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Most historians today agree that the Civil War’s central cause was chattel slavery -- and that the Confederacy’s central purpose was to preserve human bondage. Some have argued that an important chapter of southern history must qualify this judgment. Especially during the last six months of the Confederacy’s existence, its leaders and journalists debated whether to arm slaves to fight against Union troops and to reward those who agreed to do so with their freedom. By the war’s end, a version of this proposal had become official Confederate policy. My research will attempt to clarify the meaning of this Confederate policy and those debates for the history of the U.S. South, the Civil War, and post-war relations between white and black.