On March 13, 1865, with the main Rebel armies facing long
odds against much larger Union armies, the Confederacy,
in a desperate measure, reluctantly approved the use of
Black troops.

The situation was bleak for the Confederates in the spring
of 1865. The Yankees had captured large swaths of Southern
territory, General William T. Sherman’s Union army was tearing
through the Carolinas, and General Robert E. Lee was trying
valiantly to hold the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia,
against General Ulysses S. Grant’s growing force.