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Re: Tennessee's FMC military Act
In Response To: Tennessee's FMC military Act ()

Section 2 is instructive as to the purpose of enrollment.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That all such free persons of color shall be required to do all such menial service for the relief of the volunteers as is incident to camp life, and necessary to the efficiency of the service, and of which they are capable of performing.

In other words, FMoC could be teamsters, cooks, body servants, laborers, almost anything but armed soldiers. In February 1864 Congress passed a law calling for conscription of FMoC for duty with the quartermaster corps and similar service arms. Registers on file with the Inspector General's Department give reports of FMoC called up under this law.

In a post by Joe Allport some days ago we agreed about the pariotic service of African-Americans called into service of the Confederacy. While we don't have a ready means of gauging patriotism, it's reasonable to call them conscripts, and think of them as at least as favorably as we do white conscripts called into service under the same act.

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Tennessee's FMC military Act
Re: Tennessee's FMC military Act
Re: Tennessee's FMC military Act
Re: Tennessee's FMC military Act