Seeking Freedom

During the early days of the Civil War, Virginia seceded from the Union, and that night three enslaved men approached Fortress Monroe seeking sanctuary. And, unexpectedly, they were given it.

The commander of the fort, Benjamin Butler, refused to give up all the enslaved who sought sanctuary there, considering them “contraband of war.” The enslaved provided important strategic war information about the Confederacy in return, and later it was their difficult situation that led to President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

What a story! I was completely fascinated with this little-known tale.