Contraband (American Civil War)

The status of Southern-owned slaves became an issue early in 1861, not long after hostilities began in the American Civil War. Fort Monroe, in Hampton Roads, Virginia, was a major Union stronghold which never fell to the Confederate States of America, despite its close proximity to their capital city, Richmond. On May 24, 1861, three men, Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory and James Townsend, escaped enslavement by crossing Hampton Roads harbor at night from the Confederate-occupied Norfolk County, Virginia, and seeking refuge in Fort Monroe.[2] Prior to their escape, these three men had been forced to help construct an artillery battery at Sewell's Point, aimed at Fort Monroe. The Commander of Fort Monroe, Major General Benjamin Butler, refused to return Baker, Malloy, and Townsend, to the Confederate officer who asked to re-enslave them.

Prior to the War, the owners of the slaves would have been legally entitled to request their return (as property) under the federal 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. But, Virginia had declared (by secession) that it no longer was part of the United States. General Butler, who was educated as an attorney, took the position that, if Virginia considered itself a foreign power to the U.S., then he was under no obligation to return the three men; he would hold them as "contraband of war." When Butler refused the request, it effectively recognized the seceded states as foreign entities. As a result, President Abraham Lincoln disapproved of it, not wanting to grant such recognition to those states.

The word of this policy spread quickly among enslaved communities in southeastern Virginia. While becoming a "contraband" did not mean full freedom, many people living under slavery considered it a step in that direction. The day after Butler's decision, many more people emancipated themselves by escaping and finding their way to Fort Monroe and where they appealed to become "contraband". As the number of formerly enslaved people grew too large to be housed inside the Fort, the contrabands built housing outside the crowded base . The first was Camp Hamilton, a military encampment just outside the walls of the fort. A larger encampment was built in the ruins of the City of Hampton (which had been burned by Confederate troops after learning of the plan to house the contrabands there). They called their new settlement the Grand Contraband Camp. It gained the nickname "Slabtown" due to being built from the remnants of Hampton.[9] Conflicts arose when Union troops evicted the contrabands so that they could be quartered in the camp, and when black men living there were systematically forced to join the Union Army.[10]

By the end of the war in April 1865, less than four years later, an estimated 10,000 people escaped slavery and applied to gain "contraband" status, with many living nearby. Across the South, Union forces managed more than 100 contraband camps, although not all were as large. The 1,500 contrabands behind federal lines at Harpers Ferry were kidnapped and re-enslaved when Confederates took the town.[11] From a camp on Roanoke Island that started in 1862, Horace James developed the Freedmen's Colony of Roanoke Island (1863–1867). Appointed by the Union Army, James was a Congregational chaplain who, with the freedmen, tried to create a self-sustaining colony at the island.[12]

Contraband camps developed around many Union-held forts and encampments. In 1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation and authorization of black military units, thousands of free black people began to enlist in the United States Colored Troops. The Army allowed their families to take refuge at contraband camps. The black troops ultimately comprised nearly ten percent of all the troops in the Union Army.

By the end of the war, more than one hundred contraband camps had been developed in the South. Many were assisted by missionary teachers recruited from the North by the American Missionary Association and other groups who, together with free blacks and freedmen, agreed that education of the formerly enslaved people was of the highest priority. The teachers often wrote about the desire of freed people, both adults and children, for education.

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  A contemporary cartoon showing slaves escaping to Fort Monroe after Gen. Butler's decree that all slaves behind Union lines would be protected. The policy was called the "Fort Monroe Doctrine", alluding to Butler's headquarters at the Fort.
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  Envelope showing contrabands (escaped slaves) speaking with Union General Butler.
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  Contraband camp at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), about 1861. Note John Brown's Fort in background.
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  Escaped slaves meeting Union troops, 1862.
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  Photograph taken about 1862 of a contraband servant named John Henry in a Union Army Camp.[15]
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  Photo entitled: "What do I want, John Henry"?, Warrenton, Virginia, 1862, showing 2nd from left John Henry and 4 Union officers.
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  A contraband camp, formerly used as a female seminary, circa 1863.
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  A contraband school, held outdoors. Note teacher, in coat and tie, on mound at left.

• "Oh! Let My People Go"
• American Missionary Association
• Mary S. Peake
• Port Royal Experiment

• Manning, Chandra (December 19, 2017). "Contraband Camps and the African American Refugee Experience during the Civil War". American History. Oxford University Press . doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.203. ISBN 978-0-19-932917-5.

• Documents, The Roanoke Island Freedmen's Colony - letters from missionary teachers, Horace James and freedmen available online