Page "Abraham Lincoln" Paragraph 71

Using former slaves in the military was official government policy after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

By the spring of 1863, he was ready to recruit black troops in more than token numbers.

In a letter to Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee, encouraging him to lead the way in raising black troops, Lincoln wrote, " The bare sight of 50, 000 armed and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once ".

By the end of 1863, at Lincoln's direction, General Lorenzo Thomas had recruited 20 regiments of blacks from the Mississippi Valley.

Frederick Douglass once observed of Lincoln: " In his company, I was never reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color ".