Some Odds and Ends, June 2013

I wanted to let readers know that I will be away from the blog for a couple of weeks. I am not headed to the Gettysburg 150th events -- for better or for worse -- but I do plan to fit in a day of Civil War-related sightseeing with the Colonel (my father-in-law to the uninitiated). I also will stay active on Facebook and Twitter as much as I can, particularly as we head into the Gettysburg Sesquicentennial. In the meantime, here are a few odds and ends:

*As you probably know by now, Google will be discontinuing its popular Google Reader service on July 1. I always thought Reader was the best way to keep track of the multitude of Civil War blogs that interest me. There are several alternatives to Reader, but let me make a plug for Feedly. I switched to this service a couple of months ago. It reminds me a lot of Reader, only Feedly looks a lot prettier. The migration of my subscriptions from Google Reader to Feedly was relatively seamless. The only real downside is that Feedly does not work on Internet Explorer, so users will need to install Chrome, Safari, or Firefox to view feeds on a desktop or laptop. (I use Chrome.) A mobile version (iOS and Android) is also available, meaning that I can read Feedly subscriptions anywhere, anytime on my iPhone.

*The Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable is sponsoring some worthwhile and interesting events this upcoming week in connection with the 150th of the Gettysburg Campaign. On Wednesday, June 26 at 7 p.m., a new Civil War Trails marker will be dedicated to the Edwards Ferry crossing of the Army of the Potomac. My pal and fellow blogger Craig Swain will lead a guided tour of the pontoon bridge sites and related features on Saturday, June 29, starting at 9 a.m. I enjoy Sesquicentennial events that highlight less famous episodes related to the big battles. Everyone's heard of Pickett's Charge, but how many know much about the Army of the Potomac's march across the Potomac at the end of June 1863? I regret that I can't make these events. Hopefully you'll be able to attend. For more information, check out the Loudoun County Civil War Roundtable's web page on the events.

Gen. John Buford awaits the onslaught of tourists for the Sesquicentennial commemoration at Gettysburg.

*According to a recent press release, C-SPAN3's American History TV will be offering extensive coverage of Gettysburg 150-related events in the coming days, both live and pre-recorded. Programming information is available on the C-SPAN3 website. Since I can't attend the Sesqui commemoration, I hope to fit in some time watching the various events during my vacation. At least the Colonel likes the Civil War and probably won't mind if I tune in unless a Red Sox game is on!

*Of course, part of me will surely miss not being on the ground in Gettysburg for the actual 150th. The National Park Service alone has tons of interesting events planned. Then I remember the predicted crowds and gridlock as noted in this article, and I am sort of glad that my Dad and I beat the rush and visited back in May when things were a bit more quiet. (I will have more to say on that trip in a future post.)

*Last, but not least, have a great Fourth of July! And whatever you do, pause to remember the sacrifices at Gettysburg and Vicksburg that helped to pave the way for a stronger Union and freedom for millions.

The Pennsylvania Reserves in Northern Virginia: The Path to Gettysburg

This past spring I wrote a four-part series on the return of the Pennsylvania Reserves to Northern Virginia at the start of 1863. This storied division had experienced heavy losses during the previous year's fighting, and after political intervention by top-ranking generals and Pennsylvania's own governor, the Reserves were sent to the defenses of Washington to rest and recruit. As June 1863 began, the division was scattered across Northern Virginia and Washington City. The month would end with two-thirds of the division on the march north to join the Army of the Potomac in pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederates.

A New Commander and a Return to the Old Dominion

On June 1, 1863, Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Department of Washington, named Gen. Samuel W. Crawford to replace Col. Horatio G. Sickel at the head of the First and Third Brigades of the Pennsylvania Reserves. (OR, 1:51:1, 1043.) The Second Brigade was to remain attached to the Military District of Alexandria. Heintzelman ordered Crawford to make his headquarters at Fairfax Station, where the First Brigade was encamped. The Third Brigade, which was performing provost duty in Washington City, was directed to cross the Potomac and proceed to Upton's Hill, not far from Falls Church.*

Brig. Gen. Samuel W. Crawford (courtesy of Library of Congress). Crawford was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania in 1829. He was the surgeon in charge at Ft. Sumter during the bombardment in April 1861. Crawford joined the Union infantry and rose to brigade command by spring of 1862. He briefly led a Twelfth Corps division at Antietam until being wounded in the thigh. Following his recovery, Crawford was given command of the Pennsylvania Reserves.

On the evening of June 1, the men of the Third Brigade under Col. Joseph W. Fisher marched out of the city "to the sounds of martial music." (Columbia Spy, June 6, 1863.) The soldiers "were in fine spirits," and "cheered as they passed through [the] streets, glad again to be in the field." (Phila. Press, June 2, 1863.) Spectators along the sidewalk and in hotel windows echoed the soldiers' hurrahs for Ulysses S. Grant, Joseph Hooker, George B. McClellan, William Rosecrans, and other generals. (Columbia Spy, June 6, 1863.)

Rallying to the Defense of the Keystone State

Events soon took an alarming turn. As talk of a Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania spread, the Reserves grew anxious to leave Northern Virginia and defend their native soil against Lee's army. According to one regimental history, the thought of remaining behind in the defenses of Washington "was rather mortifying." (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 259.) Officers made entreaties to Washington and Harrisburg to have the Reserves return to the field along with the Army of the Potomac. In one instance, the commander of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves and his fellow officers petitioned Col. William McCandless, head of the First Brigade:

We, the undersigned. . . having learned that our mother State has been invaded by a Confederate force, respectfully ask, that you will, if it be in your power, have us ordered within the borders of our State, for her defence. 

. . . we have more than once met and fought the enemy, when he was at home. We now wish to meet him again where he threatens our homes, our families and our firesides. 

Could our wish in this behalf be realized, we feel confident that we could do some service to the State that sent us to the field, and not diminish, if we could not increase, the lustre that already attaches to our name. (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 260.)

McCandless received the petition on June 17 and "forwarded it through the proper channel to Washington." (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 259.) Meanwhile, Gens. John F. Reynolds and George G. Meade, who had both led the Reserves through the bloody trials of 1862, requested that the War Department transfer the division to their respective army corps. (See, e.g., Sypher 448; Thomson & Rauch 260; Woodward, The Third Reserve, 226.)

Col. William McCandless (courtesy of PRVC Historical Society).

At Last! -- Rejoining the Army of the Potomac

The fate of the Reserves became part of the larger question of reinforcing Hooker as he chased down Lee's army. General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, worried about keeping the nation's capital safe from a possible Confederate advance, maintained a tight grip on the soldiers belonging to the defenses of Washington. (Coddington 96.) In the end, Halleck relented and agreed to send Hooker around 8,400 infantry reinforcements, including two brigades of the Pennsylvania Reserves. (Sears 220.)**

Late on June 23, Hooker directed Crawford "to hold [his] command in readiness to move at very short notice," with ten days' subsistence. (OR, 1:27:3, 273.) Pickets were to remain posted "until further orders." (OR, 1:27:3, 273.) Less than two days later, Hooker put the Reserves in motion to catch up with the rest of the army, which was already in pursuit of Lee. At 9:30 in the morning on June 25, Crawford was directed to "march with your command to-day, via the Leesburg turnpike, to Edwards Ferry, and, if possible . . . cross the river at that point, should you reach the Ferry in season." (OR, 1:27:3, 309.)

Not long afterwards, Hooker was shocked to learn from Crawford that John P. Slough, military governor of Alexandria, had detained the Second Brigade of Pennsylvania Reserves. He fired off a note to Halleck, demanding that "General Slough be arrested at once" and promising that "charges will be forwarded as soon as I have time to prepare them." (OR, 1:27:1, 56.) Hooker sharply warned Halleck, "You will find, I fear, when it is too late, that the effort to preserve department lines will be fatal to the cause of the country." (OR, 1:27:1, 56.) The General-in-Chief wasted no time in brushing aside Hooker's request:

The Second Brigade, to which you refer in your telegram, forms no part of General Crawford's command, which was placed at your orders. No other troops can be withdrawn from the Defenses of Washington. (OR, 1:27:1, 57.)  

That same day, the First and Third Brigades struck camp and began their march from Fairfax Station and Upton's Hill.*** The soldiers proceeded as far as the area around Vienna, where they bivouacked for the night. (OR, 1:27:1, 143; Woodward, Our Campaigns, 261). Early the next morning the Reserves resumed their march. The Pennsylvanians moved up the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike, past Dranesville, where many of them had first experienced battle.**** A "violent and constant" rainfall turned the roads into "almost knee-deep" mud. (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 261.) Despite such miserable conditions, the division reached Goose Creek that night. (OR, 1:27:1, 143.) At daylight on June 27, the Reserves headed a short distance to the Potomac and crossed the river at Edwards Ferry via pontoon bridge. (OR, 1:27:3, 353.) The division pushed through Maryland and arrived that night at the mouth of the Monocacy River, "in spite of the heavy roads." (Woodward, Our Campaigns, 261; see also OR, 1:27:1, 143.) Finally, on June 28, the Reserves crossed the Monocacy and marched to Ballinger's Creek near Frederick, where they joined the Fifth Corps. (OR, 1:27:1, 144; Hardin 141.)***** By the time the Reserves caught up with the Fifth Corps, Meade had taken command of the Army of the Potomac, and Gen. George Sykes had replaced him at the head of the corps.

Detail of Edwards Ferry, Goose Creek, and vicinity from 1862 Union Army map of Northeastern Virginia (courtesy of Library of Congress).  The Leesburg Turnpike, also visible here, served as the Pennsylvania Reserves main route of march to the crossing at Edwards Ferry.

The Pennsylvania Reserves continued their movement northward through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The division arrived at Gettysburg on July 2 during the second day of the battle. That evening, the First Brigade drove into the Plum Run Valley and beat back an assault by troops from James Longstreet's corps on the Union left near Little Round Top. Crawford himself seized the colors and led the charge. The division's overall losses at Gettysburg stood at 26 killed, 181 wounded, and 3 missing. (OR, 1:27:1, 180.) The Reserves had proven their mettle once again and made a contribution to the Confederate defeat. Before long, the Pennsylvanians would return with the rest of the army to the familiar soil of the Old Dominion. In this war, there was no staying away.

Notes

*The 11th Pennsylvania Reserves of the Third Brigade were still stationed in Northern Virginia in June, most likely in the vicinity of Vienna or Fairfax Station. (Gibbs 214-15.)

**The other units sent to Hooker from the Department of Washington included a brigade of New Yorkers under Gen. Alexander Hays and the Second Vermont Brigade under Gen. George Stannard. Both brigades would go on to distinguish themselves at Gettysburg. Halleck also agreed to furnish a division of cavalry under Gen. Julius Stahel, as well as artillery units, including the 9th Massachusetts Battery.

***The drive to replenish the ranks of the Reserves while in the defenses of Washington met with little success. (Gibbs 213; Thomson & Rauch 256-57.) The two brigades that set out on June 25 totaled just 3,817 officers and men. (Coddington 98.)

****The Battle of Dranesville took place on December 20, 1861, and pitted a brigade of the Reserves against J.E.B. Stuart's Confederates.

*****The Pennsylvania Reserves officially became the Third Division of the Fifth Corps.

Sources

Aside from the Official Records, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

Civil War in the East (on-line database); Edwin B. Coddington, The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command (1979 ed.); Columbia Spy, June 6, 1863; Joseph Gibbs, Three Years in the Bloody Eleventh: The Campaigns of a Pennsylvania Reserves Regiment (2002); Martin D. Hardin, History of the Twelfth Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Volunteer Corps (1890); Harrisburg Daily Patriot and Union, June 27, 1863; Philadelphia Press, June 2, 1863; Stephen W. Sears, Gettysburg (2003); Jeffrey F. Sherry, "The Terrible Impetuosity: The Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg," Gettysburg Magazine, Issue No. 16, Jan. 1, 1997 (courtesy of P.R.V.C. Hist. Soc.); J.R. Sypher, History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps (1865); O.R. Howard Thomson & William H. Rauch, History of the "Bucktails" (1906); Evan M. Woodward, History of the Third Pennsylvania Reserve (1883); Evan M. Woodward, Our Campaigns (1865).

Additional Reading

An excellent and detailed account of the Pennsylvania Reserves' march from Upton's Hill/Fairfax Station to Edwards Ferry, including maps, can be found here, at Craig Swain's Civil War blog, To the Sound of the Guns. Also be sure to check out Craig's on-going series of posts on the march of the Union army through Loudoun County in the days prior to Gettysburg.

For the full story of the Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg, see "The Terrible Impetuosity: The Pennsylvania Reserves at Gettysburg," by James Sherry in Gettysburg Magazine, Issue No. 16, Jan. 1, 1997.

Contraband Camps Established in Northern Virginia: May-June 1863, Part II

As I wrote last week, the population of contrabands in Washington exploded during the first couple years of the Civil War. Conditions for the former slaves at Camp Barker and other contraband settlements continued to deteriorate throughout the start of 1863. In May 1863, Lt. Col. Elias Greene, the Chief Quartermaster for the Department of Washington, proposed the establishment of contraband farms on abandoned secessionist lands in Northern Virginia. Greene hoped that his plan would lead to an improvement in the physical and moral health of the contrabands, as well as generate savings for the government. The War Department quickly approved Greene's proposal, and the Federal authorities set to work under the direction of D.B. Nichols, Superintendent of Freedmen.

On May 18, 1863, the Union military established the first of the contraband farms, Camp Springdale, on the grounds of Robert E. Lee's Arlington estate. According to an official report filed by Nichols on July 10, the initial population at the camp consisted of "around ninety persons in all." (Official Report.)* The contrabands were quartered in tents because no deserted homes were available to shelter the camp's inhabitants. (Incidentally, Greene and Nichols were also busy on Lee's property building a planned community for ex-slaves known as "Freedman's Village.")

A group of contrabands (courtesy of Library of Congress). This picture was taken in Cumberland Landing, Virginia, but similar scenes were surely encountered in Northern Virginia's contraband camps.

The work continued towards the end of the month. On May 30, the Federal authorities established Camp Rucker on secessionist property in Falls Church.** Nichols reported that "the people at this place had to be sheltered in tents, there being no houses in the vicinity belonging to rebel owners." (Official Report.) That same day, Camp Wadsworth was set up in Langley on a Confederate sympathizer's abandoned farm near the Leesburg-Georgetown Turnpike. Not long after, a branch of Camp Wadsworth was situated on a neighboring secessionist property.*** The contrabands in the Langley camps lived in the empty farmhouses of the "rebel owners." (Official Report.)

The following week, Nichols and his men established two more contraband farms in Virginia. Camp Todd was placed on the site of a former Union Army encampment near Fort Albany**** The Union contrabands took possession of the log huts that were formerly occupied by soldiers under Gen. Silas Casey. Nichols considered that "these houses have capacity of holding not less than one thousand people, and are in a good degree of preservation." (Official Report.) Camp Beckwith was organized on two secessionist farms near Lewinsville, and the former slaves were placed in abandoned dwellings on the properties.*****

"Fort Albany, Near Alexandria, Virginia," from Harper's Weekly, Nov. 30, 1861 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net). Camp Todd was established close to the fort at the start of June 1863.

Nichols reported the following numbers for each of the contraband camps in Northern Virginia as of June 30, 1863:

Camp Springdale, 300; Camp Todd, 230; Camp Rucker, 105; Camp Wadsworth, 178; Camp Beckwith, 72; total, 885.  (Official Report; see also Alexandria Gazette, Aug. 5, 1863.)

Nichols provided government rations to the contrabands living on the new farms. According to his official report:

Every man or woman above the ages of 16 and 14 years has drawn daily one ration; every boy from 1 year to 16 years, and every girl from 1 to 14 years, has drawn one-half rations; all below one year have drawn, nothing. (Official Report.)

In addition, Nichols believed that life on the contraband farms was having an overall positive impact, despite continued illnesses and deaths:

There has been a manifest improvement in the tone of health since we came over this side of the Potomac. We have had fresh air and pure water, and work on the soil to employ the people. This has contributed to the health of the people. Though several contagious diseases appeared among the people, yet they have easily yielded to the treatment, or have been removed to the pest-house in Washington. Twenty persons have died during the month of June, fifteen of whom were children, and five of the fifteen were only twelve months old, or under. (Official Report.)

By contrast, around twenty-five died per week in 1863 at Camp Barker, the main contraband settlement in Washington City. (NPS, "Freedman's Village," fn10.)

Nichols also oversaw the installation of buildings for use by the government in the administration of the contrabands in Virginia. He likely enlisted the services of able-bodied contrabands in undertaking this work. As Nichols informed Greene:

We have constructed quarters for the Superintendent of Freedmen and an office for the same; a storeroom for commissary department and another for agricultural implements, and a forage house and quarters and an office for the Surgeon. (Official Report.)******

Moreover, Nichols' teams removed wood poles from abandoned campsites at nearby Minor's Hill for use in constructing contraband housing. As to these various projects, Nichols concluded that the "work has been well done, and has a respectable show as regards amount, and the promise of ample remuneration is cheering." (Official Report.)

Nichols concluded with a few recommendations. He wanted all the contraband women and children to stay at Camps Springdale and Todd, under the protection Fort Albany's guns. The men could work on the other farms, return on Saturday evening, and leave for work again on Monday morning. Aside from the added security, Nichols also felt that the arrangement "would place [the contrabands] more immediately under the eye of the superintendent of them, and thus take away the necessity of having any assistant on each of these farms except that of the farmer." (Official Report.)

Nichols asked that the commander of the Department of Washington grant him "the power to perform the marriage ceremony among [the contrabands]." (Official Report.) He also requested that "a military commission (or a commission) be appointed, consisting of the military commander of the post, and the superintendent of the freedmen and the surgeon in charge, who shall hear causes of complaint made by [the contrabands] in relation to want of fidelity of parties to the marriage contract, and determine the facts and the penalty of every violation of the same." (Official Report.) Nichols noted that similar orders had already been instituted in the Department of South Carolina.

One hundred and fifty years ago the Federal government launched a social and economic revolution of sorts on the soil of the Old Dominion. The very notion of seizing the property of individuals who supported a government based on the preservation of slavery and turning that same land over to use by former slaves represented a radical step towards sealing the fate of the peculiar institution. The contraband farms "would eventually have nearly 1,300 acres under cultivation." (Berlin et al. 254.) Controversy and scandal also lie ahead. But in mid-July 1863, Greene and Nichols were just getting started. I hope you'll join me over the upcoming weeks and months as I return to the story of Northern Virginia's contraband camps.

Notes

*The founding of Camp Springdale pre-dated the official order authorizing the camps that was issued by Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Department of Washington, on May 22. The War Department, however, had approved Greene's plan on May 14. (Berlin et al. 299.) At this time, I am unsure of the origins of Camp Springdale's name.

**Camp Rucker was likely named after Gen. Daniel Henry Rucker, Chief Quartermaster of the Washington Depot. The Washington Depot was a major Union supply center for troops operating in the Eastern Theater of the war.

***Camp Wadsworth was the probable namesake of Gen. James Wadsworth, head of the Military District of Washington from March to September 1862.

****Fort Albany was situated north of Alexandria near the Long Bridge (generally the site of today's 14th Street Bridges). I have not yet discovered the provenance of the Camp Todd's name.

*****Camp Beckwith was likely named after Col. Amos Beckwith, the Chief Commissary of Subsistence of the Washington Depot.

******The exact location of these structures is uncertain from the information provided in the report. Given that Nichols subsequently worked at Freedman's Village, these buildings were likely erected on the Lee's estate.

Up Next

In a future post, I will pinpoint the location of Camps Wadsworth and Beckwith in the McLean, Virginia area and take a look at the individuals whose properties were seized by the government for use as contraband farms.

Sources

Alexandria Gazette, Aug. 5, 1863; "Amos Beckwith," Find a Grave; Ira Berlin et al., Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867, Selected from the Holdings of the National Archives of the United States, Series I, Volume II, The Wartime Genesis of Free Labor: The Upper South (1993); John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands (2001); Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2004); Robert Harrison, Washington During Civil War and Reconstruction: Race and Radicalism (2011); National Park Service, "Freedman's Village," Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (website); Clayton R. Newell & Charles R. Shrader, Of Duty Well and Faithfully Done: A History of the Regular Army in the Civil War (2011); D.B. Nichols, Official Report on Superintendent Nichols Freedman's Department, South Potomac, Quartermaster for the Department of Washington, July 10, 1863, in New York Times, Aug. 9, 1863 ("Official Report"); James Grant Wilson & John Fiske (eds.), "Amos Beckwith," Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol. 1 (1888).

Contraband Camps Established in Northern Virginia: May-June 1863, Part I

A few months ago when researching events that transpired in the McLean area during 1863, I came across various references to "contraband camps." After some additional digging, I discovered that the Union military established camps for fugitive slaves on land in Northern Virginia at the end of May and start of June 1863. Unlike the Freedman's Village on Robert E. Lee's Arlington Estate, these contraband camps have attracted little attention in accounts of local Civil War history. In today's post I begin an exploration of the contraband camps of Northern Virginia. My research has just started, and I hope to tell more of this compelling story in the months ahead.

As the Civil War progressed, thousands of slaves fled to the nation's capital from surrounding states in search of freedom and opportunity. The abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia in April 1862 led to an even greater migration of slaves to Washington City. The problems of caring for these contrabands mounted as their numbers grew. Northern aid and religious societies provided material donations of necessities like clothing and sent teachers to educate the former slaves, but the chief responsibility for the contrabands rested with the Federal Government.

James Wadsworth, the military governor of Washington, soon recruited help from the outside. In June 1862 he named the Rev. Danforth B. Nichols as the Superintendent of Freedmen.  Nichols was a Methodist minister and member of the American Missionary Association, a society dedicated to abolition, racial equality, the education of blacks, and the spread of Christian values. (NPS, Theodore Roosevelt Island, fn121.) In his new role, Nichols oversaw the distribution of food, blankets, and clothing to ex-slaves; placed them in jobs throughout the city; and handled issues related to contraband housing.

Gen. James S. Wadsworth, commander of the Military District of Washington from March 1862 to September 1862 (courtesy of ExplorePAHistory.com).  Wadsworth faced the challenge of dealing with an influx of contrabands during his time in the nation's capital.

Many contrabands were housed in tenement dwellings along Duff Green's Row on Capitol Hill. In July 1862 smallpox erupted among the contrabands there, and the authorities feared the spread of the deadly disease. Nichols removed the contrabands to abandoned barracks at a more remote location, far from the populated areas of the capital. (The camp sat at 12th and Vermont Avenue, N.W., near today's Logan Circle). Called Camp Barker, this new settlement "became the center of the government's effort to provide relief and employment for former slaves in the District of Columbia," but before long, difficulties also plagued Camp Barker. (Berlin et al. 247.) The contraband population continued to grow, and conditions deteriorated. Diseases like scarlet fever, whooping cough, and measles spread in the overcrowded barracks and killed many of the former slaves. Nichols also worried that the close quarters at Camp Barker were contributing to promiscuity and immorality.

View of Camp Barker (courtesy of Civil War Trust).

The government clearly faced a daunting task as the third year of the war got underway. Lt. Col. Elias Greene, the Chief Quartermaster for the Department of Washington, hatched a plan. In early May 1863, he wrote to Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Department. Greene viewed the population of dependent contrabands as a "dead weight on the Government." (Berlin et al. 298.) The Chief Quartermaster reminded Heitzelman that lands abandoned by "rebel owners" in Virginia were "now lying idle." (in Berlin et al. 298.) He observed:

On quite a number of these farms the houses are left standing--of these, there are enough to provide quarters for, from 500 to 750 field hands, with a very small outlay for additions and improvements. (in Berlin et al. 298.)

The Chief Quartermaster suggested:

The force of contrabands, males and females, now idle in this City. . . can be employed to very great advantage in cultivating the above lands, raising corn and millet, cutting Hay . . . for this Department. (in Berlin et al. 298.)

Greene felt that there would be "a decided advantage afforded to [the contrabands] of the salutary effects of good pure country air." (in Berlin et al. 298.) Moreover "a return to their previous healthy avocations as 'field hands' under much happier auspices than heretofore, . . . must prove beneficial to them, and will tend to prevent the increase of diseases now prevalent among them." (in Berlin et al. 298.)

Greene concluded:

The arrangement I propose will not only in my opinion conduce to the sanitary and moral improvements of the contrabands, but will save the Govt an immense amount of money. (in Berlin 298.)

Greene recommended that Nichols, who agreed with the plan, remain as Superintendent. The Chief Quartermaster also asked for a response to his proposal within 48 hours so that farming could start before the imminent end of the planting season.

Heintzelman approved Greene's plan, and Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs added his endorsement. On May 14, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton agreed to the proposed system of contraband camps in Virginia, and a week later, Heintzelman formally issued orders authorizing Greene to execute his plan by relocating dependent contrabands to abandoned secessionist lands in Virginia. (General Orders No. 28, May 22, 1863.) The social experiment across the Potomac would begin in earnest.

Up Next: Nichols establishes five camps throughout Arlington and Fairfax.

Sources
Ira Berlin et al., Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867, Selected from the Holdings of the National Archives of the United States, Series I, Volume II, The Wartime Genesis of Free Labor: The Upper South (1993); John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands (2001); Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2004); Robert Harrison, Washington During Civil War and Reconstruction: Race and Radicalism (2011); National Park Service, "Freedman's Village," Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (website); National Park Service, Historic American Landscapes Survey: Theodore Roosevelt Island.