Alan,

Like you, I am not aware of any all black companies formed and enlisted into the Confederate service before 1865.

What I have found are southern newspaper articles from early 1861 that report that local free blacks had formed into companies and had volunteered their services to the governor in any capacity that they were needed. I have one from Anderson, S.C., and one from Laurens, S.C., and one from Walhalla, S.C. if I remember correctly. I have heard of others from other southern states, but have not seen them. These were copied from micro-film at the local libraries, and if you would like copies, I'll scan them in and send them to you. Their services were not immediately accepted, but they did volunteer, whatever their reasons were.

There are accounts that tell of whites bringing their servants with them, early in the war. There are some accounts of the servants remaining thru the duration. The white soldiers were responsible for their servants, but I remember reading in one of the recounts of an ex-Confederate soldier, that the servants received a full, or at least a partial food ration from the army early on. I'm not sure where I read that and I'll have to double check.

I agree that official records of blacks fighting in the Confederate army are slim to none, but my point was that eyewitness accounts of their service during that period, both from Union and Confederate sources, should not be discounted.