The correct answer is B, as the statement is false. Northeners refused to allow blacks to join the Union Army at the start of the Civil War because they were afraid that the African-Americans could use the guns to revolt against the white population in the north.
Lincoln opposed the first attempts to recruit black soldiers, although he accepted that the Army used them as paid workers. The defeats of the Union Army in the battles of the summer of 1862 led Lincoln to emancipate all slaves from the states at war with the Union. In September 1862, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, announcing that all slaves from the rebel states would be free by January 1. The recruitment of African American regiments began with full force after the Proclamation in January 1863.
