The photograph of my second great-grandfather was in a book titled Black Confederates (Pelican Publishing 2001), which its editors and publisher  tout as a compilation of historical accounts, photographs and documents relating to blacks who served with rebel forces in the Civil War.  Lewis LeJay (1835-1921) is described in the book through an account given by Francis Chandler Furman, a Missouri geologist, who says he heard the story in 1970 from his father Greene Chandler Furman, who in turn heard it from his father, Francis Scrimzeuor Furman, who is the white man in military uniform standing next to Lewis LeJay in the photo.

According to the Furmans, Lewis had been born a slave on the plantation of Henry Marshall (1805-1864) in De Soto Parish, Louisiana. Marshall was perhaps the largest landowner in De Soto parish. His major holding was Land’s End plantation.  Marshall was a state senator and signed the Confederate Constitution as well as the Louisiana Ordinance of Secession. In 1858, Marshall’s daughter Mary was wed to Scrimzeour C. Furman, M.D., who was an officer in the first De Soto unit to enter the Civil War.  When Mary died, Dr. Furman married her younger sister, Mattie.  They had three children, a daughter and two sons, one of whom was Francis (“Frank”) Scrimzeour Furman. Frank became a physician like his father.

In 1917, the now-Capt Frank Furman was preparing to go to Camp Beauregard, LA, to become the chief of gas defense.  At Land’s End Plantation, Furman visited with the black servant he knew as “Daddy Lewis.”  Lewis gave the captain some advice about how to handle himself in combat.  Lewis’ knowledge in this area was derived form his experiences in the Civil War as a wagoneer with the Confederate artillery. He was supposedly shot in the shoulder and carried the bullet the rest of his life.  After having been shot and thought to be dead, he drove a wagon laden with gunpowder through Federal lines to supply a rebel company.

So Lewis LeJay was a black Confederate~or was he?  Were there black Confederate fighters or this a revisionist racist idea that’s right up there with Holocaust denial?

A researcher at a Finnish university says that “the role of African-Americans who fought for the Confederacy during  the American Civil War . . . [is] [p]erhaps one of the most silenced topics today in American history, and politically among the most delicate . . . .”  Indeed.

On the one side of the debate are those who categorically reject the notion that any black man fought willingly for the Confederacy.  These individuals generally acknowledge that there were some blacks with Confederate forces, but they contend that these were merely slaves dragged along by their masters.  Those on this side of the debate excoriate  as ignorant, racist, and dishonest anyone who dares to suggest that blacks may have been consensual actors on behalf of the Confederate  states. This group can brook no possibility other than the coercion of slavery as the reason for military action by southern blacks.

On the other side of the debate are those who claim thousands of blacks voluntarily served with Confederate forces; many motivated by affection for their masters and for the South itself.  Many in this camp also point to evidence of “happy slaves” who believed themselves better off with slavery than without it.

So were  there or were there not consensual black actors with Confederate forces? Is it racist to say “yes.”?

Let’s have a look at the evidence.  We will discover first that studies of the topic are sparse.  Some say that’s because there is no evidence worthy of academic study; others say that politics has squelched attempts to get at the truth of this matter.

Most historians agree that the Confederate states from the outset had no intention of recruiting black troops. In this respect, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were in apparent agreement.  Many  historians also agree that a number of enslaved blacks were present in battle zones often as “body servants” to their white masters who had joined the rebel forces.  But things get murky when the matters of black Confederate “volunteers” or formally organized black Confederate units are considered.

The book in which the picture of Lewis LeJay was found was edited by Charles Kelly Barrow, J.H. Segars, and R.B. Rosenburg. Barrow in particular has sought to “set straight” historical accounts of the Civil War and has authored or edited several works about supposed black fighters with the Confederate Army.  In 2002, the Southern Poverty Law Center, regarded as a near-iconic institution among a certain segment of civil rights activists, identified Barrow as holding several positions in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  SPLC claims that SCV is run by individuals who are members of  “hate groups.”  In Barrow’s case, SPLC cites his membership in an organization called “League of the South.”

But the June 2005 Statement on Racism adopted by  the League of the South states:

We believe that Christianity and social order require that all people, regardless of race, must be equal before the law. We do not believe that the law should be used to persecute, oppress, or favour any race or class.
We believe that the only harmony possible between the races, as between all natural differences among human
beings, begins in submitting to Jesus Christ’s commandment to “love our neighbours as ourselves.” That is the
world we envision and work for.

We believe that the politics of race — baiting whites against blacks and blacks against white has been profitable for
politicians but catastrophic for the South and Southerners.

We believe that all Southerners – black and white – want and need the same things: a safe country for their families,
liberty, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let’s suppose for a minute that SPLC is “correct” and that Barrow is a racist. Does  that impeach his research on the Civil War?   In other words, can one be simultaneously a serious scholar and a “racist”?  My answer is, “It depends.” One thing it does not depend upon is the content of the view taken by the supposed scholar. Are Palestinian or Israeli academics disqualifed from membership in the community of serious scholars because of their points of view?

But back to the main issue.  In the May 10, 1862 number of Harper’s Weekly, it is reported:

The correspondent of the New York Herald, in one of its late numbers, reports that the rebels had a regiment of mounted negroes, armed with sabres, at Manassas, and that some five hundred Union prisoners taken at Bull Run were escorted to their filthy prison by a regiment of black men.

The image below appeared in Harper’s on January 10, 1863, captioned “Rebel Negro Pickets Seen through a Field Glass.”

A number of African-Americans actively promote the notion there were black Confederate soldiers who have gone unrecognized.  Prominent among them are Ervin L. Jordan, Jr., and Nelson Winbush.  Jordan is an archivist and scholar at the University of Virginia.  He’s written a book called Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (University Press of Virginia, 1995), which Publishers Weekly called an “exhaustively researched treatise.” Winbush is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Florida.  His grandfather, Louis Napolean Nelson, is said to have served with Company M, 7th Tennessee Cavalry, rising from cook to rifleman to chaplain.

Both Jordan and Winbush are outspoken about the need to tell the whole story about black Confederate troops.  Professor Jordan has been quoted as saying:

“Numerous Afro-Virginians, free blacks and slaves, were genuine Southern loyalists, not as a consequence of white pressure but due to their preferences. They are the Civil War’s forgotten people, yet their existence was more widespread than American history has recorded. Their bones rest in unhonored glory in Southern soil, shrouded by falsehoods, indifference and historians’ censorship.”

University of Virginia Professor Ervin L. Jordan, Jr.

Estimates of blacks who served in Confederate ranks range up to 80,000, although 65,000 seems to be a widely accepted number.

What would motivate a black man to serve the Confederate cause if he were not coerced into doing so?  Perhaps he might think he had a greater chance of survival if the agrarian South survived.  A Northern victory would mean uncertainty, ambiguity, more discomfort.  Or perhaps he might believe that there were rewards for himself and his family to be had from grateful Southern authorities if the Confederacy prevailed. present Or perhaps black Confederates represent an early manifestation of that psychology now described as “Stockholm Syndrome.”

I think there is little historical doubt that blacks served the Confederacy and that such service in many cases extended beyond that of personal valet.  I think there were a variety of motivations.  But two things should be clear: (1) the fact that the world may not have been as tidy as we now would wish it to have been is not an excuse for the exclusion, revision, or distortion of history; and (2) the fact that blacks may have served the Confederacy adds nothing to the emptiness of its moral and constitutional accounts.

What do you think?

Photograph of Prof. Jordan by LuAnn Williams from Spring 2004 Newsletter of the Carter Woodson Institute;

We will be on hiatus until about March 12.  I’m having some surgery at a local hospital, and should be recovered by that time.  In the meantime, please enjoy some posts you may have missed under  The Best of GeneaBlogie.  The link is located just to the right.

Family Tree Magazine has announced its list of Top 40 genealogy blogs.  And a well-deserving lot they are!  Most have been in my reader for a long time.  But one thing striking about the list is that there are a number o f relatively new bloggers on it.  This is a good  and positive sign for the genealogy community as a whole.  Congratulations to all who  were named!

While GeneaBlogie didn’t make the cut, I was pleased that Shades of the Departed did make the list.  I have been a Weekend Shades contributor as well as a columnist for the monthly Shades magazine.  Congratulations to Shades’ Maven-in-chief and all my colleagues at Shades!

Here’s the whole list.  I heartily endorse them all.  See MaureenTaylor’s piece about the list.

All-Around

• Creative Gene by Jasia Smasha
• footnoteMaven by footnoteMaven
• GeneaBloggers by Thomas MacEntee
• Genea-Musings by Randy Seaver

Cemetery

• The Association of Graveyard Rabbits by several authors
• Granite in My Blood by Midge Frazel

Corporate

• Ancestry.com Blog by various authors

Genetic Genealogy

• The Genetic Genealogist by Blaine Bettinger

Heritage

• George Geder by George Geder
• Scottish Genealogy News and Events by Chris Paton
• Small Leaved Shamrock by Lisa
• Steve’s Genealogy Blog by Stephen Danko
• Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog by Schelly Talalay Dardashti

How-To

• Family Matters by Denise Barrett Olson
• Genealogy Guys by George G. Morgan and Drew Smith
• Genealogy Tip of the Day by Michael John Neill
• The ProGenealogists Blog by various authors

Local & Regional

• California Genealogical Society and Library Blog by Kathryn Doyle
• Sandusky History by the staff of the Sandusky (Ohio) Library Archives Research Center
• Midwestern Microhistory by Harold Henderson

News & Resources

• The Ancestry Insider by theAncestry Insider
• DearMyrtle by Pat Richley-Erickson
• Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter by Dick Eastman
• GenealogyBlog by Leland Meitzler

Photos & Heirlooms

• The Family Curator by Denise Levenick
• Shades of the Departed by footnoteMaven

Personal & Family

• Ancestories: The Stories of My Ancestors by Miriam Midkiff
• Apple’s Tree by anonymous
• BeNotForgot by Vickie Everhart
• Educated Genealogist by Sheri Fenley
• Greta’s Genealogy Blog by Greta Koehl
• Heritage Happens by Cheryl Fleming Palmer
• Herstoryan by Herstoryan
• Janet the Researcher by Janet Iles
• Kinexxions by Becky Wiseman
• Little Bytes of Life by Elizabeth
• Our Georgia Roots by Luckie Daniels
• WeTree by Amy Coffin
• West in New England by Bill West
• What’s Past is Prologue by Donna Pointkouski

Researching the LeJays has been the biggest challenge of my genealogical excursion.  I have written  a number of times about how difficult it has been to find them. See here and here.

A couple of weeks ago, my cousin Karen Burney called with breathless news.  She had seen a picture of Lewis LeJay in a book!  I just about fell out of my (wheel) chair!

She told me to check a certain search term on Google Books to see the photograph.  And I did!   As excited as I was to see his picture, I did not at first realize  that the circumstances of the picture lay veyr near the core  of a roiling controversy about American history.  I broach that topic in the next post.  But first, the photograph:

Lewis LeJay (left) with Army Capt Francis Scrimzeour Furman, at Land’s End Plantation, De Soto Parish, Louisiana, 1917; ( Photo in C.K. Barrow, J.H. Segars, & R.B. Rosenburg, eds., Black Confederates, Pelican Publishing, 2001)

What’s controversial about this picture?  See the next post.

A morning session consisted of a panel of eminent experts from the African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California.  These top researchers were Electra Price, Juliet Crutchfield and Jackie Stewart.

Then, in the afternoon, I was set to make two presentations: one on finding African-Americans in the census records prior to 1870; and a second on military research with an emphasis on African-American  military members. But, for personal health reasons and logistical challenges too complex to detail here, I was going to be able to make it to Oakland for the program.   What to do?

CGS Past President Jane Lindsey Knowles and CGS publicity director Kathryn Doyle quickly came up with the answer:  call Thomas MacEntee!

Thomas assessed our situation and the Monarch of Genealogical Technology guided us to a platform called Webex.   We spent a couple of hours one day practising and getting familiar with the technology, with Thomas mentoring.

I then spent a few more hours later to get the feel of the platform.

Using Webex, we were able to convene a web-based meeting from my home office in  Carmichael, California.   I “invited” Jane to participate.  She had a computer with projector set up at CGSL  about 90 miles away in Oakland.   I was able to present a PowerPoint  slide show from my computer which was viewable in Oakland.  I was able to provide audio as well; and  the attendees in Oakland could ask me questions via audio.

There were a few glitches, but they were minor and we got them ironed out relatively easily.  For example, at the outset, Jane and I found ourselves in different meetings!   I later figured out that I had accidentally scheduled two meeting; Jane was in the correct one.

During the presentation, I was able to switch between sharing my PowrePoint slides and sharing the content of my web browser.  The operation is not as smooth as it could be, but it worked for our purposes.  At one point,  however, I tried to switch back from Ancestry.com to the slides and the Webex application crashed.  But not to worry! Webex automatically made Jane the host of the meeting so things kept running while I re-started Webex and rejoined the meeting. Then I took  over again as host so that I could change the slides.

For a first time presentation, I’d say it went very well.   We may need more experience with the software and the program itself could use some tweaking.

This type of web collaboration has the potential to be a game changer for CGSL and other societies. For example, for space considerations in our location, CGSL has to limit the number of attendees at its programs. With this technology, we could reach a theoretically unlimited audience.

Thanks to Thomas, Jane, Kathryn, Kathy Watson, and others who helped make this unprecedented event occur!

2.  She was, at the end of the day, a practical woman: Of all the letters that were reproduced in the last post, it was the one of June 15, 1913 that Joseph found the most difficult to write. And it’s evident by her poignant reply that Edna must have recognized this.  However, at some point, after receiving that letter, Edna used it to write her shopping list.

Joseph Perry Micheau (born 23 Feb 1888, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; died 15 Nov 1975, St Louis, Missouri) was a descendant of the French Negroes of Illinois–originally slaves from Jamaica brought to Upper Louisiana  by French entrepeneur Phillipe Renault in the 1720’s.  The Micheau family represent well the social and cultural lives of the descendants of the French Negroes of Illinois.  They were deeply religious, very hard-working, and focused on education.   Joe Micheau wanted very much to be a priest, until another irresistible force entered his life as we can see in these  nearly century old letters.

The letters were written to Edna Julia Lewis (born 14 Jul 1890, Carbondale, Illinois; died 28 Sep 1989, St Louis, Missouri).  She was not a French Negro. She was not a “cradle” Catholic (i.e, she was an adult convert to Catholicism).  She was the daughter of former slaves John Philip Henry Lewis (born Jan 1852, Baltimore, Maryland; died 29 Aug 1916, Carbondale, Illinois), and Margaret Elizabeth Griffin (born Jun 1860, Charleston, Tennessee; died 11 Dec 1942, Union County, Illinois).   Edna became a teacher, taking over the education of black children in Randolph County, Illinois, from a group of nuns.

P.D.R. Ill. May 1,’ 13.

Dear Friend

This is Ascension Thursday, and indeed a most beautiful day.  Am at leisure this morning, but must make my usual weekday trip.

How are you getting along by this time?  I suppose you are well settled to the routines of home life again.  We’re trying to make the best of these fine days.  So are all very busy.  Ema[1] has not finished talking of her C.Dale visit yet.  Nen[2] expects to go to St. Louis next Thursday.  Both she and M.[3] are coming to see you, but said  I must make the first trip.  Will tell you when I am coming in my next letter.  Are you being well treated by the Catholic people of Carbondale?[4]  I am sure, if Father Hilgenberg is the Fr. that I have reference, to, you will be well treated.

Ed., enclosed is the cross, please let it be a token of my dearest remembrance.  Hoping this will find all as well, as it leaves us.

I am very truly, your friend,
J.P. Micheau

P.S.  Sisters send love
Ans. S.[5]

[undated]
My dear Ed
I just suppose you are waiting for a long letter well here it comes.  I am pretty much at leisure these warm days.  In fact, it is almost too warm to do much.  So after the morning chores, my hardest work is keeping in the shade.  Margery is still at work today is her last day tho.

Oh!  Ed she rec’d your card only this morning.

I am sorry to say they are not coming down this Sunday.  But sure, next Sunday, unless sickness prevents.  It is this way, with us here at home, everything was all right.  And Nen & M. were already.  But Addie[6] only asked her time off for next Sunday.  And this is the reason they cannot come down.

As for myself Ed this is what I me[a]nt when I said “Things may run my way.”  Syl[7] is expecting to come down for a few weeks.  So if he does, why then he will take care of home and things for me.  You know, we cannot all leave home together.  I think I may go to the city[8] Sunday morning, and I surely will have tried to have one of the boys come down.  I want to see you.  And as I said before, will enjoy being with you altogether, for once.  Mrs. Wright[9] only arrived back in P.D.R. last night.  Mrs. Lizzie came back with her.  Also among the visitors in our city are three of Mr. J. Lacavia’s three nieces.

Ed I would be so glad if you could come back with the girls.  If not then I hope it will be while Addie is home, which will be two weeks or more.  Please, may I send your fare or give it when you come up.  Either way will be pleasing.

If I go to St L. Sunday,  then I will not write until Monday morning, if not then you will receive a letter M.  morn.

Nen said to say she was sorry that they cannot possibly make it this Sunday. Next Sunday, sure tho.  All here are O.K. I hope the same of your people in C’dale.

With hearty good wishes to all.

I am your loving

Jos.

P.D.R. Ill.  June 15, 1913.

Dear, Dear Ed.

Finding that I need you, I want you, I love you, and today thinking of you am writing this little message of love, even though you are  in my debt.  I have taught often do now, what must Edna Lewis think of me.  And again, the answer comes well, I have explained my situation to her, and surely she understands me.  I truely hope you do, tho now each little visit to your home, only tends to make you more dear to you [me].

You may think well he has changed his story.  All to[o] true.  But it is not without due consideration and I daresay not to hurri[e]dly either.  Frankly and Truely Ed, it is with a tinge of regret that I cannot see my way through the required schooling to reach my former desires.  And now feeling that it is not entirely my own fault in trying to make the best of all things my thoughts are turned it to you.

If knowing what you know of J.P.M. you still continue to love him.  Please answer soon.

How are you and All? Did John[10] spend Sunday with you this week.  Many times in the past week have M. & my conversations drifted to a week ago just passed.  The girls, that is, Nen, M., & A. are planning their visit to you. Surely a long promised one isn’t it?  They are coming tho. We have mass here at seven o’clock high Mass and the morning is a little longer. Rec’d communion to and surely remembered you together with the rest of sisters and Brothers.  Oh!  Say do you read the after dinner storries in Visitors [?][11]  They are very, very fine.  I was much pleased last week to receive a card from one of Oscar Beckham’s sisters, asking me for last week’s Visitor.  Have been sending a few of them away, but failed to do so last week, and as she was interested in the story she missed the issue until Margerette sent it to her, a few days ago.  I am^ you send, an Angelus to[o], I think it is very good this week.  Please Ed, I want to see this letter and our next meeting. Has Miss Ema[12] gone to Chi. yet? My heartiest good wishes to each and all and

Much love to yourself

Margerette has just sounded the dinner call so I must close.

Yours sincerely.

Jos. P. Micheau

[undated]

Dear Joseph,

Your loving message came to me this A.M. I was quite surprised to receive it as I owed you this one but never-the-less I received it with the same joy as I have the others.

Dear Joe, I fully realize what it means to you to give up all that you have held dear in this life and make new plans for the future.  I fully realize how much you were attracted to your intentions for the your future vocation, but through it all there is one greater than we now who plans our destinations, and with Him for our leader we can never choose the wrong path. Everything is for the best provided we are guided by the right influence.  Not only once have I prayed for strength to think of, you only as a brother and a friend but many times.  And instead of drifting from you my heart has been steadily turning more and more toward you.  God only knows the longing and thoughts I’ve had of you.  God only knows the many prayers I’ve said for your success and when I’ve found that I could not forget you, I prayed that God’s will not mine be done.  And Joseph, dear Joseph, knowing what I know of you, of your great desire to become a religious, to make of that great sacrifice for love of Christ, I could love you all ways and shall. I could not do other wise, every moment brings tho’ts of you.  I wish I were talking the instead of writing this, for I have lots I would say.  I shall be very glad to see you, for though we are miles apart, my heart is ever near you.

With loving wishes I am forever

Your Ed.

FOOTNOTES
1.  His sister, Mabel Emily Micheau (b. 4 Aug 1892, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; date & place of death unknown.↑
2.  His sister, Mary Angelique Micheau (b. 6 Jun 1873, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; 29 Jun 1959, Normandy, Missouri).↑
3.  His sister, Margerette (“Margery”) E. Micheau (b. 29 Apr 1895 Prairie du Rocher,Illinois; date & place of death unknown)↑
4.  Edna had been baptized into the Catholic Church just about a month earlier on 3o Mar 1913, at St Francis Xavier Church in Carbondale. See Records of the Catholic Diocese of Belleville,  Illinois, available at www.familysearch.org ↑
5.  Writing letters every week or every day is something that people did for a great part of the twentieth century. These two abbreviations “PS” and “Ans. S.” mean respectively, “post script” (i.e., literally, “after writing”; used to convey an additional thought after closing a letter) and “answer soon” (rendered in 21st century language perhaps as ANX ASAP).↑
6.  His sister, Adelaide Frances Micheau (born 27 Nov 1884, Prairie  du Rocher, Illinois; date & place of death unknown), who became Sister Celestine, OSP.↑
7.  His brother, Sylvester August Micheau (born 14 Mar 1890, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; died 10 Jul 1957, Petpskey, Michigan). Syl likely was in Chicago at the time of this letter.↑
8.  St Louis↑
9.  Likely a relative of Joseph’s sister-in-law, Sophronia “Zoe” Wright (1880-1968), who was married to his brother, Marshall Emmanuel Micheau (born 1 Oct 1878, Prairie du Rocher, Illinois; died 22 Oct 1954, St Louis, Missouri).↑
10.  Unable to identify this person. ↑
11.  Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic weekly still  in publication today.↑
12.  Edna’s sister, Emma Lewis (born Sep 1877, Charleston, Tennessee; died about 1951, Carbondale, Illinois)↑

The original St Elizabeth’s Church was closed several years ago and should not be confused with the current parish, St Elizabeth Mother of John the Baptist.

The Peter Claver badge on this badge belonged to Joseph Perry Micheau (1888-1975).  When I found it, it was in an envelope in which it may have originally been obtained by Joseph Micheau.  The envelope itself has a connection to St Louis history; see the next post.

Aug 29-’ 24

Mr. Joseph P. W. Micheau
1923 Wittier Str.
St. Louis Mo

My dear Mr. Micheau:

Your letter Aug. 22nd inst. was recd today my absence from the city till last evening, being the reason for delay in seeing your communication.

Since my arrival home I have had some information regarding the movement started by the people of this neighborhood, relative to restricting their District. As you can readily understand they have a right to use any legal means to promote their property interests. You and I cannot justly complain of the exercise of such right.  Where our interests are concerned, we should use every legitimate means to conserve their value–I feel sure that you as a Catholic gentleman would not intentionally desire to injure your neighbor even though he be a white man. And any white man should be as particular in his desire to respect the rights of his fellow citizens of the colored race.–yes, God Almighty has created, redeemed and seeks the welfare of the colored race as much as He does those of any other race.  Your soul, and the souls of your dear little ones are precious in the sight of Heaven.  And it will make no difference what our color, nationality, or race may be, provided we do God’s holy will and seek honestly, the salvation of our precious souls.  I am sure therefore that you will never buy a word or deed seek to violate the precepts of the decalogue.  If any of our people by word or deed sought to injure any man, no matter what his color or race, I would protest against such injuring.  In a word, I believe in justice for every man.

Up to the present, I have not had  an opportunity of getting a clear and thorough understanding of the movement referred to.  One thing you can be assured of, no one will slight you or any of your race, while I am able to defend you–which at the same time, I will be ready to endorse any just effort for the common good.

Very respectfully and sincerely,

Your friend,
Peter Johnson [remainder illegible]

Joseph Perry Micheau (1888-1975) with his daughter, Edna Mary, at their home at 3128 Fair Avenue, St Louis, c. 1921.

Photographer unknown.  Original found in the effects of Edna Penny Wells (1941-2008), daughter of Edna Mary Micheau Penny; now in the possession of Margarett Penny Manson, Carmichael, California.