Contrabands

[18thVirginia]

We have discussions where the term 'contrabands' comes into play. I ran across some photos labeled "Contrabands" and thought they might be interesting--I always like to see the people or places we're talking about.

Virginia Contrabands employed by 13th Mass Infantry

Contraband Camp, Richmond

 

[Northern Light]

That poor young woman on the right looks scared to death! It really makes you think how frightening freedom must have been to some of the former slaves, especially those of a more timid nature. No education, per se, no home, no work, just freedom. A wonderful concept that doesn't really fill your belly, just your heart. Thanks for posting.

 

[18thVirginia]

Contraband cooks, Culpeper, Va.

Contrabands with cockfight in Union camp

 

[18thVirginia]

Yorktown, Virginia (vicinity). Group of contrabands at Allen's farm house near Williamsburg Road

A Group of Contrabands - teamsters in Virginia

 

[Gandycreek]

Nice Pics. Thanks for posting.

 

[18thVirginia]

Cumberland Landing, Virginia 1862

Fugitive Slaves Crossing the Rappahannock River, following Pope's Army, 1862

 

[BelleBlackburn]

Nashville had a huge contraband camp and they used them to build Ft. Negley. I didn't learn until recently that Fort Donelson became a contraband camp after it fell.

 

[18thVirginia]

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Contrabands repair the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad


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Contraband Hospital, Washington, D. C.

 

[18thVirginia]

Gettysburg, Camp of Captain John J. Hoff

Gettysburg Camp of Capt. John J. Hoff, rear view

 

[18thVirginia]

Arrival of Negro Family in the Lines

 

[James B White]

Thank you for posting these! The ones with the wagons especially make what I've been reading lately (period accounts of missing slaves as the federal army nears) really become real, as slaves take a chance and head toward the lines of the federals.

One thing I'm curious about is: I wonder where the wagons and teams typically came from, such as in the "Arrival of Negro Family in the Lines" just above, or "Fugitive Slaves Crossing the Rappahannock..."

Were they also taken from the owners? What a bold move, to pile everything you had (and more) onto your master's wagon, hitch up a team and drive off into uncertainty, taking not only yourself but probably hundreds of dollars of other things too. Not something a master would be happy to find when he discovered, and yet such a slim barrier against starvation. Would you keep the wagon, stay close and camp by it for a while, or use it to travel as far as possible to some known or unknown location, or sell it, use the money to survive and try to find work as soon as possible? What a challenge.

 

[AUG]

Contraband cooks, Culpeper, Va.

Contrabands with cockfight in Union camp

That last photo is a cockfight at Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's headquarters. The two men holding the roosters are probably the general's cooks or servants of some kind.

• Title: Petersburg, Virginia. "Cock fighting" at Gen. Orlando B. Willcox's headquarters
• Creator(s): O'Sullivan, Timothy H., 1840-1882, photographer
• Date Created/Published: [between 1862 and 1865]
• Medium: 1 negative : glass, wet collodion.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-cwpb-04340 (digital file from original neg.)
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
• Call Number: LC-B817- 7952 [P&P] LOT 4188 (corresponding print)
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003006384/PP/

 

[AndyHall]

• Title: [Civil War contraband]
• Date Created/Published: [between 1862 and 1865]
• Medium: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen ; 10 x 6 cm.
• Summary: Photograph shows a portrait of a full-length portrait of an African American man facing front.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-11196 (digital file from original item, front) LC-DIG-ppmsca-11197 (digital file from original item, back)
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
• Access Advisory: Use digital images. Original served only by appointment because material requires special handling. For more information see,(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/617_apptonly.html)
• Call Number: LOT 14022, no. 169 [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

 

[AndyHall]

A card c. 1861 referring to Ben Butler's original "contraband" policy:

 

[AndyHall]

"Nathan Jones, Camp Metcalf, Va."

• Title: Nathan Jones, Camp Metcalf, Va.
• Date Created/Published: [between 1860 and 1870]
• Medium: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen ; 10 x 6 cm.
• Summary: Photograph shows a full-length portrait of an African American boy.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-11192 (digital file from original item, front) LC-DIG-ppmsca-11193 (digital file from original item, back)
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
• Access Advisory: Use digital images. Original served only by appointment because material requires special handling. For more information see,(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/617_apptonly.html)
• Call Number: LOT 14022, no. 167 [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

 

[AndyHall]

"Contrabands Escaping" by Edwin Forbes

• Title: Contrabands escaping
• Creator(s): Forbes, Edwin, 1839-1895, artist
• Date Created/Published: 1864 May 29.
• Medium: 1 drawing.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-20701 (digital file from original item) LC-USZ62-14887 (b&w film copy neg.) LC-USZC4-1455 (color film copy transparency)
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
• Call Number: DRWG/US - Forbes, no. 231a (A size) [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

 

[AndyHall]

Stereo of the image in No. 4:

 

[18thVirginia]

Contraband Camp, Camp Nelson, Kentucky

Home for Colored Refugees, Camp Nelson, KY

Families of USCT at Camp Nelson, KY

 

[18thVirginia]

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Contraband Laborers at White House Landing/Quartermaster's Wharf, Virginia 1863


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Black Laborers constructing a stockade under supervision of General Haupt, Alexandria City, Va.,1863 (near Duke and Payne Streets)

Photographs by Andrew J. Russell

 

[ForeverFree]

One disappointment of the scholarship coming out of the sesquicentennial is the relative lack of work about contrabands/Civil War runaways. By now, there is a good sized body of work about colored soldiers, for example. No longer can we say that black military men are a forgotten part of the Civil War.

But the African descent souther soldier was a subset of the larger group of people who escaped bondage. Many of the stories of contrabands are about women and children living in privation. Their lack of literacy, and perhaps early demise, have resulted in a much smaller record than for black men in the army.

More needs to be told about their stories. In time, perhaps we will see more.

-Alan