Description

A slave owner raises his whip as black families race toward Fort Monroe. Some remain behind picking cotton. The words Come back here, you black rascal.\ \Can't come back nohow, mass; Dis chile's contraban'\ appear in the image. The image is a reference to General Benjamin Butler's \contraband\ policy, by which escaping slaves reaching Union lines would not be returned to slavery. Butler, a trained attorney, used Virginia's secession to argue that under international law that escaped slaves were \contraband of war\ and he was not required to return them to their former owners.\Illustrated Civil War envelopes with patriotic symbols, slogans and cartoons, mostly Northern, including a few Southern ones.

Record Contributed By

Georgetown University Library

Record Harvested From

District Digital