It has been brought to my attention that a new argument has surfaced about Black Confederate Service. The argument is "pensions are no proof of service." Well if pensions do not prove service for Negroes then how can we say the same for another race? The South chose to honor service by awarding servants, cooks, teamsters, nurses, laborers and the various other positions a pension regardless if they were slave or free. These men and women and sometimes children were judged by their compatriots as to whether they received a pension or not. Reasonable proof of service had to be proven and verified, the same as a white man who saw combat.
I for one cannot understand how anyone can present and defend the argument "pension is not proof of service" when clearly service has been proven by records be they a Compiled Service Record, letter or other written material verifies service. Many of the men and women listed in these pages only have a notation of service or may be acknowledged by the simple entry of "Negro Killed." I have found reports of negro burials paid for by the Confederate government. Yes it is proof of Confederate service regardless of the circumstances in which service was performed or how many cards may be in their service record.
To those people who deny service of these Negro, Colored or African Confederates, I challenge you to prove they did not serve by any historical document you can find. I am not interested in your opinions or your feeble attempts to rewrite history, just the facts as history presents them.
SHAPE has sourced documentation of Negro Confederate service on these pages regardless of their station in life or task performed.
