Despite official reluctance from above, the number of white volunteers dropped throughout the war, and black soldiers were needed whether the population liked it or not [REF].
A number of officers in the field experimented, with varying degrees of success, in using "contrabands" first, for manual labor, around Union Army camps and on the march to later raising Black regiments, of soldiers, including Gen. David Hunter, (1802-1886), U.S. Sen./Gen.