Black Soldiers in the Civil War

Read the selection from the article.

Black soldiers were initially paid $10 per month from which $3 was automatically subtracted for clothing, resulting in a net pay of $7. In contrast, white soldiers received $13 per month from which no clothing allowance was drawn. In June 1864, Congress granted equal pay to the U.S. Colored Troops and made the action retroactive. Black soldiers received the same rations and supplies. In addition, they received comparable medical care.

Which of the following can be inferred from the selection above?

• Black soldiers were treated extremely poorly by the Union Army.

• African-American soldiers were not paid a livable wage by the Union Army.

• Though discrimination existed in the Union Army, conditions did improve over time.

• By the end of the war, African-Americans received better treatment than white soldiers.

Which of the following options BEST supports the idea that the skills of African-Americans were not fully utilized during the Civil War?

• They were turned away, however, because of a federal law dating from 1792 that barred African-Americans from bearing arms for the U.S. Army (although they had served in the American Revolution and in the War of 1812).

• By mid-1862, however, the escalating number of former slaves, the declining number of white volunteers and the increasingly pressing needs of the Union Army pushed the government into reconsidering the ban.

• Because of prejudice against them, black units were not used in combat as extensively as they might have been.

• Nevertheless, the soldiers served with distinction in a number of battles in Louisiana, Virginia and Tennessee.

The central idea of the article is developed by:

• illustrating both the contributions of and challenges faced by AfricanAmerican soldiers in the Union Army.

• giving descriptions of specific roles that African-Americans fulfilled for the Union Army during the Civil War.

• providing specific examples that demonstrate why it was so important for African-Americans to join the Union Army.

• arguing that the Civil War could not have been won without the essential contributions of African-Americans in the North.

Which of the following details from the article is MOST important to the development of the main idea?

• Which of the following details from the article is MOST important to the development of the main idea?

• In 1861, General John C. Frémont issued a proclamation in Missouri emancipating the slaves in the region and allowing them to enlist.

• As a result, on July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, freeing slaves who had masters in the Confederate Army.

• By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men served as soldiers in the U.S. Army, making up 10 percent of the Union Army.