Valuable Information Provided by Slaves

Tom Elmore

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Jan 16, 2015
Occasional references are made to useful intelligence volunteered by former slaves to assist the Union cause:

Early in the war, the Confederates were covertly building a battery at Freestone Point [in Prince William County, Virginia] on the Potomac River, just 25 miles south of Washington D.C. Work on four earthen gun emplacements was conducted only at night to hide the activity. However, on the morning of September 23, 1861, an enslaved woman with four enslaved men escaped from their owner, stole a boat and rowed into the river, where they were picked up by the USS Seminole. They reported 400 men and two large siege guns in the vicinity of Freestone Point. Two days later, the U.S. Navy dispatched five vessels on a reconnaissance and confirmed their information. (“The Potomac Will Be Effectively Closed,” by Rob Orrison and Bill Backus, Blue & Gray Magazine, vol. 32, no. 5, 2016)

On March 14, 1862, while enroute to Winchester [Virginia], a contraband came in and informed us that the main body of the rebels had left the previous night. (Warren Freeman, 13th Massachusetts, Letters from Two Brothers Serving in the War for the Union)

In December 1863, a man in a Federal uniform informed a household of loyal Virginians that he was actually an officer of J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry who was wearing the outfit as a disguise. An old slave woman of the household, who overheard the conversation, went immediately to the nearest body of Union soldiers and told them. The man was arrested just as he was sitting down for dinner, at which point he claimed to be a Federal officer. He was taken to the commander of the First Corps, where he was indeed recognized as Captain Bucklin, a brigade Commissary. He had concocted the story to obtain a free meal. Unluckily he missed out on a fine meal, but luckily he escaped being hung as a spy. (History of the Ninety-Seventh Regiment New York Volunteers, by Isaac Hall)

The following three incidents occurred during the Gettysburg campaign in mid-1863:

20 June, contrabands that come in report that [General Robert E.] Lee has a strong force at Manassas Gap, only seven miles from here [Centreville]. (Manley Stacey, diary and letters, 111th New York)

1 July, two colored servants of rebel officers had been captured, who gave valuable information as to the position of their forces and who was in command. (Abner Hard, History of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, Illinois Volunteers)

July 14, saw a colored man coming from the enemy’s line, calling that the enemy had crossed the [Potomac] river. (Letters of Robert Cruikshank, Company H, 123rd New York)
 
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