IrishArmenia, what are your sources for the blacks-as-human-shields claim. I'm curious. I've not read a lot on the black soldiers in the Civil War but I've not run into much in my readings supporting any such claim. I've read Longstreet and E.P. Alexander from the Confederate side and neither mentioned fighting against such tactics. Alexander mentions black Union troops a few times but usually to say that he didn't think much of their fighting ability.