African Americans were an essential part to the Union’s victory. The African Americans had something extra that made them fight in the war. They had great character. They also have seen and felt how horrible slavery was and the thirst for freedom propelled them to volunteer and fight for the Union. It didn’t matter if the African American was free of a runaway slave, they both enlisted in the war. After the war waged on for more than a year, the northerners were growing tired of the war and the north needed soldiers fast. Then, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation states that all slaves in the Union and in the Confederacy should be freed. This is extremely important because when the
