 In January 1864 , Confederate General Patrick Cleburne , of the Army of the Tennessee , proposed emancipating and arming the slaves . Davis , when he heard of it , turned it down and ordered it kept secret . Evans notes that Benjamin " had been thinking in similar terms for much longer , and perhaps the recommendation of so respected an officer was just the impetus he needed . " The year 1864 was a disastrous one for the Confederacy , with Lee forced within siege lines at Petersburg and Union General William T. Sherman sacking Atlanta and devastating Georgia on his march to the sea . Benjamin urged Davis to send the secretary 's fellow Louisianan , Duncan Kenner , to Paris and London , with an offer of emancipation in exchange for recognition . Davis was only willing to offer gradual emancipation , and both Napoleon and Palmerston rejected the proposal . Benjamin continued to press the matter , addressing a mass meeting in Richmond in February 1865 in support of arming the slaves and emancipating them . A bill eventually emerged from the Confederate Congress in March , but it had many restrictions , and it was too late to affect the outcome of the war . 
