"Contraband" was a term commonly used in the US military during the American Civil War to describe a new status for certain people who escaped slavery or those who affiliated with Union forces. In Aug
Contraband camp, Baton Rouge, circa 1863, buildings formerly used as a Female Seminary; image ascribed to McPherson & Oliver (LSU Libraries item 13940009r)
A version of the "Fort Monroe Doctrine" cartoon that was drawn on an envelope, reprinted in History of the 19th Century in Caricature (1904)
"Contraband of War" by Thomas Nast, New York Illustrated News, June 15, 1861, p. 96
A contemporary cartoon showing slaves escaping to Fort Monroe after Gen. Butler's decree that all slaves behind Union lines would be protected. The policy was called the "Fort Monroe Doctrine", alluding to Butler's headquarters at the Fort.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877, and was the Commanding General of the Union Army, leading it to victory in the American Civil War in 1865.
Contraband (American Civil War)
…recruitment started in 1863. One particular contraband camp, which had 6,000 "runaway negroes", was in Natchez, Mississippi, and was visited by General Ulysses S. Grant with some of his family and staff in 1863. By the end of the war, more than two hundred fifty Contraband camps were operating in the Southern United…
Grant, c. 1870–1880
Grant's birthplace in Point Pleasant, Ohio
Grant as a young officer, c. 1845–1847
The Battle of Monterrey during which Grant saw military action