Go to...
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msgenweb/xslaves/xslave-index.htm
and do a word search through the narratives. I did one on the word 'soldier' and got 54 hits. Below are a sample of the hits.
"Nathan Best, age 92, Inmate of Beauvoir, Confederate Soldiers' Home, on Beach between Biloxi and Gulfport.
...De war had been goin' on 'bout a year an' a half when I went wid my marster's younges' brother, Rufus. I stayed in it den, till it ended. I was in a heap of battles, but I cain' remember none of deir names, 'cept Petersburg an' Richmon'. My marster never did get wounded - one time a bullet went under his arm an' tore a bundle away, but it didn' hurt him. My marster was a Cap'n an' dey didn' rush de riches' folks to de fron' to fight dey rushed de poor folks in firs'. I was in a big battle at Petersburg. I was carryin' a 'spatch for Cap'n Jordan, he was ober our camp, to a Colonel, 'bout 3 miles away, an' my horse fell down, an' broke my arm so bad, dey had to ca'hy me to de horspittle an' have it took off....I wa'nt at Richmon'. My marster got a furlough to go see 'bout his mother, jes' a few days before, but he jes' done it to shun dat heavy battle. He kep' bushwackin' along an' we nebber did git to Richmon'....I likes it pretty well here, but I would like it better ifn dey'd jes' give me 'nough pension, so I could live at home."
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msgenweb/xslaves/best-xslave.htm
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"From the WPA Slave Narratives:
Henry Warfield Age 90
Henry Warfield who claims to be ninety years old says that "Negroes were used by the Confederates long before they were used by the Union forces. Even before the war they were used in all kinds of rough work and a large number of these fought by the side of their masters or made it possible for the master to fight."
Henry claims to have been at the battle of Fort Hill and he describes the times as being terrible. He says, "Yes, I was right dere when Grant cut dat ditch river canal right thru to one battleground and we couldn't do a thing about it."
Henry's mind is rather blank as to what happened on the actual day but he says, "There was lots of blood, plenty of noise, big fires, and crowds of strange faces that he had not seen before."
Henry says his "eatings were scarce in those days prior to July 4, 1862. We et mule meat, saltless pone bread, and drunk coffee made of oak and hickory bark without sugar. Often we et raw meat, hogs, calves, or anything that we could plunder and get and raw meat makes men mean. I have seen men after eating raw meat pick up little children and shove dem gin a tree and bust em into. We used to plunder and take things from men, but de Southern soldiers wouldn't harm a chicken belonging to a 'widow woman' but would often steal things and take to her."
http://www.rootsweb.com/~msgenweb/xslaves/warfield-xslave.htm
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David Upton