Editing Patrick Cleburne (section)

===Proposal for emancipation and enlistment of Blacks===
By late 1863, it had become obvious to Cleburne that the Confederacy was losing the war because of the growing limitations of its manpower and resources.<ref name=Connelly318319>Connelly, pp. 318-19.</ref> In 1864, he dramatically called together the leadership of the Army of Tennessee and put forth the proposal to emancipate all slaves ("emancipating the whole race upon reasonable terms, and within such reasonable time") in order to "enlist their sympathies" and thereby enlist them in the Confederate Army to secure Southern independence.<ref>Daniel Mallock. "Cleburne's Proposal." [[North & South - The Official Magazine of the Civil War Society|''North & South'']], vol. 11, no. 2, p. 64.</ref><ref>Hamner, Christopher. "[http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24634 Black Confederates]." [http://www.teachinghistory.org Teachinghistory.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711054633/http://teachinghistory.org/ |date=July 11, 2011 }}. Accessed 30 June 2011.</ref> Cleburne argued that emancipation did not have to include black equality, noting that "necessity and wise legislation" would ensure relations between blacks and whites would not materially change.<ref>Levin 2005, pp 102-103</ref> This proposal was met with polite silence at the meeting, and while word of it leaked out, it went unremarked, much less officially recognized.<ref name=Connelly318319/> From his letter outlining the proposal:<ref>Official Records, Series I, vol. 52, Part 2, [http://www.civilwarhome.com/cleburneproposal.htm pp. 586–92.]</ref>

{{Blockquote|Satisfy the negro that if he faithfully adheres to our standard during the war he shall receive his freedom and that of his race ... and we change the race from a dreaded weakness to a position of strength.

Will the slaves fight? The [[helots]] of Sparta stood their masters good stead in battle. In the [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|great sea fight of Lepanto]] where the Christians checked forever the spread of Mohammedanism over Europe, the galley slaves of portions of the fleet were promised freedom, and called on to fight at a critical moment of the battle. They fought well, and civilization owes much to those brave galley slaves ... [Cleburne also cites the prowess of revolting slaves in Haiti and Jamaica] ... the experience of this war has been so far that half-trained negroes have fought as bravely as many other half-trained Yankees.

It is said that slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all.  Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for.  It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties.}}

Cleburne's proposal was vigorously attacked as an "abolitionist conspiracy" by General [[William H. T. Walker]], who strongly supported slavery and also saw Cleburne as a rival for promotion. Walker eventually persuaded the commander of the Army of Tennessee, General [[Braxton Bragg]], that Cleburne was politically unreliable and undeserving of further promotion. "Three times in the summer of 1863 he was passed over for corps commander and remained a division commander until his death."<ref>TL Connelly. (2001) ''Autumn of Glory: The Army of Tennessee, 1862–1865'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=MuSJcY6iH8gC&dq=cleburne+treason&pg=PA319 Pages 319–320].</ref>