How did African Americans survive in 1861

-some 180,000 African Americans served in 163 units for the Union army as well as surely thousands more in the Navy. However, while only one percent of all African Americans in the United States resided in the North, slaves and freedmen only began serving the Confederate Army in 1865, and did so to a far lesser degree than in the North. It took a clear and dire urging from the beloved General Robert E. Lee to convince the Confederate Congress to begin enlisting black soldiers. The legislation required the consent of the slave and his master, and would confer the rights of a freeman after the war.