Loudon County, Va. schools have pulled a textbook that incorrectly claims thousands of Black troops fought with the Confederacy. The Virginia Education Department warned schools about the mistakes so teachers could alert students when teaching the Civil War chapter, “Our Virginia: Past and Present.”
“Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson,” the questionable passage reads.
Carol Sheriff, whose child is a fourth-grade student in Virginia schools, discovered the error. Sheriff is a history teacher at the College of William and Mary and said while some Blacks defended slave owners, there were no Black soldiers in the Confederacy.
The textbook’s author, Joy Masoff, said the passage was an error.