They seemed like clansmen, and had a more confiding and filial relation to us than seemed to me to exist in the Northern colored regiments.
So far as the mere habits of slavery went, they were a poor preparation for military duty.

Inexperienced officers often assumed that, because these men had been slaves before enlistment, they would bear to be treated as such afterwards.

Experience proved the contrary.

The more strongly we marked the difference between the slave and the soldier, the better for the regiment.

One half of military duty lies in obedience, the other half in self-respect.