Leonard,

I agree.

For instance, a hostler is a support role, rather than a combatant.

I haven't seen much to suggest that Black Confederate soldiers were much more than a curiosity. There is an unintentionally amusing "documentary" on the subject that I found less than convincing. (I swear, at times it seems to be an SNL spoof.) There were a couple of wild claims in it that don't appear to be backed by much more than wishful thinking, while other contributors presented the more traditional view.

Considering that there were about 500,000+ African-American males of military age in the CSA, the evidence of their presence in any significant numbers other than as teamsters, cooks, body servants, and the like is slim. The free Black militia were prevented from serving with CSA armies from what I recall.

The claim of significant numbers of Black Confederate combatants is at odds with CSA govt. policy of preventing them from serving as actual combatants, and states like Arkansas (the base of operations for Missouri Confederates) having legislatively exiled free Blacks in Jan. of 1860, and of course the contradiction with the oft stated claims by the CSA rank-and-file through President that USCT troops could not be recognized as combatants as it "upset the natural order of things."

But perhaps someone can document a significant number serving as combatants with the MSG or the CSA in Arkansas.