A further observation:

This is tantamount to a thread trumpeting:

"Jewish Soldiers of the Third Reich"

maintaining that those forced into the camps & gangs and worked and starved to death "supported" and chose to serve the Nazi Wehrmacht.

It is offensive, misleading, and anti-historical.

Also:

"Free" Blacks in the south also had no rights at law and could not by state statute reside within the borders of most southern states. So upon being manumitted for "service to the Confederacy", they would have had to immediately emigrate or by law face re-enslavement or imprisonment. Such a deal!

RE: factoid #3, above, yes, true as far as it goes. Question: HOW MANY free Blacks were involved? If you check with the NPS and/or other responsible (non-Internet) sources, I think you'll find that the Texas Neo-Confederate site referenced has pretty much mangled err slanted err adjusted the facts and quoted bits and pieces quite selectively to suit their particular agenda.

It seems more likely to me that these Black laborers would be up in the middle of any battle that would occur. Not so. They were ordinarily kept well away from the actual fighting, for example:

(1)they were worth a great deal of money for one thing and represented a financial investment their owners were loathe to lose and the Confederate Government was unable to pay the compensation for lost or damaged property that slaveholders demanded. Remember also: the OWNERS of these Blacks were PAID for the service their property provided to The Cause.

(2) Blacks allowed too close to the front lines had an unfortunate propensity to decamp en masse to the Union Lines & freedom- by the thousands upon thousands.

(3) the spectre of "servile insurrection" had the Confederacy in a constant state of paranoia throught the war and Blacks were kept as far away from weapons as was possible. They might pick them up and turn them on their owners.

(4) etc.

RE: the April 1 1865 Hail Mary Pass by Judah Benjamin, et. al. its well to remember that Lee surrendered on 9 April this empty gesture completely nugatory.

Once again for emphasis: Blacks were not "asked" to help the Confederacy at Petersburg or anywhere else: at best they were presented with Hobson's Choice; at worst they were compelled at gunpoint. Numbers were shot for refusing. Blacks who picked up arms within Confederate lines were shot. The Confederate Army would not take Black prisoners; Black Union soldiers captured were summarily executed.

There's a lot more more to this situation than the simplistic version presented on Neo-Confederate, Sons of the Confederacy- type websites.

For a start, give the first several chapters of Leon Litwack's Been In The Storm So Long a read- or better yet, the whole book. Then check the bibliography for more info.

The real story is so much more interesting & engaging than the BS!

Best,

Greg