Robert D. Reid

The Negro in Alabama During the Civil War

Negro slaves performed varied tasks in Alabama during the course of the Civil War. In many instances they took the places of whites on railroad and steamship lines and in factories, mines, and ironworks. Skilled and unskilled Negro labor was in greater demand on the plantations and in the towns and cities than at any time during the antebellum period. Particularly after 1862, there were frequent newspaper advertisements, seeking the services of Negroes for various types of work which had previously been done almost altogether by white persons. By an act of 1861 the Governor of Alabama was authorized to accept the services of slaves, offered by certain slaveholders, to the extent that he deemed necessary. This act was passed shortly before the outbreak of hostilities, and the slaves were probably offered to aid in the preparation of defenses. In October of the following year the Governor was empowered to impress slaves between eighteen and forty-five years of age as laborers. Unless there was an imminence of danger, no slave of an owner of less than ten Negroes could be impressed. White overseers were to be selected for every thirty Negroes. Owners who resisted this act could be fined a minimum of three hundred dollars and given a three months jail sentence. Tools, wagons, and other equipment owned by slaveholders could be commandeered by the state.2 An amendment to this act, passed on November 17, 1864, provided that the sheriff was to summon a posse of at least twenty men and seize double the value of the property if an owner attempted to thwart the enforcement of this act.3 Especially were slaves desired for work on fortifica-