Description
The (steamboat) Sam Gaty will be here today or tomorrow with a load of Contrabands.
It will be recollected that the Gaty was the first and only boat that ever stopped at our levee with a secesh flag flying.
Now she brings the first load of Contrabands from the sunny South. Very early times have changed. - Leavenworth Bulletin.
(Researcher’s note: In May 1861 “At Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, Union Maj. General Benjamin Butler refused to send three fugitives back into the bonds of slavery. He classified the escaping slaves as contraband of war. This term meant that once the fleeing slaves crossed Union army lines, they were classified as property. All enemy property that fell into Union hands constituted contraband and would not be returned.
Because of Butler's actions, a federal policy was instituted on August 6, 1861 - fugitive slaves were declared to be "contraband of war" if their labor had been used to aid the Confederacy in anyway. If found to be contraband, they were declared free.” https://www.nps.gov/articles/living-contraband-former-slaves-in-the-nation-s-capital-during-the-civil-war.htm)Date(s) of Creation
3/28/1863
