Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Seeking the American Promise: “The Right to Fight: Black Soldiers in the Civil War”

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. The Union finally began recruiting black soldiers to fight in the Civil War in 1863 because

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is d. The Union did not recruit black soldiers to serve as soldiers in the Civil War until 1683—two years after the war began. This change of heart was not the result of a more enlightened opinion of African Americans, it was a wartime necessity. So many Union soldiers had been killed by 1863 that the Union Army needed to recruit from previously untapped populations to fill its ranks.
Incorrect. The answer is d. The Union did not recruit black soldiers to serve as soldiers in the Civil War until 1683—two years after the war began. This change of heart was not the result of a more enlightened opinion of African Americans, it was a wartime necessity. So many Union soldiers had been killed by 1863 that the Union Army needed to recruit from previously untapped populations to fill its ranks.

Question

2. Why did people like James Henry Gooding—a soldier in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Colored Regiment during the Civil War—believe that serving in the Union Army was beneficial to African Americans?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. Gooding and other veterans, both black and white, noticed how military service seemed to change the way African American men were perceived. Instead of being seen as lowly and repulsive slaves, black soldiers were transformed into respected American citizens. As Gooding put it, military service facilitated “the elevation of a downtrodden and despised race,” and helped African Americans contradict the notion “that they were not men.”
Incorrect. The answer is a. Gooding and other veterans, both black and white, noticed how military service seemed to change the way African American men were perceived. Instead of being seen as lowly and repulsive slaves, black soldiers were transformed into respected American citizens. As Gooding put it, military service facilitated “the elevation of a downtrodden and despised race,” and helped African Americans contradict the notion “that they were not men.”

Question

3. When they began serving in the Union Army in 1863, black soldiers were initially treated unequally to their white counterparts because they were

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. When they first entered the Union Army in 1863, black soldiers were deliberately paid less than white soldiers. However, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Colored Regiment refused to accept their lower pay, and argued to President Abraham Lincoln that because they performed the same duties as white soldiers, they should receive the same pay. As a result of the Fifty-fourth’s petition, in June 1864 Congress equalized pay for white and black soldiers.
Incorrect. The answer is c. When they first entered the Union Army in 1863, black soldiers were deliberately paid less than white soldiers. However, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Colored Regiment refused to accept their lower pay, and argued to President Abraham Lincoln that because they performed the same duties as white soldiers, they should receive the same pay. As a result of the Fifty-fourth’s petition, in June 1864 Congress equalized pay for white and black soldiers.

Question

4. How did black Union soldiers help promote equality for freedmen in the South after the Civil War ended?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is b. After the Civil War ended in 1865, some black soldiers in the Union Army stayed in the South as part of the occupying force. Their presence in southern communities was particularly important to freedmen because, in the words of one black chaplain, whites were less likely to “kick colored women and abuse colored people in the Streets, as they usually do.” In this way, black veterans helped protect freedmen as they began their lives as American citizens.
Incorrect. The answer is b. After the Civil War ended in 1865, some black soldiers in the Union Army stayed in the South as part of the occupying force. Their presence in southern communities was particularly important to freedmen because, in the words of one black chaplain, whites were less likely to “kick colored women and abuse colored people in the Streets, as they usually do.” In this way, black veterans helped protect freedmen as they began their lives as American citizens.

Question

5. How did military service change the way black veterans of the Civil War thought about their identity as Americans?

A.
B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is a. Black veterans who served on behalf of the United States during the Civil War argued that their service to the country entitled them to all the rights and privileges of citizens. They argued that they were entitled not just to freedom, but also to all the civil and political rights enjoyed by white citizens, such as the right to vote and to serve on a jury.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Black veterans who served on behalf of the United States during the Civil War argued that their service to the country entitled them to all the rights and privileges of citizens. They argued that they were entitled not just to freedom, but also to all the civil and political rights enjoyed by white citizens, such as the right to vote and to serve on a jury.