Why did it take Lincoln so long to allow blacks to join the military and fight for the North in the Civil War.

WHY DID IT TAKE LINCOLN SO LONG TO ALLOW BLACKS TO JOIN THE MILITARY AND FIGHT FOR THE NORTH IN THE CIVIL WAR

The inauspicious commencement of the Civil War signalled that the war would not be a brief affair , even if such briefness had earlier been anticipated . The first battle christened the Bull Run on July 21 1861 pitted federal troops numbering 30 ,000 under General Irvin McDonell against Confederate troops numbering 22 ,000 under General

.G .T Beauregard .1 The defensive superiority of the Confederates rent a major blow

to the budding press corps . This was just the beginning . Even though the Union forces desired to increase their manpower concerns in the white American mind rent questions as regards the black man 's degree of intelligence , humanity and common sense . These questions and doubts created a situation in which the Lincoln administration was unsure of which side the African Americans slaves would take in the conflict between the Union and the Confederacy

Most whites believed that blacks could barely comprehend the nature of the war . Moreover , the degree of their loyalty to their slave masters rendered them irrelevant to the overall outcome of the conflict .1 These initial doubts to the recruitment of the black soldier were answered unambiguously just within the initial weeks of the war . As the Union forces advanced and occupied South Carolina Sea Islands , slaves escaped from the plantations and joined the Union army lines . To understand the developments in the Civil War...