The history of African Americans in the U.S. Civil War is marked by 186,097 (7,122 officers, 178,975 enlisted) African Americans comprising 163 units served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and many more African Americans served in the Union Navy.

My wife read today’s strip, and after she stopped rolling on the floor laughing, she wiped away the tears and alerted me, “you are gonna get so much hate mail!”

I did part of my growing up in West Virginia where my father mined coal out of the hills - so did my uncles and my grandfather. It is where many of them died due to mining, sometimes by black lung and sometimes by accident. My uncle Dewey died when a kettle bottom fell on him and crushed him below the ribcage.

Today’s commentary is light because it is my birthday and I am relaxing today! w00t!

The Emancipation Proclamation was widely attacked at the time as freeing only the slaves over which the Union had no power, but in practice, it committed the Union to ending slavery, which was controversial in the North.

Hillary’s nuclear umbrella bothers me. What are we protecting besides oil with her umbrella? Dictatorial societies and cultures that are repressive to women, unfriendly towards the west and loves to kill Jews.

At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made Grant commander of all Union armies. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, and put Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the western armies.

SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended).

At the beginning of the war some Union commanders thought they were supposed to return escaped slaves to their masters. By 1862, when it became clear that this would be a long war, the question of what to do about slavery became more general. The Southern economy and military effort depended on slave labor.

Under the cover of darkness on December 26, 1860, Anderson spiked the cannons at Fort Moultrie and moved his command to Fort Sumter. South Carolina authorities considered this a breach of faith and demanded that the fort be evacuated.

SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended).

The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended).

SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended).

SPECIAL REQUEST FOR BAY AREA READERS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish.

Many people associated with the Underground Railroad only knew their part of the operation and not of the whole scheme. Though this may seem like an unreliable route for slaves to gain their freedom, hundreds of slaves obtained freedom to the North every year.

The main explanation for the origins of the American Civil War was slavery, especially the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories. States’ rights and the tariff became entangled in the slavery issue, and were intensified by it.

I watched last night’s “debate” with horror. As you probably know by now, nearly the entire first hour was taken up by bullshit questions about lapel pins, bitterness, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers nonsense.

I watched last night’s “debate” with horror. As you probably know by now, nearly the entire first hour was taken up by bullshit questions about lapel pins, bitterness, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers nonsense.

I watched last night’s “debate” with horror. As you probably know by now, nearly the entire first hour was taken up by bullshit questions about lapel pins, bitterness, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers nonsense.

I watched last night’s “debate” with horror. As you probably know by now, nearly the entire first hour was taken up by bullshit questions about lapel pins, bitterness, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers nonsense.

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th century Black slaves in the United States to escape to free states (or as far north as Canada) with the aid of abolitionists who were sympathetic to their cause.

Slaves were considered legal non-persons except if they committed crimes. An Alabama court asserted that slaves “are rational beings, they are capable of committing crimes; and in reference to acts which are crimes, are regarded as persons.”

I keep hearing the GOP and their hand-wringers waxing poetic about tax cuts. One of Rush Limbaugh’s fav tricks is asking alleged liberals about tax increases. “If 5% is good why not 10% or 20%?” What if you were to reverse Limbaugh’s rhetoric - if a 28% tax rate is good, why not 20% or 10%> How about 0%?!

The first Native American group encountered by Christopher Columbus were the Island Arawaks (more properly called the Taino) of Boriquen (Puerto Rico), the (Quisqueya) of the Dominican Republic, and the Cubanacan (of Cuba).

The transformation from indentured servitude to racial slavery happened gradually. There were no laws regarding slavery early in Virginia’s history. However, by 1640 the Virginia courts had sentenced at least one black servant to slavery.

The first record of African slavery in Colonial America occurred in 1619. A Dutch ship, the White Lion, had captured 20 enslaved Africans in a battle with a Spanish ship bound for Mexico.

During enslavement, slaves’ names were assigned by their owners. Others received a name based on what kind of work they were forced to do. Some African-Americans have last names such as Cotton, reflecting when they were made to pick cotton as slaves.

The history of slavery in the United States (1619-1865) began when English colonists first settled Virginia and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Before the widespread establishment of chattel slavery, much labor was organized under a system of bonded labor known as indentured servitude.

This is a recreation of an advertisement for the sale of Slaves in Charleston.

The seasoning camps of the Caribbean were built to break the will of the Africans before being sold. Any emotional bonds between slaves were torn by selling the slaves in different markets. If families were together, they were brutally separated forever.