‘If slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong’ 150 years ago today (Jan 8 1865)

(Sunday, January 8, 1865; during the American Civil War) — In response to the Confederacy’s efforts to enlist African-American slaves as soldiers in the closing days of the war, Major General Howell Cobb famously wrote today in a letter sent to Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon: “if slaves make good soldiers our whole theory of slavery is wrong.”