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Photograph of two headstones for former camp slave, Shadrick Searcy

This is an excellent example of how the Sons of Confederate Veterans have manipulated the history of former camp slaves. Notice that the older marker refers properly to Searcy's…

Civil War artists capitalized on the popularity of the black Confederate myth. In the Grim Harvest of War, Bradley Schmehl features a “black Confederate” cradling a Confederate officer as Stonewall Jackson looks over the battlefield.

The use of Robert E. Lee and his camp slave to sell washing machines in the early twentieth century points to the popularity of the Lost Cause and the memory of the loyal body servant beyond the former Confederacy.

Article about the history of Confederate camp slaves and the myth of the black Confederate soldier.

Three former camp slaves participate in a Confederate veterans’ reunion in an unknown location in the 1930s.

Former camp slaves attend a veterans’ reunion in Tampa, Florida, in 1927. Steve Perry (“Uncle Steve Eberhart”) is fifth from the left and holds a Confederate flag, while Louis Napoleon Nelson sits on the far right with his bugle. The individual in…

The ribbons and medals worn by Jefferson Shields attest to the numerous veterans’ reunions that he attended around the turn of the twentieth century. Shields served as a personal servant to Colonel James Kerr Edmondson of Field and Staff, 27th…

Steve Perry, known as “Uncle Steve Eberhart,” proved to be a popular attraction with white audiences at veterans’ reunions owing to his stories of foraging during the war and his practice of carrying two chickens under each arm.

Lieutenant J. Wallace Comer of the 57th Alabama along with his camp slave, identified only as Burrell. Like other camp slaves, Burrell may have been outfitted in a uniform by his master or may have paid for it with money earned in camp.

Camp slaves performed vital functions for their masters in camp, on the march, and on the battlefield. They also provided entertainment, as depicted in this 1862 drawing by Frank Vizetelly.