow massacre. But on the matter of race, Armstrong may have a point about Forrest. He was probably more liberal in his views than Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who referred to blacks as "Sambo" and, according to Maples, left a group of fugitive slaves attempting to follow him to the tender mercies of Confederates who gleefully slaughtered them. Armstrong's goal is to get his film shown on the Hitler Channel - er, uh, excuse me - that should be the History Channel. But, he's not optimistic. "I'm liberal, but they're really, really liberal," Armstrong
- a descendant of one of those black Confederates - said of the
folks at the History Channel. "I don't think they'll show it."
A free Sunday screening of a locally produced documentary will explore a little-known chapter of Civil War history, focusing on "Black Confederates: The Forgotten Men in Gray." The free screening will be held at 4 p.m. at the Brenden 14 Theatres at the Palms, 4321 W. Flamingo Road. Cast and crew members will be available to discuss the documentary afterward. From Las Vegas-based Desert Rose Productions, the documentary focuses on the history of blacks who served the Confederacy during the Civil War. It's the second of director-producer Stan Armstrong's documentary trilogy chronicling the history of minorities who served in the Civil War. The first chapter, "The Forgotten Battle of Fort Pillow and the Birth of the KKK," already has aired on Las Vegas' PBS affiliate, KLVX-TV, Channel 10. The concluding documentary will focus on "Native Americans of the Civil War." A trailer for the "Native Americans" documentary also will be shown Sunday; Leon Yazzie and Harry Goodwolf Kindness, both of whom have feature parts in the documentary, are expected to attend. Armstrong and producer Powell recently screened "Black Confederates"
at a Sons of Confederate Veterans reunion in Memphis and at the
140th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Antietam in Hagerstown,
Md. They also are scheduled to show the documentary next weekend
in Kentucky at a re-enactment of the Battle of Perryville.
If all indie filmmakers are by definition crazy, makers of documentaries are positively certifiable. Outside of the festival circuit, their work seldom sees the light of day, unless it's picked up by PBS or the History Channel. All of which makes Las Vegas' Stan Armstrong just about ready for the men in the white coats - except that he's much more interested in the men in gray and blue. With passion and commitment that'd warm the cockles of Ken Burns' heart, the smart, soft-spoken Armstrong has labored for years to chronicle some of the more obscure chapters of Civil War history. By far the most striking revelation from his work is the alarming thought that the Civil War didn't end in 1865, nor with Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, Rosa Parks' 1955 bus ride or MLK's 1963 dream. In countless ways - less bloody than the horrifying battles of 140 years ago, but no less pervasive - the fight goes on. In short, studying the Civil War teaches us much more about what it means to be an American than that new, alarmingly abstract construct, the "war on terrorism." Having examined an infamous 1864 massacre in his 1998 film The Battle of Fort Pillow and the Birth of the KKK, Armstrong has spent much of the past four years working on his follow-up project, Black Confederates: The Forgotten Men in Gray, which had a well-attended Vegas premiere last weekend. Talk about an eye-opener. If the mere notion of African-Americans fighting on the side of slavery initially seems contradictory, let alone the idea that a present-day black Southerner would proudly wave the Confederate flag, Armstrong's film debunks a number of myths and misconceptions. Though the question of how many blacks fought in the war for Southern independence alongside their white brothers, or "owners," remains open, the film presented compelling evidence that many did, including some 40 members of Nathan B. Forrest's hand-picked bodyguard. The film boasts an impressively large and diverse collection of
interviews with what Armstrong's partner Jackie Powell called "our
talking heads" - including historians, descendants of war heroes
and self-serving modern politicos, some of whom were visibly squeamish
answering questions about the very idea that blacks willingly, actively
or even indirectly supported the Confederate war effort). These
are interspersed with remarkable archive footage (including rare
shots of a 1938 reunion of Civil War veterans) and nicely-edited
sepia-toned scenes of Civil War reenactments. All of which provides
some thought-provoking insights into a conflict that, as Armstrong
said, in this town seems "so far removed." And that despite
the ubiquitous reminder on our state flag that it was during the
Civil War, on Oct. 31, 1864, that Nevada was "battle born."
Great job, gentlemen. It was a breath of fresh air to
see a film about a Thanks Again, |
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