Here is one of these Black Confederates in the thousands sites:

http://www.scvcamp1574.org/bconfed.htm

It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks. Over 13,000 of these, “saw the elephant” also known as meeting the enemy in combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. The Confederate Congress did not approve blacks to be officially enlisted as soldiers (except as musicians), until late in the war. But in the ranks it was a different story. Many Confederate officers did not obey the mandates of politicians, they frequently enlisted blacks with the simple criteria, “Will you fight?” Historian Ervin Jordan, explains that “biracial units” were frequently organized “by local Confederate and State militia Commanders in response to immediate threats in the form of Union raids…”. Dr. Leonard Haynes, a African-American professor at Southern University, stated, “When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you’ve eliminated the history of the South.”

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Where do these numbers of 65,000 Southern blacks in the Confederate ranks come from? How did they arrive at the rather exact number of 13,000 in actual combat? Doesn't 65,000 Southern blacks "in the Confederate ranks" imply that they "fell-in" and were a part of combat organizations? Now if they said 65,000 or some other number in the Confederate "camp" or in support roles, I might just accept the premise, if not the number. But this number of 13,000 is definitely a representation of more than negligible numbers in the Confederate battle line. I have read hundreds of accounts of Pickett's charge. I have never read a Confederate or Federal soldier who mentioned African-Americans in "the ranks" on either side. If one black face had been seen in Pickett's approaching ranks, wouldn't one of the authors who recounted this event have mentioned it?

I repeat, I accept and believe that African-Americans who supported the Confederate army and government in support roles, should be recognized. To portray them as frontline Confederate soldiers, laughing and singing around the campfire and slapping their white counterparts on the back is a misrepresentation of their honorable, but non-combatant role.

Jim