THE FIRST CONTRABAND CAMP In the spring of 1861 the United States went to war with itself This conflict was called the American Civil War 1861 1865 The two sides involved 1861 1865 The two sides involved were the Union and the Confederacy were the Union and the Confederacy Northern states had formed the Union Northern states had formed the Union The Confederacy was made up of southern The Confederacy was made up of southern states The Confederacy wanted to keep states The Confederacy wanted to keep slavery The Union opposed the expansion slavery The Union opposed the expansion of slavery Some people in the Union wanted of slavery Some people in the Union wanted to end slavery altogether to end slavery altogether An illustration depicts the arrival of the first An illustration depicts the arrival of the first escaped slaves to Fort Monroe the site of the first escaped slaves to Fort Monroe the site of the first contraband camp contraband camp
The state of Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861 It joined the Confederacy But some Union troops were still in the state after war broke out On the outskirts of Hampton Virginia the Union Army was busy at Fort Monroe strengthening defenses Fort Monroe was an important Union base against the Confederate Army On the evening of May 23 1861 three black men got in a boat They rowed across Hampton Roads Harbor to Fort Monroe The men’s names were Shepard Mallory James Townsend and Frank Baker They were fleeing a Confederate base near Norfolk Virginia Norfolk was on the opposite side of the harbor from Fort Monroe The men’s slaveholder was a Confederate colonel He had sent them to the Confederate base to help build weapons for the Confederate Army The men had learned that their slaveholder planned to send them to North Carolina If this happened the men would be far away from their families Their families
Benjamin Butler was a politician and a Union general during the Civil War were enslaved with them in Virginia The men had a decision to make If they stayed with their slaveholder they might never see their families again If they tried to seek refuge at Fort Monroe there wasn’t any guarantee of their safety The soldiers at Fort Monroe might turn them away or shoot at them But there was a chance that the Union soldiers would allow them to stay at the fort Then the men may never be enslaved again So they had decided to escape The men soon arrived at the fort General Benjamin Butler met with them Butler was the fort’s
