Nearly every site that certain parties reference begin with the unsourced comment by EB mentioned in my earlier post. So his actual opinion on this topic is worth examining.
In this interview Ed Bearss takes questions on a variety of topics. Further on in the interview, someone makes a statement about Black Confederates. Note how Ed responds --
http://thomaslegion.net/americancivilwarhistorianedbearss.html
The comment is by Peter Bedrossian of Poughkeepie NY.