From the slave narrative of Uncle William Baltimore of Route 1, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Age 103
The following excerpt from a slave narrative shows that Arfrican Americans were employed by the Confederate Army in Arkansas during the Civil War. As Pine Bluff became the largest area of orginization of the Confederate Army in the Trans Mississipppi, blacks were frequently hired into a multitude of varied roles.
Also noted in the following text is the capturing of African Americans by Northern troops. Several slave narratives have been found with similarities: the Yankees captured slaves when they would not go to contraband camps willingly; freedom was forced upon them.
After serving in the Union army, in order for the troops to be paid, they were forced to march all the way to Kansas. While in Kansas, the troops were abandoned to fend for themselves in finding a way back to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where, in many cases, their wives and children were suffering in a contraband camp back home.
…I worked on de plantation till de war broke. Then I went into the army with them what called themselves secesh’s. I didn’t fight none, never give me a gun nor sword. I was a servant. I cooked and toted things. In 1863 I was captured by the Yankees and marched to Little Rock and sworn in as a Union Soldier. I was sure enough soldier now. I saver did any fighting but I marched with the soldiers and worked for them whatever they said.
We marched from Pine Bluff on through Ft. Smith and the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Then we went to Leavenworth Kansas and back to Jefferson County, Arkansas. And all that walking I did on these same foots you see right here now….
