As it was clearly illegal for black men to be armed in the Confederacy, I doubt that these were. But given the context, the “regiment” appears to be something Plaskett heard about rather than saw.

Good points, yes in many accounts and letters home there are always conflicting reports, however saying your Col and Lt Col were killed is something which could have been easily been verified shortly after the regiment was rallied or brought back into line and certainly before a soldier had time to sit down to write a letter home then to post it, especially in the field.

I was in the process of looking up Plasket and the thought crossed my mind he may have deserted, especially looking through the service and then the lack of a pension record, but that was a gut, but you confirmed it. The million dollar question is who were these “black soldiers” and were they even armed and uniformed soldiers?

Thanks,
Jim

I would say that pretty much every letter I’ve reproduced here is factually incorrect to some degree. In the days following the battle there were many erroneous reports of men wounded, killed and captured. We can’t expect “perfect knowledge”, nor can we assume fabrication based on whether or not something turned out later to be false. There are mentions of black Confederate soldiers at Bull Run in other soldier accounts, and the hospital burning is not unique to Plaskett’s letter either. That of course neither prooves nor disproves anything. It is, however, part of the record, and is presented here for consideration.

I also found mention on the 14th B’Klyn Co. E. site that Plaskett eventually deserted the regiment.