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n the treatment of Afro-American slaves. The federal government and the Union army only began to "adopt a policy of allowing and even encouraging the recruitment of Blacks when it became clear that the war would be a long and drawn out conflict in which it was essential to mobilize all the resources possible and to weaken the enemy as much as possible. (Mullen 19 Utley 47) Even then Black troops weren't really used. In Muly 1862, Congress authorized the use of black soldiers in the Civil War, but there "was no follow-up until January 1, 1863" when Abraham Lincoln put the "Emancipation Proclamation into effect." (Mullen 23) After the Emancipation Proclamation, the War Department moved rapidly to begin the enlistment of Black Americans. During January 1863, the War Department authorized Massachusetts to raise two Black regiments. Because of this nearly 200,000 Afro-American soldiers were serving the army and an additional 300,000 were serving as laborers, spies, servants or general helpers. Before the end of the war, there had been 154 Black regiments formed in the army, of these 140 were infantry units. These regiments fought in "battles and skirmishes and suffered 68,178 fatalities on the battlefield in the course of the war." (Mullen 22) By the war's end there had been barely a battle where Black soldiers had not fought. The Afro-American soldiers' most outstanding achievement was the "charge of the Third Brigade of the Eighteenth Division on the Confederate fortifications on New Market Height near Richmond, Virginia." (Utley 48) Due to their heroic courage in that battle, thirteen Black soldiers received Congressional Medals of Honor in one day. "In all, twenty Negroes received the medal in recognition of gallantry and intrepidity in combat during the Civil War." (Mullen 23) "John Hope Franklin estimates that the Black mortality rate in the Army was nearly 40 percent higher than among white soldiers. This was partially due to unfavorable conditions, poor equipment, bad medical care, and the rapidity with which the Blacks were sent into battle." (Fowler 73) However as W.E.B. Du Bois pointed out that the Black troops were "repeatedly and deliberately used as shock troops, when there was little or no hope of success."(Mullen 23) The African-American soldier not only had success on land but as seamen. Throughout the navy's history Blacks had not ever been barred or banned from enlisting. Due to an intense shortage of seaman, the navy went farther than any other American armed force and adopted a policy of signing up escaped slaves along with free Blacks. This shortage of men benefited the Afro-American extremely because the navy treated Blacks quite well. The navy was especially anxious to have its Black sailors re-enlist. African-American sailors made up about one-quarter of the sailors in the Union fleet. "Of the 118,044 enlistments during the Civil War, 29,511 were Blacks. Some of the ships in the fleet were manned by predominantly Black crews, and there was scarcely a ship without Afro-American crew members." (Utley 37) The navy not only was the first armed force to accept fugitive slaves, it was also the first armed force to fully integrate both Blacks and Whites. "Because of the close quarters on warships, it was never practical to segregate the Negroes within the crews, the same way the army did in all-Black units, and for that reason the navy was not only integrated as a service, but also was integrated w