Weary Clyburn and Black Confederates: Where Do We Go From Here?

Update: Google "Weary Clyburn" and Civil War Memory is listed first.]

Like many of you I am also troubled by the pervasiveness of stories about black Confederates and the irresponsibility and ignorance of those who perpetuate these myths.  This morning I received an email from someone familiar with the North Carolina Department of Archives and History who took the initiative to pull Weary Clyburn's pension application.  Documents include a form from the Probate Judge and Clerk to the Pension Board which states that Clyburn "served in the Confederate Army."  Other documents refer to him as a "slave" and "body guard" to Captain Frank Clyburn.  Another document, written by the Pension Board, tells of him saving his master's life and performing personal service for Robert E. Lee.  The author of the email noted that many of the pension files have blacks listed as "body servants" and speculates that body guard "is a little more exciting way to say the same thing."  Given the paucity of information available about Clyburn and that the information was compiled by whites it is easy to conclude pretty much anything about his Civil War/slave experience.  And this is exactly where serious historians part company with the heritage folks.  The goal of scholarship is not to reinforce prior assumptions nor is it the servant of wishful thinking; it is to consider all of the relevant evidence and go where that evidence takes you.  Often times, the amount of evidence available is insufficient to conclude much of anything.

This takes us to the question of what, if anything, can be done to more forcefully challenge these myths.  Historian and fellow blogger, Larry Cebula, has an excellent suggestion:

To effectively push back against the myth of black Confederates someone needs to dig into stories like these and do some basic fact-checking. When did the story of Weary leaving the plantation to fight with the Confederates first arise? Is there any contemporary Civil War era evidence? What other information can we dig up about Weary from census records, newspapers, oral histories, plantation records? What was the Reconstruction era history of the community? What were the circumstances at which this photograph was taken? I strongly suspect that this sort of research would debunk most or all of the "black Confederates" being touted by the SCV.

This would be a great graduate seminar for someone teaching at a research university in the south--"Black Confederates: Myths and Memories." Assign each grad student one of these men and set them loose. And make sure that the results of their research are disseminated. A web publication would actually have the greatest impact, so that whenever someone googles "Weary Clyburn" they get some solid research instead of press releases from the SCV.

I can't think of a better idea.  Larry's suggestion that such a project would debunk most of these stories is probably true, but his further point about the power of google is well taken.  I touched on google's page-ranking a few months ago in reference to a post about why scholars should consider blogging.  Since that post this site has risen even further in the rankings when searching for certain subjects such as black Confederates.  As much as I respect the work of historians such as Bruce Levine on this subject the real fight must take place on the Web. 

Comments

[Kevin Levin]

Tom, -- The question of motivation is central to this issue, but seems impossible to answer given that we don't even know the basic facts that would have shaped that motivation in addition to not having any account from Weary himself.

[Marc Ferguson]

Larry Cebula's suggestion for how to confront these "black Confederate" claims is an excellent description of how to go about doing historical research to lay the groundwork for solid historical analysis. Furthermore, it provides an excellent contrast to the shoddy approach taken by politically motivated pushers of heritage. It would indeed make for a great research seminar.

[Lisa]

This is kind of what I've been doing. Everytime I run across a "black Confederate" in my research, I try to save the info. Then when I have time I try to verify the story with more info from sources such as pension applications, slave narratives, newspaper articles, etc. They seem to come up a lot in WPA records (not just the slave narratives). I don't have a whole lot at the moment but I do have a little. The best two are Frank Childress and Nathan Best which I have referenced before. I'm thinking this may even eventually become my thesis in the future since I'm a little frustrated with USV/SCV/UDC history/research at the moment and I have quite a few thoughts on the subject.

Anyhow, I think you are right about the power of the internet. Nearly everyone I know who isn't an SCV member or a professional historian, gets their info on the subject from the internet. Regardless, if anyone is interested and serious, I'll be glad to share my info and keep working on what I have.

[Kevin Levin]

Lisa, -- Thanks for sharing and please do consider forwarding some of your research along. In fact, consider doing a guest post at some point. That would give you the opportunity to go into a bit more detail in terms of how you went about your research and arrived at your conclusions.

I look forward to meeting you in New Orleans. Remember that if you are interested in attending the SCWH panel you have to register for the luncheon.

[Larry Cebula]

Thanks Kevin. Really, I am fairly brimming with ideas of what other people should do! Maybe someone at the Southern Historical Association Meeting will be interested.

[Kevin Levin]

Thanks again Larry. I am going to use the issue of black Confederates as a case study for my talk on blogging at the SHA.

[Jamey B Creel]

I am amazed at these so-called "myths." What part of black Confederates is a myth? They existed. They fought. The first monument to the black soldier is Confederate (see Arlington National Cemetery). The pension records show they were paid when in their old age along with their "white" compatriots. Their sons and daughters told of their stories. Even Fredrick Douglas witnessed them and could not - or refused - explain it.

Men like Dallas Moses died defending "his" Southland. Yet you claim they didn't exist?

Yet the claim of your site is "Southerners" are re-writing history? Looks more as if people like you are ignoring truth.

You deny it because it doesn't fit with "your" version of history as you try to sweep under rug the honor of our Confederate ancestors.

[Mark Stoneman]

I agree about the fight needing to be carried to the web. Too bad historians can't afford to buy good domain names, such as the kind that pops up in first place if you google "black confederates" without quotation marks.

[Mark Stoneman]

@Jamey B Creel Myths (and ahistorical thinking) result from imposing modern day assumptions about what participation in the war means to Confederate patriots today onto these men in the past, whose lives, motivations, and attitudes we do not know enough about. The mere fact of participation in the war only scratches the surface of historical reality. It raises questions, but it does not in itself say anything conclusive. I'll leave it to Civil War experts like Kevin Levin to get the details right, but that much is clear to me. I see such errors in historical thinking all the time in other contexts.

[Gordon]

Perhaps you should check on the authenticity of this with Mattie Rice, Weary Clyburn's daughter, or Mr lJames who is the archivist that discovered many black Confederate pension files, including Mr. Clyburn's file in the State Archives. lJames just happens to be an African American. There is also documentation from Union soldiers of Blacks armed with muzzle loaders and bayonets attacking them. Perhaps you should just get the chip off your shoulders and accept it.

[Kevin Levin]

Gordon, -- Thanks for taking the time to write. I will consider your advice.