WETA and the Arlington Historical Society: Video Short on NOVA's Contraband Camps

A few weeks ago I sat down to an interview on Northern Virginia's contraband camps with Mark Jones, a Senior Manager of Digital Media with WETA, the main PBS station in the Washington area. Mark works with the Arlington Historical Society (AHS) to create video previews of upcoming lectures sponsored by AHS. These shorts are published on Boundary Stones, WETA's local history blog. Mark contacted me about my upcoming presentation on the camps, which is scheduled for this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Marymount University. He and I talked for about an hour or so at the historic Cherry Hill Farmhouse (c. 1845) in Falls Church. We selected the location for the 19th century atmosphere, as well as the site's proximity to the spot where Camp Rucker, a contraband camp, was located. Thanks for Mark for putting together such a great mini-documentary! And so, without further ado, check out the video below and click here to see the entire post at Boundary Stones!

Contraband Camp Developments, Late Summer and Fall 1864, Part I

As the Union Army fought over the future of Northern Virginia's contraband camps in the late summer of 1864, the Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen continued its work to improve the lives of former slaves living on government farms near Washington. Established by Philadelphia Quakers at the start of the year, the organization provided supplies and teachers to supplement the efforts of Union military authorities. But the debate within the government was not without consequences, and by the end of 1864, the Friends would face the unwelcome challenge of a new and harsher policy towards the contrabands.

An important part of the Friends' charitable activities centered on education. Since starting work in Northern Virginia earlier in the year, the association had sent teachers to Camp Rucker in Falls Church, Camp Wadsworth in Langley, and Mason's Island. In August 1864, the Friends decided to increase the number of teachers to meet the growing needs of the contraband community. Mary McLain was dispatched to Camp Wadsworth, while Margaret Preston was installed at Mason's Island. [1]

Map of contraband quarters at Mason's Island (courtesy of TR Center). Hospital buildings are shown in the center of the drawing.

The Friends also provided the contraband camps with clothing, sewing supplies, dry goods, and other household items. At least some of these donations were sold to the freedmen and women, presumably at a discount. [2] In September 1864, the Friends' Association decided to disband its Committee on Supplies and established a new Sanitary Committee. The Board appropriated $500 to the committee for the purchase of hospital supplies for Mason's Island. That month, the committee issued the call for donations in the Friends' Intelligencer:

The undersigned, a sanitary committee of said Association, solicit from Friends and others, contributions of hospital stores, which will be judiciously distributed by nurses and teachers sent out by the Association to Mason’s Island, Camp Wadsworth, and other points in the vicinity of Washington. 

The articles most needed, are dried fruits,such as apples, peaches, cherries, plums, and blackberries; also blackberry and other syrups, and all other articles suitable for the sick and convalescent.

Contributions of bed-covering, and clothing for women and children, will be very acceptable, as they are greatly needed. Free transportation has been granted by Government from Philadelphia. (456.)

At the same time the Friends were intensifying their involvement with the camps, Capt. Joseph Brown, an assistant quartermaster, took over primary responsibility for the contrabands in the Department of Washington from the outgoing Chief Quartermaster, Lt. Col. Elias Greene. Brown pursued decidedly stricter policies than Greene, who had lost his job as the result of an Army report critical of his management of the contraband camps. Brown, the head of the Department's Bureau of Freedmen and Government Farms, wanted to rid the government of the expense and trouble of caring for the freedmen and women in the camps and tried to send as many to the Northern States as possible. He also departed from Greene's policy of keeping families together. Brown thought nothing of apprenticing children to local households and hiring out their parents on separate jobs.

Toward the end of September the Friends' Sanitary Committee sent Louisa J. Roberts and Margaret A. Griscom to Mason's Island. Roberts wanted to meet with the new Chief Quartermaster of the Department of Washington, Col. John Ellison, to explain "the wants of our teachers and the people among whom they labor." (First Annual Rpt. 10.) Following her conversations with Ellison, Roberts reported that "[o]ur teachers appear to have his entire confidence, and he seems willing to do all that lies in his power, to promote their comfort and efficiency." (First Annual Rpt. 10.) As to Mason's Island, the visitors found:

The condition of the people. . . is much improved; the great mortality that prevailed during the latter part of the summer, has given place to a more healthy condition, attributable to the success that has attended our efforts to provide hospital accommodations, and to the approach of colder weather. (First Annual Rpt. 11.)

Nonetheless, Roberts and Griscom saw indications of troubles yet to come. As the Friends' Education Committee reported in October, "many grievances were found to exist at Camp Wadsworth, and it was believed that through their representations to the proper authorities most of these would be redressed." (Friends' Intelligencer 521.) The Friends were betting on the willingness of the new military leadership to assist, but Brown's policies were fast becoming a part of the problem.

Up Next

Camp Wadsworth suffers a setback.

Notes

[1] Preston was also charged with nursing responsibilities, as the circumstances required.

[2] According to the Friends' Association's First Annual Report:

The people on the two farms composing [Camp Wadsworth] evince a desire to support themselves, and they have paid for a considerable  portion of the clothing distributed among them. (10.)

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); Board of Managers, Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen (1865);  Friends' Intelligencer: A Religious and Family Journal, Vol. XXI (1865).

The Friends' Association Reports on the State of the Contraband Camps, June 1864

During late spring 1863, the Union Army resettled nearly nine hundred former slaves on abandoned secessionist properties across Northern Virginia. Lt. Col. Elias Greene, the Chief Quartermaster of the Department of Washington, wanted to put the contrabands to work raising crops for the Union war effort and viewed the government farms as a way to improve the condition of the freedmen and women who had fled to the nation's capital in search of freedom and opportunity. The Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen and other charitable organizations supplemented the government's efforts to assist the contrabands who lived in the camps. As summer 1864 fast approached, the farms were already a year old. Just how had conditions evolved since Greene launched his ambitious program to manage the contraband situation and improve the lot of the former slaves?

In June 1864, Harriet E. Stockly of the Friends' Association made a "visit of examination to the camps near Washington." (First Annual Rpt. 4.) Her final report, which was published in the Friends' Intelligencer of June 25, 1864, provides useful insights into the condition of the government farms in Northern Virginia at the time.

Camp Todd

Camp Todd sat across the Potomac from Washington in Alexandria (now Arlington) County. When the government established the camp in June 1863, Greene chose to house the freedmen and women in former army barracks near Ft. Albany. Stockly counted 280 persons a year later. [n1] Two-thirds were "adult women" because "most of the men belonging to these families [were] in 2d District regiment, stationed at Key West, Fa." (Friends' Intelligencer 249.) [n2] The noted abolitionist Emily Howland served as superintendent and teacher. Stockly described the economic activity at Camp Todd:

Those in camp are working industriously on the Hunter farm, in which there are 200 acres under cultivation. Many of the women are also working on the farm. The men receive from $8 to $10 , and the women from $6 to $8 per month. The vegetable garden belonging to government contains twenty acres. 

Here, as at all the camps, Stockly found that "[t]here seems a prevalent want . . . of a spot of ground to
belong to each family where they can raise vegetables for themselves, and also to give their homes a more attractive appearance."

Detail from 1862 Union Army map of N.E. Virginia showing properties associated with Camp Todd (courtesy of Library of Congress). Ft. Albany sat on land belonging to James Roach, a wealthy contractor with secessionist sympathies. The abandoned army huts used by the former slaves were located close to Ft. Albany, possibly on Roach's property. Today the area is bisected by I-395 near the Pentagon. According to Stockly's report, the contrabands farmed land belonging to the Hunter family, likely the property marked "Genl Hunter" on the map above. The Hunter plantation was known as Abingdon. Gen. Alexander Hunter had died by the time of the Civil War, but the plantation remained in his family through his brother and nephew, who entered the Confederate service in 1861. Today the grounds of Ronald Reagan National Airport occupy the site of Abingdon. Another possibility for the Hunter farm is the land belonging to a Mrs. Hunter situated to the west of Ft. Albany along Columbia Turnpike.

Camp Wadsworth

Stockly also visited Camp Wadsworth in Langley, where she counted "[o]ne hundred and seventy Freedmen" in the care of superintendent Philip Fowler and farmer Ephrafm Plowman. [n3] Five hundred acres were "under cultivation, worked by about 60 persons" for "10 hours a day." According to Stockly,"[t]he farm looks well, and it is supposed 30 bushels of wheat and 50 bushels of rye will be raised to the acre." On the downside, Stockly was shocked to find that "some children of only eleven years of age are put to daily labor in direct violation of Government regulations, which require that they be sent to school till they are 14." Her findings helped to spur the appointment of teacher Lydia T. Atkinson.

Stockly took stock of living situation at Camp Wadsworth, reporting that "[t]he Freedmen occupy two houses three-quarters of a mile apart." [n4] As for alternatives, Stockly observed that "[t]here are only three or four cabins and six acres appropriated to them, but the farmer promises to make a different arrangement." [n5]

Camp Rucker

At Camp Rucker near Falls Church, Stockly found "[e]ighty-six men, women and children -- 20 men, 32 women, and 34 children" under superintendent Fowler and farmer Oliver Beesley. [n6] Sarah Ann Cadwallader were serving as a teacher at the camp. All told, "there [were] at this time, on this farm, 90 acres in winter grain, 85 in corn, 50 in grass, 7 in garden, 2 1/2 in black-eyed peas, 25 of white beans, 2 1/2 of corn for horses, and 1 acre in potatoes."

Camp Rucker had been established on property belonging to Maj. William D. Nutt, who fled to Richmond upon arrival of Union troops in September 1861. The government initially sheltered the contrabands in tents, but by the time Stockly arrived, the situation had changed. She noted:

Since last fall, all the cabins, 15 in number, have been built: with four exceptions, they are 16 feet by 14 feet, and ample in height. There are upon an average about six persons to each house. Should the Freedmen remain here, there will be more cabins erected. Government has disposed of this farm, and the people will have to be removed, but this probably may not occur for two or three years. [n7]

Camp Rucker left Stockly with am extremely positive, if not somewhat exaggerated, impression:

The condition of the Freedmen here is very satisfactory. Their cabins are whitewashed outside and in, and all neatly kept. The people are clean, tidy and highly appreciative of the improvement in their condition. Many of them escaped from severe masters, and they manifest a degree of gratitude to those who have aided them which I have never seen excelled. They are exceedingly attached to their teacher, and fear lest she should leave them. She has labored indefatigably, and in a measure successfully, for their elevation, and it is their testimony that their condition has been greatly improved since she came among them. There is a smaller number at this camp than at any other, which gives them a decided advantage. The standard of morality is high, and they are well cared for. 

Stockly concluded:

The people here will not be likely to need further supplies from us. The teacher thinks that when the present supply is exhausted they will be self-sustaining, unless an unexpected calamity shall befall them.

While at Camp Rucker, Stockly had a chance to attend a wedding ceremony:

. . . I never saw a ceremony of the kind conducted with greater dignity or propriety. They were married by a colored clergyman, who read the Episcopal service, frequently pausing to consider the words before pronouncing them. We were honored with an invitation to the supper. The order in which it was partaken by the guests was somewhat peculiar. First the bride and groom ate alone, then the first bridesmaid and groomsmen, then the second, then their white friends, then their colored friends.

Stockly also visited other contraband settlements in Washington City, Alexandria, Falls Church, Freedman's Village, and Mason's Island before returning home.

Conclusion

Thanks to Stockly's report, we have an idea about how the freedmen and women were faring in the contraband camps of Northern Virginia after a year in operation. The number of former slaves at Camps Rucker, Todd, and Wadsworth remained roughly the same. Hundreds of acres were under cultivation, providing the government with crops and the freedmen and women with an income, however modest. Conditions at Camp Rucker had progressed to a point of near self-sufficiency, and the former slaves there finally had a roof over their heads. Teachers were also holding classes for those who had never learned to read and write. Of course, the situation was far from perfect. Unlawful child labor remained prevalent at Camp Wadsworth. The former slaves also lacked opportunities to own and farm their own plots of land. And left unsaid in Stockly's report, the very existence of the camps raised questions about how long a successful transition from slavery to freedom and economic independence would take. The Friends' Association, as well as the U.S. Government, had much work left to do.

Notes

1. The Superintendent of Freemen, Rev. Danforth B. Nichols, reported 230 persons in Camp Todd on June 30, 1863.

2. This regiment was also known as the 2nd United States Colored Troops.

3. Nichols reported 178 residents in June 1863, slightly more than a year later.

4. The dwellings belonged to Lewis D. Means and Confederate Navy officer James W. Cooke, secessionists who had fled Langley at the start of the war. See my previous post for more information about the owners.

5. It is unclear who built these cabins and where they were located.

6. By contrast, there were 105 residents of Camp Rucker in June 1863.

7. According to an item in the Alexandria Gazette on March 1, 1864, Nutt's property near Falls Church was seized and sold by the U.S. Government under the Direct Tax Act.

Sources

Alexandria Gazette, Mar. 1, 1864; Assn. of Friends (ed.), Friends' Intelligencer: A Religious and Family Journal, Vol. XXI (1865); Board of Managers, Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen (1865); Benjamin Franklin Cooling III & Walton H. Owen II, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (2010 ed.); Alexander Hunter, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank (1905);  "The Hunter Family Marker: Abingdon Plantation," HMdb.org; 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"); "Prospect Hill Marker," HMdb.org.

Relief Efforts for the Contraband Camps Continue in Northern Virginia, May & June 1864

Last month I wrote about the establishment of the Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen. Founded by Philadelphia Quakers in January 1864, this charitable organization decided to focus its energies on assisting the contrabands living in camps around the nation's capital. As the Army of the Potomac battled Robert E. Lee's Confederates at places like Spotsylvania and Totopotomoy Creek, relief efforts for the freedmen continued back in Northern Virginia.

The association took steps to improve the material condition of the contrabands, providing clothing, bedding, and household items like sewing supplies. On May 19, the group sent the following to Camp Rucker, near Falls Church:

. . . 2 doz. Madras hdk's., 3 pieces of muslin, 3 pieces gingham, 1 piece of print, 2 pieces shirting, 1 gross buttons, 8 prs. small scissors, 2 prs. large scissors, 1 pr. shears, 1 lb. drab thread, and a donation from Franklin Wilson of 2 gross pant, buttons, 1 boy's shirt, 5 prs. stockings, man's coat, boy's jacket and pants, and a quilt. (First Annual Rpt. 21.)

The Friends' Association dispatched another box on May 28 to Camp Wadsworth in Langley (present-day McLean):

. . . dry goods valued $90-99. 12 infant slips, 12 girls' dresses, 2 prs. pants, 63 under garments, 1 gross thimbles, 2 gross buttons, 3 doz, spools cotton, 250 needles, one dollar's worth of garden seeds, 1 school bell, 5 brushes, stationery, valued at $30.68. (First Annual Rpt. 21.)

A somewhat idealized version of a contraband school, from Mary S. Peake, The Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe by Lewis C. Lockwood (courtesy of Project Gutenberg).

Former slaves lacked even the most basic educational skills, and the Friends' Association also worked to organize schools on the government farms. Sarah Ann Cadwallader had already taken a teaching position at Camp Rucker earlier in the year. The Friends' Association conducted an inspection of Camp Wadsworth in June and reported that "some children of only eleven years of age are put to daily labor in direct violation of Government regulations, which require that they be sent to school till they are fourteen." (First Annual Rpt. 4.) This finding prompted the appointment of 20 year-old Lydia T. Atkinson of New Jersey to serve as a teacher at Camp Wadsworth.* Such efforts often filled a gap where the Union Army was unwilling, unprepared, or unable to lend a hand. As the spring turned into summer, the Friends' Association would become even more active in the camps around Washington.

Note

*The PBS program, Finding Your Roots, featured a segment on Lydia T. Atkinson. (See here.) The Quaker teacher is actor Kevin Bacon's great-grandmother -- a relation that is even less than the famed six degrees!

Sources

Board of Managers, Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen (1865).

The Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen Extends a Helping Hand

As I discussed extensively in a series of posts last year, the Union Army established contraband camps across Northern Virginia in late May and early June 1863. Although the military had primary responsibility for running the camps in Virginia and elsewhere, private charitable organizations also took action to assist the former slaves who were quartered there. As one historian has written, "[t]he philanthropic shock troops came south and performed their humanitarian services to relieve the nation and themselves of a pressing moral burden." (Magdol 92.) One particular group of Friends (or Quakers) focused its efforts on the camps in Northern Virginia throughout 1864.

On January 6 of that year, a large number of Friends assembled at the Race Street Meeting House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group, "[i]mpressed with the immediate need of attention to the welfare of the colored people in our country liberated from bondage," founded the "Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen." (First Annual Rpt. 3.) The assembly adopted a constitution and chose an Executive Board and Finance Committee. On the same day, the Executive Board established a committee for the "judicious distribution of supplies." (First Annual Rpt. 3.) The board also introduced a "proposition. . . to send teachers among the freed people, which was considered and referred to the Association, recommending the appointment of an Educational Committee to unite with one from the Board." (First Annual Rpt. 3-4.) The Educational Committee was finally appointed in March and continued to operate until the association decided to entrust sole responsibility for education to the Executive Board's own committee.

The Race Street Meeting House (1856) in Philadelphia (courtesy of Society of Friends (Quakers) Meeting Houses and Schools).

The Friends' Association aimed to garner the support and cooperation of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends.* The new group distributed an address that was read at monthly meetings and other gatherings of the Yearly Meeting. As the First Annual Report of the Friends' Association reported:

The response to this appeal gave encouragement to believe that the continued aid of Friends would be freely given in the work before us, and, therefore, with renewed earnestness, we made preparations to hear the cries of the needy, and, according to our means and ability, to endeavor to relieve their sufferings. (First Annual Rpt. 3.)

In February 1864, the Executive Board, "[w]ith the view of ascertaining the appropriate field for operation. . . requested the Corresponding Secretary to communicate with agents and other persons in portions of the Southern States where the freed people had collected, enquiring concerning their condition." (First Annual Rpt. 4.) A couple months later, two members visited contraband facilities in Gen. Benjamin Butler's Department of Virginia and North Carolina. In the end, the Friends' Association opted "to concentrate [its] labors in the neighborhood of Washington." (First Annual Rpt. 4.) The proximity of Washington to Philadelphia may have in part influenced the association's decision. (Friends' Intelligencer 8.)

Lucretia Mott, c. 1860-80 (courtesy of Wikipedia). The noted abolitionist and women's rights activist served on the board of the Friends' Association for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen along with her husband, James.

By April 1864, the Friends' Association had begun to distribute supplies to the camps in Northern Virginia. The First Annual Report noted that on April 25, Camp Rucker near Falls Church received:

. . . 7 Colton's maps, 1 Smith's large U. S. Map, 2 school atlases, 1 writing chart, 2 doz. Wilson's First Reader, 2 doz. Wilson's Second Reader, 3 doz. Wilson's Speller, 4 doz. Wilson's Charts, 1—8, 1 doz. Wilson's Charts, 15—16, 1 pt. liquid slating, 4 doz. slates, 200 pencils, 8 brushes, soap, candles, school bell, 1 doz. lamps, 12 doz. thimbles. 40 spools of cotton, 6 papers needles, 6 pieces tape, 4 boxes buttons, 1 package dried fruits; and 134 garments sent from Women's Association. (First Annual Rpt. 21.)

Teachers dispatched by the Friends also began to arrive at camps in the region. Sarah Anne Cadwallader was placed at Camp Rucker that spring. As the First Annual Report informed members of the association, "[g]ood results are apparent from her labors." (First Annual Rpt. 4.)

Today's post begins a periodic series on the Friends' activities at the contraband camps in Alexandria (Arlington) and Fairfax Counties. The association's efforts are an integral part of the story behind the camps. They shed light not only on how charitable organizations supplemented government policies to provide for the economic well-being of emancipated slaves, but they also help us to understand conditions in the camps and the experiences of the contrabands living there. I look forward to retracing the steps of the Friends in Northern Virginia throughout 1864 and beyond.

Note

*For those unfamiliar with the Friends' religious organization, as I was, information on yearly meetings can be found here. A history of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is available here.

Sources

Assn. of Friends (ed.), Friends' Intelligencer: A Religious and Family Journal, Vol. XXI (1865); Board of Managers, Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen, First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Friends' Assn. for the Aid and Elevation of the Freedmen (1865); Edward Magdol, A Right to the Land: Essays on the Freedmen's Community (1977).

Mosby's Attempt to Raid the Contraband Camp Near Falls Church

Last fall I wrote about a Confederate attack on the contraband farm at Camp Beckwith in Lewinsville. The contraband camps in Northern Virginia made inviting targets for Confederate guerrillas, who could surprise and overpower the small Union garrisons and ride away with horses, crops, and prisoners. Even before the Lewinsville raid in October 1863, the Confederates set their sights on another contraband camp close to Falls Church. The episode involved none other than the Gray Ghost, John S. Mosby, and his partisan rangers.

At the start of the Civil War, Major William D. Nutt resided in Alexandria County (present-day Arlington), just across the border from Falls Church.* He worked as a clerk at the U.S. Department of the Treasury until resigning in April 1861. An ardent secessionist, Nutt fled his property as Union troops arrived in September 1861. Not long afterwards, his home was burned to the ground by Gen. Louis Blenker's men. As a soldier from the 21st New York described the scene, "[t]he remains of a fine piano and other heavy furniture litter the grounds; the garden and outbuildings are sacked and destroyed, and the stock appropriated by the ravagers." (Mills 121.) Nutt ended up in Richmond, where he took a position as a clerk with the Confederate Treasury Department.**

On May 30, 1863, the Union Army took Nutt's property for use as a contraband farm named Camp Rucker. The camp was one of five established across Northern Virginia during the same time period. The former slaves quartered on Major Nutt's land numbered 105 by the end of June 1863.

Mosby and some of his Rangers (courtesy of Wikipedia). Mosby is seated in the center, with a plume in his hat.

Meanwhile, Mosby and his band continued their attacks on Federal targets throughout Northern Virginia. Mosby's most daring and well-known exploit involved the March capture of a sleeping Union general in Fairfax Court House. The summer brought more trouble for the Union authorities. In mid-August, the Alexandria Gazette carried an item entitled, "MOSBY'S LATEST RAID." (Alex. Gazette, Aug. 19, 1863; all citations hereinafter to same unless otherwise indicated.) The paper had learned the details from "a gentleman residing near Falls Church, not far from Bailey's Cross Roads."

Detail from 1862 Union Army map showing the general area of Mosby's raid of August 16 1863, including Falls Church, Maj. Nutt's property (Camp Rucker), Ft. Buffalo, and Bailey's Cross Roads (courtesy of Library of Congress). The Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike is the road running through Falls Church past Munson's Hill to Bailey's Cross-Roads.

On Sunday, August 16, "just about daylight, Mosby and fifty-four of his men were seen about a mile from fort Buffalo, with three Union soldiers and some horses with harness that they had captured from a train of sutlers early in the night before." The group "disappeared suddenly in the woods," but at 9 o'clock that night Mosby and fifteen of his men, along with the three prisoners, resurfaced "at the northwest end of Falls Church village." The raiders then rode outside of town, "through by the contraband camp on Major Nutt's place," and joined the Leesburg-Alexandria Turnpike (today's VA-7)  near Ft. Buffalo. They proceeded down the pike to a point one mile below Bailey's Cross Roads before doubling back.

Mosby stopped when he got to Camp Rucker. The Gazette reported what happened next:

Mosby and six men dismounted and approached the contraband camp, when the guard halted him; he gave some reply and moved on, when the guard shot and one of the Union prisoners made his escape. Moseby [sic] then fell back and moved through Falls Church up the turnpike to a little tavern, where they stopped, and was telling the keeper of the hotel where they had been, and that they could go where they pleased, when a detachment of the California cavalry came up and drove them beyond Difficult run four miles from Dranesville.***

Assuming the Gazette had the story right, Mosby and his band went on quite a ride the night of August 16. The article doesn't report much in the way of booty aside from what the Confederates seized when they attacked the sutler train earlier in the day. Mosby obviously had a raid on Camp Rucker in mind when he stopped at Maj. Nutt's place, but quick action by an alert Federal guard foiled the potential disaster and allowed one prisoner to escape. Only a few months later, Elijah White and his men would have a bit more success in attacking another contraband farm at Camp Beckwith.

Notes

*Nutt's farm was somewhere in the vicinity of the modern-day East Falls Church Metro Station.

**Some sources indicate that Nutt entered the Confederate military. I have not uncovered Nutt's service record. At the very least, Nutt worked for the Confederate Treasury Department based on information contained in Confederate citizens files in the National Archives.

***This unit was likely the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry, which was comprised on some troopers from California. The 2nd Massachusetts was doing duty in the Department of Washington at the time.

Sources

Alexandria Gazette, Apr. 11, 1861, May 11, 1861, Jan. 10, 1863, Aug. 19, 1863; Bradley E. Gernand, A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church During the Civil War (2002); James O'McClure, "The Old Twenty-First: Interesting History of the 'First Buffalo Regiment,'" Western New Yorker, Jan. 21, 1897; J. Harrison Mills, Chronicles of the Twenty-First Regiment, New York State Volunteers (1863); Beth Mitchell, Fairfax County in 1860: Property Owners (original map book available at Virginia Room, City of Fairfax Regional Library); N.A.R.A., Files for William D. Nutt in Confederate Papers Relating to Citizens or Business Firms, 1861-65 (available at fold3.com); New York Times, Aug. 9, 1863; Oliver Willcox Norton, Army Letters, 1861-1865 (1903); "2nd Massachusetts Cavalry,"  Civil War in the East (website);

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).