Pam --

You asked about defining the line between story telling that changes them from fact or fiction. If every case you should read the account and examine statements made. Is there reason to regard the writer as an authority - does he have first-hand knowledge of the subject? What information does he provide that can be questioned or verified?

Recently David located the source for an oft-repeated claim that entire regiments composed of free blacks and slaves fought with Johnston's army in the First Battle of Manassas.
http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/nvcwmb2/webbbs_config.pl?read=73024

The author claims to have the testimony of a first-hand participant, but there has to be more. I can interview someone who claims to have been inside an alien spaceship. Should you believe me on that alone? What about supporting facts and other witnesses? For example, is there any battlefield report in the Official Records which lists any of mentions any of these commands? If all the officers were white as stated, perhaps as many as 150 officers or more served in these three regiments. Do we have any testimony or evidence for even one Confederate lieutenant or captain or colonel who led these units at Manassas? What became of all of them?

Lacking any support, this account becomes gossip or "tale telling". The author belongs with Parson Weems and his tale of George Washington and the cherry tree.

You also mentioned the service files. Art Bergeron continues to be an authority on Confederate units and Confederate soldiers from Louisiana. The question of Black Confederates in Louisiana units interested Art, and he published an article about them. In his many years of study Art identified fifteen (15) service files of Louisiana Confederate soldiers who may have had a parent of African ancestry. I will locate the article if anyone is truly interested. Fifteen enlistments isn't enough to form a single company, far less a battalion or a regiment.

As far as teamsters and wagon trains are concerned, Confederate leaders usually assigned escorts to wagon trains because teamsters did not usually have their own arms. According to ordnance reports, often there weren't enough working firearms to go around. Shortages would not allow wasteful use of working arms to rear-area detachments. Yankees who attacked unescorted Confederate wagon trains would've been surprised to receive the same treatment as Ward Bond gave Indian war parties.

You have to decided what do YOU want to believe. As an educator (and hopefully a conservative one) I hope it's not simply based on what you feel.