After the ACW broke out in 1861, freed blacks thruout the North clamoured to be allowed to enlist to fight to preserve the Union, but their appeals to be allowed to serve in the US Army fell on deaf ears, since the conflict was viewed by the majority of Northerners as a 'white man's war to preserve the Union, and not to free the slaves. There were certain black volunteer units formed by enthusiastic freedmen in some major Northern cities, like NY, Philadelphia and Cincinnatti IIRC, but these outfits were disbanded without seeing action. Thus, OTL, it was only in 1862-63 with the Corps d'Afrique, 1st Kansas and 54th Massachusetts, together with black sailors serving in the Navy, that African-Americans became directly involved in the fighting of the CW.
Could blacks somehow have been allowed to fight in the CW earlier than was the case OTL ? What would've been the effect of black Northern volunteers formed in 1861 and accepted into the Union army ? Could the war have been over sooner ? Or would the earlier acceptance of black soldiers as fighting manpower have been in 1861 rendered totally unacceptable to the Union political and military leadership due to other concerns such as the strategic importance of Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri as slave-holding border states which'd likely secede if concessions were made towards black equality ?
Could blacks somehow have been allowed to fight in the CW earlier than was the case OTL ? What would've been the effect of black Northern volunteers formed in 1861 and accepted into the Union army ? Could the war have been over sooner ? Or would the earlier acceptance of black soldiers as fighting manpower have been in 1861 rendered totally unacceptable to the Union political and military leadership due to other concerns such as the strategic importance of Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri as slave-holding border states which'd likely secede if concessions were made towards black equality ?
