Black Confederate soldier

Black Confederate soldier, Levi Miller, born in Rockbridge County Virginia, was one of thousands of slaves who accompanied their owners to the war as a body servant. After nursing his master back from death from a near-fatal wounding in the Wilderness campaign, Miller was voted by his Texas regiment to be a full-fledged soldier ( Jordan, 1995 ). He served during the remainder of the war, exhibiting bravery through battles in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Miller's former commander spoke highly of his combat record, giving a riveting account of his performance at Spotsylvania Courthouse. "About 4 p.m., the enemy made a rushing charge," wrote Captain J. E. Anderson. "Levi Miller stood by my side and no man ever fought harder nor better than he when the enemy tried to cross our breastworks and we clubbed and bayoneted them off. No one used his bayonet with more skill or effect, than Levi Miller" ( Jordan, 1995 ).

After the war, Levi Miller received a full pension from Virginia as a Confederate veteran. According to the Winchester Evening Star, "The pension was granted without trouble, and he had the distinction of drawing one of the largest amounts of any person in the state." Upon his death in 1921, the Evening Star published a front-page obituary under the headline Levi Miller, Colored War Veteran, buried with the Confederate battle flag. ( Jordan, 1995 ).

Though Levi Miller was a Confederate soldier, he is fictional to the Rebel Private story, although he was in fact in the Texas Brigade. From free men of color in Louisiana to countless others such as Levi Miller, the politically incorrect story of valor and devotion to cause of black men under arms for the Confederacy has been suppressed. Rebel Private weaves the Levi Miller story into the camaraderie which was experienced by William Fletcher and his boyhood friends, to each, The War of Southern Independence.