Kane County, Illinois African American Civil War Vets

Prior to the Civil War, it was not allowed to have African Americans in the military, but some were accepted into the Navy. It was thought that they had neither the courage or the discipline to make good soldiers and follow orders. In the beginning the Union had man-power problems and with the draft riots and the initial victories of the Confederacy posed a huge problem. African Americans were considered as a last result. On January 1, 1863, the final version of the Emancipation Proclamation was