Debunking Right Wing Confederate Facebook Meme

[wyldwolf]

The first? No. Did you read the URL in the picture? "On this day in 1865, with the main Rebel armies facing long odds against must larger Union armies,the Confederacy, in a desperate measure, reluctantly approves the use of black troops... General Lee asked that the slaves be freed as a condition of fighting, but the bill that passed the Confederate Congress on March 13, 1865,did not stipulate freedom for those who served... Several thousand blacks were enlisted in the Rebel cause, but they could not begin to balance out the nearly 200,000 blacks who (were already fighting) for the Union."

These 200,000 Black Union soldiers - free black men - were to enlist (in the Union Army) late in 1862 (3 years BEFORE the Confederates did), following the passage of the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, which freed slaves who had masters in the Confederate Army, and Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Here's the link from the image: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/confederacy-approves-black-soldiers

And here here is further corroboration: http://www.historynet.com/african-americans-in-the-civil-war

The truth-o-meter rates the above picture's claim as 'Pants on Fire."