Grand Contraband Camp
Encyclopedia
Grand Contraband Camp was located in Elizabeth City County
on the Virginia Peninsula
near Fort Monroe
during and immediately after the American Civil War
. The area was a refuge for escaped slaves
who the Union
forces refused to return to their former Confederate
masters, by defining them as "Contraband of War"
. The Grand Contraband Camp was the first self-contained black community in the United States and occupied the area of the downtown section of the present-day independent city
of Hampton, Virginia
.
seceded from the United States in 1861, the US Army retained control of Fort Monroe
at the eastern tip of the Virginia Peninsula
. During much of the American Civil War
, the commander at Fort Monroe was Brigadier General
Benjamin Butler
, a lawyer by profession and an opponent of slavery. When slaves began escaping to Union lines at the fort, General Butler took the position that, since the Confederate states considered slaves
to be chattel ("property"), and that certain individuals were property obtained by the Union through war, his refusal to return escaped slaves to masters supporting the Confederacy amounted to classifying them as "Contraband of war"
.
The term "contraband" in referring escaped slaves first enters the Official Records in U.S. Navy correspondence on August 10, 1861 when Acting Master William Budd of the gunboat USS Resolute uses the term (Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I - Volume 4: page 604).
Three slaves, Frank Baker, James Townsend and Sheppard Mallory had been contracted by their owners to the Confederate Army under General Benjamin Huger to help construct defense batteries at Sewell's Point across the mouth of Hampton Roads
from Union
-held Fort Monroe. They escaped at night and rowed a skiff to Old Point Comfort
, where they sought asylum at Fort Monroe.
Prior to the War, slave owners could legally request their return (as property) under the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. But, Virginia had seceded. General Butler, who was educated as an attorney
, took the position that, if Virginia considered itself a foreign power to the U.S., he was under no obligation to return the three men. He determined to hold them as "contraband of war." When Confederate Major John B. Cary requested their return, Butler denied it. The three men worked for the Union Army but were given minimal pay.
The US Confiscation Act of 1861
clarified the issue of slaves' status during the war; it declared that Union forces could seize any property used by the Confederate military, including slaves. Many, including slaves, saw this as a means of unofficially freeing the slaves from Southerners' control, and they began to go to Union lines.
As the number of former slaves grew too large to be housed inside the Fort, they began to build housing from the ruins of Hampton left by the Confederates. They called their new settlement the Grand Contraband Camp (which they nicknamed "Slabtown"). By the end of the war in April 1865, less than 4 years later, an estimated 10,000 slaves had applied to gain "contraband" status, and many lived nearby. The contraband slaves of the Virginia Peninsula
are credited with establishing the United State's first self-contained African-American community, where they quickly created schools, churches, businesses, and other social organizations.
Other contraband camps sprang up in many areas during the Civil War, often near Union bases. One notable location was at Roanoke Island
on North Carolina
's Outer Banks
. This was the former site of the "Lost Colony"
of 1587, almost 300 years earlier.
campus, pioneering teachers Mary S. Peake
and others began to teach both former slaves and free blacks of the area. Peake had been teaching secretly, defying the 1831 Virginia law against educating slaves and free blacks passed after Nat Turner
's Slave Rebellion. Such efforts to teach the former slaves were aided by the American Missionary Association
; based in the North, its leaders included both black and white ministers from chiefly Congregational and Presbyterian churches. Reverend Lewis C. Lockwood arrived at Fort Monroe in September as its first missionary
to the former slaves; he sponsored Peake, a Mrs. Bailey and Miss Jennings, and an unnamed free black, for a total of three day schools for contrabands by the winter of 1861.
Peake held her first classes outdoors, often under a large oak tree. In 1863, it was the site of a public reading of President Abraham Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation
to the contrabands and free blacks, and the tree became called the Emancipation Oak
. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark
and is within the Historic District of Hampton University
.
For most of the contrabands, full freedom
did not come until the Thirteenth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery was ratified in late 1865.
Because southern states had prohibited teaching slaves (and, later, free blacks), education of freedmen during and after the war was a major goal of freedmen and their allies. The American Missionary Association
, which founded Hampton Institute and numerous other historically black colleges, and other religious organizations were important in founding both elementary and higher level schools and colleges, to train teachers who could teach the children and adults.
In addition, former Union Army
officers and soldiers, and wealthy philanthropist
s in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries created and funded educational efforts for the betterment of African Americans in the South. They helped found normal school
s to generate teacher
s for the millions of new black students in the South. Two such schools eventually became Hampton University
and Tuskegee University
.
In the first decades of the 20th century, the philanthropist Julius Rosenwald
collaborated with Dr. Booker T. Washington
and his staff at Tuskegee to create an architectural model and matching fund to support improving rural elementary schools for black children, which were historically underfunded by southern states in their segregated system. The Rosenwald Fund
, with strong matching efforts by black communities, generated the construction of more than 5,000 mostly rural schools for black children in the South. Other philanthropists, such as Andrew Carnegie
, Henry Rogers
and George Eastman
, also gave substantial support to Tuskegee and other black institutions.
Elizabeth City County, Virginia
Elizabeth City County was a county in southeastern Virginia from 1634 to 1952. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shires created in the Virginia Colony by order of the King of England. In 1636, it was subdivided, and the portion north of the harbor of Hampton...
on the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
near Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
during and immediately after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. The area was a refuge for escaped slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
who the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
forces refused to return to their former Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
masters, by defining them as "Contraband of War"
Contraband (American Civil War)
Contraband was a term commonly used in the United States military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces after the military determined that the US would not return escaped slaves who went to Union lines to their...
. The Grand Contraband Camp was the first self-contained black community in the United States and occupied the area of the downtown section of the present-day independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
of Hampton, Virginia
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
.
Confederate slaves in Union hands: legal status
When VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
seceded from the United States in 1861, the US Army retained control of Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe was a military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula...
at the eastern tip of the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
. During much of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the commander at Fort Monroe was Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Benjamin Butler
Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)
Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer and politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives and later served as the 33rd Governor of Massachusetts....
, a lawyer by profession and an opponent of slavery. When slaves began escaping to Union lines at the fort, General Butler took the position that, since the Confederate states considered slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
to be chattel ("property"), and that certain individuals were property obtained by the Union through war, his refusal to return escaped slaves to masters supporting the Confederacy amounted to classifying them as "Contraband of war"
Contraband (American Civil War)
Contraband was a term commonly used in the United States military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain escaped slaves or those who affiliated with Union forces after the military determined that the US would not return escaped slaves who went to Union lines to their...
.
The term "contraband" in referring escaped slaves first enters the Official Records in U.S. Navy correspondence on August 10, 1861 when Acting Master William Budd of the gunboat USS Resolute uses the term (Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I - Volume 4: page 604).
Three slaves, Frank Baker, James Townsend and Sheppard Mallory had been contracted by their owners to the Confederate Army under General Benjamin Huger to help construct defense batteries at Sewell's Point across the mouth of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
from Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
-held Fort Monroe. They escaped at night and rowed a skiff to Old Point Comfort
Old Point Comfort
Old Point Comfort is a point of land located in the independent city of Hampton. It lies at the extreme tip of the Virginia Peninsula at the mouth of Hampton Roads in the United States....
, where they sought asylum at Fort Monroe.
Prior to the War, slave owners could legally request their return (as property) under the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. But, Virginia had seceded. General Butler, who was educated as an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, took the position that, if Virginia considered itself a foreign power to the U.S., he was under no obligation to return the three men. He determined to hold them as "contraband of war." When Confederate Major John B. Cary requested their return, Butler denied it. The three men worked for the Union Army but were given minimal pay.
The US Confiscation Act of 1861
Confiscation Act of 1861
The Confiscation Act of 1861 was an act of Congress during the early months of the American Civil War permitting the confiscation of any of property, including slaves, being used to support the Confederate insurrection....
clarified the issue of slaves' status during the war; it declared that Union forces could seize any property used by the Confederate military, including slaves. Many, including slaves, saw this as a means of unofficially freeing the slaves from Southerners' control, and they began to go to Union lines.
The camp is created
The word spread quickly among southeastern Virginia's slave communities. While becoming a "contraband" did not mean full freedom, many slaves found it preferable to staying where they were. The day after Butler's decision, many more escaped slaves found their way to Fort Monroe and appealed for "contraband" status. The area attracted those slaves who could escape, which included determined families and women with children.As the number of former slaves grew too large to be housed inside the Fort, they began to build housing from the ruins of Hampton left by the Confederates. They called their new settlement the Grand Contraband Camp (which they nicknamed "Slabtown"). By the end of the war in April 1865, less than 4 years later, an estimated 10,000 slaves had applied to gain "contraband" status, and many lived nearby. The contraband slaves of the Virginia Peninsula
Virginia Peninsula
The Virginia Peninsula is a peninsula in southeast Virginia, USA, bounded by the York River, James River, Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay.Hampton Roads is the common name for the metropolitan area that surrounds the body of water of the same name...
are credited with establishing the United State's first self-contained African-American community, where they quickly created schools, churches, businesses, and other social organizations.
Other contraband camps sprang up in many areas during the Civil War, often near Union bases. One notable location was at Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island
Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County near the coast of North Carolina, United States. It was named after the historical Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English exploration....
on North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
's Outer Banks
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks is a 200-mile long string of narrow barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, beginning in the southeastern corner of Virginia Beach on the east coast of the United States....
. This was the former site of the "Lost Colony"
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina, United States was a late 16th-century attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony. The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh and carried out by...
of 1587, almost 300 years earlier.
Contrabands join the Union cause
Many contraband slaves and free blacks voluntarily served in the Union Army, forming the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). Some also became scouts, guides, spies, cooks, hospital workers, blacksmiths, and mule-drivers, contributing immensely to the Union war effort for the balance of the Civil War. Numerous Union officers became more aware of both the potential and plight of the contrabands, and worked for and made contributions to educational efforts for them, even after the War.Education
Near Fort Monroe, but outside its protective walls, in an area that later became part of the Hampton UniversityHampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
campus, pioneering teachers Mary S. Peake
Mary S. Peake
Mary Smith Peake, born Mary Smith Kelsey , was an American teacher and humanitarian, best known for starting a school for the children of former slaves starting in the fall of 1861 under what became known as the Emancipation Oak tree in present-day Hampton near Fort Monroe...
and others began to teach both former slaves and free blacks of the area. Peake had been teaching secretly, defying the 1831 Virginia law against educating slaves and free blacks passed after Nat Turner
Nat Turner
Nathaniel "Nat" Turner was an American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in 60 white deaths and at least 100 black deaths, the largest number of fatalities to occur in one uprising prior to the American Civil War in the southern United States. He gathered...
's Slave Rebellion. Such efforts to teach the former slaves were aided by the American Missionary Association
American Missionary Association
The American Missionary Association was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on September 3, 1846 in Albany, New York. The main purpose of this organization was to abolish slavery, to educate African Americans, to promote racial equality, and to promote Christian values...
; based in the North, its leaders included both black and white ministers from chiefly Congregational and Presbyterian churches. Reverend Lewis C. Lockwood arrived at Fort Monroe in September as its first missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
to the former slaves; he sponsored Peake, a Mrs. Bailey and Miss Jennings, and an unnamed free black, for a total of three day schools for contrabands by the winter of 1861.
Peake held her first classes outdoors, often under a large oak tree. In 1863, it was the site of a public reading of President Abraham Lincoln's
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
Emancipation Proclamation
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation is an executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War using his war powers. It proclaimed the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's 4 million slaves, and immediately freed 50,000 of them, with nearly...
to the contrabands and free blacks, and the tree became called the Emancipation Oak
Emancipation Oak
Emancipation Oak is a historic tree located on the campus of Hampton University in what is now the City of Hampton, Virginia. The large sprawling oak is 98 feet in diameter, with branches which extend upward as well as laterally...
. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
and is within the Historic District of Hampton University
Hampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
.
For most of the contrabands, full freedom
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
did not come until the Thirteenth Amendment
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, passed by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On...
to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery was ratified in late 1865.
Because southern states had prohibited teaching slaves (and, later, free blacks), education of freedmen during and after the war was a major goal of freedmen and their allies. The American Missionary Association
American Missionary Association
The American Missionary Association was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on September 3, 1846 in Albany, New York. The main purpose of this organization was to abolish slavery, to educate African Americans, to promote racial equality, and to promote Christian values...
, which founded Hampton Institute and numerous other historically black colleges, and other religious organizations were important in founding both elementary and higher level schools and colleges, to train teachers who could teach the children and adults.
In addition, former Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
officers and soldiers, and wealthy philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
s in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries created and funded educational efforts for the betterment of African Americans in the South. They helped found normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
s to generate teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
s for the millions of new black students in the South. Two such schools eventually became Hampton University
Hampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
and Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund...
.
In the first decades of the 20th century, the philanthropist Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald was a U.S. clothier, manufacturer, business executive, and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for the Rosenwald Fund which donated millions to support the education of African American children in the rural South, as well...
collaborated with Dr. Booker T. Washington
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
and his staff at Tuskegee to create an architectural model and matching fund to support improving rural elementary schools for black children, which were historically underfunded by southern states in their segregated system. The Rosenwald Fund
Rosenwald Fund
The Rosenwald Fund was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind."...
, with strong matching efforts by black communities, generated the construction of more than 5,000 mostly rural schools for black children in the South. Other philanthropists, such as Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, Henry Rogers
Henry Rogers
Henry Rogers may refer to:*Henry Darwin Rogers -- U.S. geologist*Henry Huttleston Rogers -- U.S. businessman and philanthropist*Henry Wade Rogers -- U.S...
and George Eastman
George Eastman
George Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream...
, also gave substantial support to Tuskegee and other black institutions.
Legacy
- In the years during and after the American Civil War, former slaves and their descendants made enormous contributions in many areas to include education, politics, business, law, medicine, planning and development, military service, the arts and other professional areas of endeavor to include a financial institution established in the City of Hampton.
- In modern times, their descendants formed the Contraband Historical Society to honor and perpetuate their story. Authors such as Phyllis HaislipPhyllis HaislipPhyllis Haislip is an American author and historian. Her best-known work may be “Lottie’s Courage,” the story of a contraband slave growing up during the American Civil War....
have written about the contraband slaves as well.
- Some of the streets within the Grand Contraband Camp, which were named at that time, still exist near downtown Hampton. These include Grant Street, Lincoln Street, Union Street, Hope Street (now High Court Lane), and Liberty Street (now Armistead Avenue).
Further reading
See also
- Act Prohibiting the Return of SlavesAct Prohibiting the Return of SlavesThe Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves was a law passed by the United States Congress during the American Civil War forbidding the military to return escaped slaves to their owners. As Union armies entered Southern territory during the early years of the War, emboldened slaves began fleeing...
- Grove, VirginiaGrove, VirginiaGrove is an unincorporated community in the southeastern portion of James City County in the Peninsula subregion of Virginia in the United States. It is located in the center of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia, communities linked by the Colonial Parkway; the area is one of the busiest...