As for your question, "Just how extensive was the use of Blacks as soldiers in the Confederate army", why not examine Confederate accounts? There are thousands of letters, diaries, journals, newspaper reports, official reports by Confederate officers and men that describe every aspect of the war. Can you point us in the right direction one for any Southern account that describes how special detachments of "armed picked Negroes" were picked? Feel free to ask for help - I really want to know.

If these men really served as soldiers, wouldn't someone in the Confederate army have mentioned them? There should be all kinds of information about Black Confederates to fill the diaries and letters of Confederate soldiers. Why not start with Confederate Veteran Magazine, or is that journal suspect for some reason? Edward, let me assure you that articles about the "Confederate Negro" appear in CVM, but they may not read as you want.

Can you think of another topic concerning the Confederate army in which the trusted source of information would be the Yankees! Whatever statement they make about Black Confederates is accepted without question. On the other side, accounts by Southerners, wartime or afterwards, are ignored, downplayed or disregard. Can you explain why the Yankees are given so much respect on this one topic?

If this was a trial, the leading witness for Black Confederate advocates would be Frederick Douglas. He's an expert witness on slavery, because he had beeen a slave and interacted with former slaves most of his life. How does he become an expert witness on rank and file Confederates? Did he pretend to be a Black Confederate and serve as a teamster, or perhaps he blended in with other black members of the Richmond Howitzers or the Stonewall Brigade? Does he ever explain how he knows so much about the Rebels? Do you know how he collected all this knowledge?

Do you accept the testimony of Frederick Douglas on other topics, such as the nature of Southern slavery and the root cause of the war?