At the start of the Civil War, the Northern armies <u>D. Would not let blacks fight.</u>
At the beginning of the war (1861), the Northern or Union army rejected black troops, it wasn't until President Lincoln issued <em>The Emancipation Proclamation </em>(January 1, 1863) that they were accepted. Such executive order not only announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy but also declared all slaves free in the Confederacy or States (The rebellious states).
The same year, more than 185,000 black soldiers (Both former slaves and born freemen) joined the Northern armies. Around 40,000 black Americans lost their lives due to the war. And after the fighting was over, 16 black men were awarded the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry".
