February 15, 1865---Sudden "love for the Negro"

FEBRUARY 15, 1865:        

The Chicago Tribune, always friendly to the war and to Republican war aims, mocks the suddenly intense Southern interest in arming blacks for combat. In an article entitled,   THE REBELS COURTING THE NEGRO, the paper notes that, “The rebels have become suddenly exceedingly regardful of the welfare of the negro  . . .” In an excoriating editorial, the paper notes that this sudden “love for the negro” is no love at all, being based entirely on the self-interest of Southern slave-holding oligarchs who are desperate to win the war. “Lee may be an able General,” the Editors write, “but his bayonets can never demonstrate that such a rebellion for slavery is a war for liberty. Nor can they give it success. Such a cause rests on lies. Its falsehood insures its failure.”