The role slaves played in the Civil War

Was slavery a prevailing cause and subsequent force in the four-year conflagration known as the American Civil War?

The debate is ongoing even as the 150^th Anniversary is commemorated.

Perhaps a glimpse at the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and ‘62 will provide fodder for scholarly discussion. At issue was the right to confiscate property, including slaves, from those who were considered wartime enemies and utilizing that property to facilitate the war effort. A subsequent and somewhat more pragmatic issue was what to do with the thousands of slave refugees migrating to the Union military camps.

The legislative process was driven in large part by the arguments of the powerful special interests, factional politics, and the conflicting attitudes of the commanding military officers in the field.

More detail will provide a better understanding.

1861- Congress:

Dismayed by the outcome of the 1^st Battle of Manassas, July 1, 1861, Congress passed the 1^st Confiscation Act. During the battle, thousands of slaves were utilized for the menial tasks of war, enabling the able-bodied white Southerner to serve as a fighting soldier.

In essence, the legislation allowed the confiscation of all property, including slaves, that was being utilized to further the insurrection against the United States government.

Though the legislation passed and was signed in August by President Lincoln, it received fierce resistance from those in Congress who were either supporters of the institution of slavery or did not wish to rock the boat.

Lincoln provided no tools of enforcement and the act failed to serve its intent.

1861- Military

Union Major General Benjamin Butler, trained as an attorney and in the summer of 1861 in command of Ft. Monroe at Hampton, Va., was the first to refer to the refugee slave as a “contraband of war.” Under this legal characterization, he found grounds to disallow the return of escaped slaves to their Confederate owners as previously dictated by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

The word spread and thousands flocked to the camp. Freedom was not initially a fact of their new status. It was not until later that emancipation and pay for their work would be realized.

Gen. Butler’s policy was not adopted by all Union officers and many continued to return refugees to their owners. Historians have noted that General Joe Hooker allowed slave-owners to reclaim fugitives from within his Union lines and that General Henry Halleck issued orders prohibiting the admittance of fugitive slaves into camp and that any present should be removed.

The 1861 act denied owners right to reclamation of their slaves, but failed to speak clearly to the issue of freedom. Ironically, in many cases the refugee slaves became the property of the United States government.

In response to the ambiguity, U.S. General David Hunter commanding troops in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida issued General Order No. 11 on May 9, 1862 freeing all slaves in areas under his authority.

Fearing political retribution, Lincoln immediately countermanded the order,

1862- Congress:

The Second Confiscation Act, passed on July 17, 1862, applied only to Confederate regions that had been occupied by Union forces. Basically, it stated that the slaves of any individual found guilty of aiding and abetting the Confederacy would be freed.

More important to the prospect of freedom was the language that addressed the status of refugees: all slaves taking refuge in Union areas were "captives of war" and would be set free.

Culpeper County would find itself deep in the implementation of these policies under U.S. General John Pope’s occupation by July, 1862.

A topic for further debate is the fact that Lincoln’s position was in opposition to these acts, anxious that the Border States would be compelled to join the Confederacy and the argument that the proposed legislation was unconstitutional.

Nonetheless, he did not offer a veto. The escalating number of refugees engulfing the Union Army camps and increasing political pressure would led to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the subsequent enlistment of tens of thousands of former slaves into the United States Colored Troops.