"if blacks were already enrolled and had been from the beginning, why all the drama about the Cleburne proposal and the last-ditch effort to pass legislation to enable enlistment of slaves in Confederate military service?"

I thought I covered that pretty well up to and including it being against the Confederate Constitution.

If you so strongly disagree offer some proof like I did with the ORs. A cook carrying a we rifle shooting at Yankees ain't a soldier? Then neither were the cooks at Bastogne, Corridor, Bataan, USS Arizona, Chosen Reservoir or the thousands of other places where cooks served. If your argument is paperwork , then you are simply splitting hairs to make a point.

GP