Southern Contraband of War Fleeing North -- Gen. Butler's Account of the Contraband Tag being Applied to Runaway Slaves

Major General Benjamin Butler gives this account of his inspiration to classify escaping southern slaves as "contraband":

    On the day after my arrival at the fort [Fort Monroe}, May 23 [1861], three negroes were reported coming in a boat from Sewall's Point, where the enemy was building a battery.  Thinking that some information as to that work might be got from them, I had them before me.  I learned that they were employed on the battery on the Point, which as yet was a trifling affair.  There were only two guns there, though the work was laid out to be much larger and to be heavily mounted with guns captured from the navy-yard.  The negroes said they belonged to Colonel Mallory, who commanded the Virginia troops around Hampton, and that he was now making preparation to take all his negroes to Florida soon, and that not wanting to go away from home they had escaped to the fort.  I directed that they should be fed and set to work.

    On the next day I was notified by an officer in charge of the picket line next Hampton that an officer bearing a flag of truce desired to be admitted to the fort to see me.  As I did not wish to allow offices of the enemy to come inside the fort just then and see us piling up sandbags to protect the weak points there, I directed the bearer of the flag to be informed that I would be at the picket line in the course of an hour.  Accompanied by two gentlemen of my staff, Major Fay and Captain Haggerty, neither now living, I rode out to the picket line and met the flag of truce there.  It was under charge of Major Carey, who introduced himself, at the same time pleasantly calling to mind that we last met at the Charleston convention.

    Major Carey opened the conversation by saying:  "I have sought to see you for the purpose of ascertaining upon what principles you intend to conduct the war in this neighborhood. . . ."

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    "I am informed," said Major Carey, "that three negroes belonging to Colonel Mallory have escaped within your lines.  I am Colonel Mallory's agent and have charge of his property.  What do you mean to do with those Negroes?"

    "I intend to hold them," said I.

    "Do you mean, then, to set aside your constitutional obligations to return them?"

    "I mean to take Virginia at her word, as declared in the ordinance of secession passed yesterday.  I am under no constitutional obligations to a foreign country, which Virginia now claims to be."

    "But you say we cannot secede," he answered, "and so you cannot consistently detain the negroes."

    "But you say you have seceded, so you cannot consistently claim them.  I shall hold these Negroes as contraband of war, since they are engaged in the construction of your battery and are claimed as your property.  The question is simply whether they shall be used for or against the Government of the United States.  Yet, though I greatly need the labor which has providentially come to my hands, if Colonel Mallroy will come into the fort and take the oath of allegiance to the United States, he shall have his Negroes, and I will endeavor to hire them from him."

    "Colonel Mallory is absent," was Major Carey's answer.

    We courteously parted.

Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major General Benj. F. Butler: A Review of

His Legal, Political, and Military Career  (Boston: A.M.Thayer & Co. 1892.  p256-58)

    In the pages which follow this summary of how he came up with the "contraband" tag Gen. Butler gives a rebuttal of those who suggest it really didn't originate with him.

    The Union cover "Secession's Moving Foundation" pictured above reflects the reality that came out of Butler's decision to not return the slaves to their owner.  Many other slaves followed and were taken in by Northern forces.  Their exact status of slave/free would remain undetermined until later in the war after more formal policy was established.  But the artist of this cover catches the fact that things are changing, that Southern culture as it was is being challenged.  

    I don't know if I'd class this cover as an "abolitionist" cover.  Probably I'd see it more along the lines of cheering the fact that the South is being weakened both economically and structurally with each escaping "worker".  By this I mean, if we view patriotic covers as 1860s bumper stickers declaring political opinions of those who use them, then I do not think this covers's use would be limited only to strict abolitionists.  

Who Really Needs to be "Set Free"? Civil War Contraband Patriotic Envelope

    I've always enjoyed the variety of designs printed on the Civil War Patriotic Covers I've collected.  Most are straight forward in meaning, e.g. the flag on the envelope shows you support the Union or the Confederacy;  or the text below the picture makes the political point, often adding an edge to the political message portrayed in the picture itself.  But some covers I've pondered what exactly is the message the artist is presenting?  I may catch the general message of Pro-Union or Pro-Confederacy, but I find myself coming back to look at the cover and wondering if I really have gotten the cover's political point?

    This Union Patriotic Cover is one of those.  It's clearly Anti-Confederacy in it's general tone.  But in what way are the Southern States listed on this envelope like "contraband"? 

I'se Contraband
Civil War Union Patriotic Envelope
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    First, we should start by examining the definitions of "contraband":  Webster's 4th Edition College Dictionary (1999) gives the following definitions:  

1) unlawful or prohibited trade 

2) goods forbidden by law to be imported or exported; smuggled merchandise 

3) war materiel which may be intercepted and seized by a belligerent when shipped to their enemy by a neutral country 

4) during the Civil War, a black slave who fled to, or was smuggled or found behind the Union lines.

    The tag "contraband" to describe slaves coming into Union controlled territory arises from Gen. Benjamin Butler's classification of three slaves who escaped to Fortress Monroe, Hampton VA in 1861 shortly after Fort Sumter being fired upon.  Gen. Butler refused to return the slaves to their owner by labeling them "contrabands of war", something/someone to be denied to a belligerent to prevent him from having an advantage.  It was Butler's way to justify not returning the escaped slaves to their master in the face of having no official Federal administrative policy about freeing the slaves.

    Now back to the cover we're looking at here.  It has the picture of a black man centered within a ten point star.  There are ten states listed (VA, NC, TX, GA, LA, AR, AL, MS, FL, SC).  Technically eleven states seceded and joined together to form the Confederacy.  Tennessee is missing from the list on this cover.  The ten states listed on the cover had all been admitted to the Confederacy by the end of May 1861.  Tennessee was admitted July 2, 1861.  This may or may not give us a suggestion of time when the cover was printed up.

    When I first saw this cover I thought it was just conveying a general abolitionist message like:  "Free the slaves in the South".  But as I've handled it and thought about how the artist put together the picture, I've come to wonder if it's a poke at the Confederacy in another way.  Who really needs to be "Set Free"?
   Perhaps the artist is saying:  the unlawfully held "material" are the ten states which the Confederate government is now holding.  In a broader sense, the populations of those ten states are now just as enslaved as the black slaves fleeing north to find freedom.  The cover's statement "I'se contraband" becomes a cry for help to Northern brethren to come and set their Southern brethren free from the oppressive secessionist government that really has no right to hold power over these ten states.  In a sly slap at the supporters of the Confederacy in these ten states, the artist is saying "you really do not realize what's happening to you. . . you need to be set free just like the black slaves that are coming north to find their freedom".

    Too much time on my hands, you say?  Well, like I said, this is one of the patriotic covers that I've reproduced and thought about.  The artist who drew up the design put in the details with a purpose.  If you have a different interpretation, send me a comment.