Thanks Dennis...I'm sort of a middle of the roader (made that word up, feel free to use it) on all these Black Confederates...first off as you and I touched on some weeks back....what is a black man? Civil War era,...in the sense of defined race....is a quadroon, octoroon = black. I know there were some free negro units from Louisiana, how many were creoles and what is a creole? It's also my understanding that some surrendered as soon as Yankees hit New Orleans. There was I believe some blacks with Missouri guerrillas and I know of Blacks in Home guard units in North Carolina. There was of course the couple of regiments? raised in Richmond in the last weeks of the war....too late there. Regiment muster rolls and rosters would seem to be able to answer some of these questions...also listings of men paroled...I know many partisans claim thousands upon thousands of Black Confederates and others say there weren't any, my view is some less than thousands and some more than zero. Here's an interview with Professor Bruce Levine on Confederate emancipation and his views.

http://civilwarmemory.typepad.com/civil_war_memory/2008/07/lecture-by-bruce-levine-on-confederate-emancipation.html