Freedom by the Sword - US Army Center Of Military History

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Freedom by the Sword: The U.S. Colored Troops, 1862–1867
Besides being the capital of Tennessee, Nashville was a rail center essential to Union
advances farther south.
that made Johnson responsible for “all abandoned slaves or colored persons who
have been held in bondage, and whose masters have been, or are now, engaged in
rebellion.” The governor was to put the able-bodied males to work on public projects.
This letter, which Stanton sent just as Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas was
beginning to organize Colored Troops along the Mississippi River, did not mention
recruiting black soldiers at all. The reason for this omission is not clear. 3
Two months earlier, Johnson had visited Washington for policy discussions
with both Lincoln and Stanton and probably made clear to them his views
about black people and their place in American society. Johnson came from the
mountains of eastern Tennessee and had an aversion to black people that was
common among white Tennesseans, even those enrolled in Union regiments.
Like many whites, North and South, he was more willing to put a shovel than
a rifle into a black man’s hand. Thus, when Stanton’s instructions failed to
mention black enlistment, the governor took advantage of the loophole. After
receiving letters from Lincoln and Stanton, he began raising one black infantry
regiment and later a second, but did not implement the policy of black recruiting
with anything like the zeal displayed by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks in
Louisiana or the adjutant general in the Mississippi Valley. Besides, Johnson
clearly understood the importance of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad.
Perhaps because of his insistence on putting his only two black regiments to
3 OR, ser. 3, 3: 123 (quotation).