Sorry for taking so long to reply to your post.
I saved your post to file, some great info on it, worth keeping!

I cannot think of those Blacks, Black Servants, or Slaves in the ranks of Confederate Units as “Soldiers”, until I find a reference from the Confederate Government openly recognized them, willingly armed them, and paid them as soldiers.

I just do not use modern day terminology/definitions to classify those black in the ranks as soldiers, because times were a bit different then. I’m not convinced that the rank-n-file White Confederate soldier was willingly calling them soldiers. While I will not say never on that fact, I feel the evidence is with me. Even how they are to be classified is problematic…Blacks, Black laborers, Slaves, Body Servants, Teamsters, cooks, or whatever. Name em one thing, and someone will have reason to disagree.

Yes, towards the end, a lot of folk were of the mind to call up Blacks/Slaves to be soldiers, but the one group that kept that from becoming a reality, was the slave owners themselves. Davis was of the mind to not override them.
Pensions can be a great way to find out Historical facts on an individual, but a lot of folk don’t realize that the Pension was given as a form of public assistance. An individual was to show some kind of proof, but also had to show they were indigent, or destitute to qualify. I know of a monument in North Carolina that claims the Blacks were “Pensioners” leaving folk to wonder if those specific souls were to be remembered only for being Down and out, destitute…and not anything else, and would those folk like to be remembered for just that?

I know different States had rules that differed from other States, on the subject of pensioning Blacks. I believe Texas did pension a small number of them, but it couldn’t be many of them, I have not found any on-line as of yet. Am most curious to see what you have come up with!
I know the October 1913 issue of the Confederate Veteran magazine had this to say in part;
“The South loved and revered the old darkies who formerly were servants in the homes and on the plantations of the white people. They will ever occupy a sacred place in the memory of the people of the Old South and their sons. If people ever deserved to be so revered, it is the old darkies…
He cannot live much longer, and we should pension him. There are not so many old negroes who saw this kind of service in the war that the expense would be heavy. We are sure that not a normal human bring in all the South would begrudge the old darkies who served their masters at the front a pension commensurate with their great services and the capacity of the State to pay.”

I wonder what the Confederate Government would have thought of this? Did they just feel sorry for these folk?

Pictures at Reunions tends to be a smoke and mirrors issue, for me. As I mentioned in my first response, blogger Andy Hall has come up with some compelling evidence concerning Blacks in Confederate service. I find what the old veterans were saying interesting on the subject. http://deadconfederates.com/2010/11/14/general-gordon-faithful-servants-and-veterans-reunions/
We know that some of those pictured were noted for just being mostly entertainment for the Veteran…
http://deadconfederates.com/2011/11/11/everyone-laughs-both-at-and-with-steve/
Sadly, I view H. K. Edgerton in this same capcity this day, with some of his antics on youtube.
Too many folk look at the reunions, and throw them out as absolute proof of “Black Confederates” without any real research.

A lot of this is just to do one thing, lead folk to believe the war wasn’t about slavery. A way to change history, to fit an agenda to make the war something different from what it was.

Now, while ducking for cover from the incoming from southern Heritage groups, I feel comfortable so far from what you are wanting to accomplish. Your comment “I would like to amend that premise by deleting the words “as soldiers” to be clearer about my objective” is a winner! I wholly agree with recognizing what their service was, what they did, who their masters were, what they went through…the stories that can be told brings a humanity to these folk we are missing.

I say go for it.
Respectfully

Kevin Dally