Nonetheless, black soldiers served loyally and proved their worth in battle, winning the grudging admiration of even their Confederate enemies and a permanent place in the post-war U.S. The federal government also tried to pay African Americans less than white soldiers, and it subjected them to other humiliating forms of discrimination and ill treatment. Even when the Union army did accept them, black men had to serve in segregated units under the command of white officers. Their services as soldiers were initially refused, and they had to fight for the right to fight. Yet their experience was not entirely positive. Over a short time period, black men went from being powerless chattel to being part of a liberating army, helping to free nearly four million slaves from bondage. The service of black soldiers in the Union army during the American Civil War (1861–1865) represents one of the most dramatic episodes in African-American history.
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