The American Civil War: Unidentified Federal Officer and Runaway Slave Boy


Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified Federal officer with a 'contaband' slave boy in May 1862. Slaves fled in numbers to the Union lines as soon as the War reached where they lived. Note the boy's foot is bandaged. He may have walked some distance to rach the Federal lines. The primary motivation for Federal soldiers was the preservation of the Union. That said, destroying slavery was a fervently held goal, albeit a minority of Federal soldiers. The photograph is from a James F. Gibson stereograph titled 'Cumberland Landing, Virginia. Group at Mr. Foller's farm.' Cumerland Landing is located east of Richmond, probably an area occupied by the Federals during the Peninsula Campaign. We are left wondering if the officer took the boy with him when McClellan evacuated. Put your cursor on the image for a closer look at the officer and his new friend. Source: Library of Congress. Call number: LC-B815- 637 [P&P] LOT 4179.

Here we see an unidentified Federal officer with a 'contaband' slave boy in May 1862. Slaves fled in numbers to the Union lines as soon as the War reached where they lived. Note the boy's foot is bandaged. He may have walked some distance to rach the Federal lines. The primary motivation for Federal soldiers was the preservation of the Union. That said, destroying slavery was a fervently held goal. albeit a minority of Federal soldiers. The photograph is from a James F. Gibson stereograph titled 'Cumberland Landing, Virginia. Group at Mr. Foller's farm.' Cumerland Landing is located east of Richmond, probably an area occupied by the Federals during the Peninsula Campaign. We are left wondering if the officer took the boy with him when McClellan evacuated.

Location

The photograph is from a James F. Gibson stereograph titled 'Cumberland Landing, Virginia. Group at Mr. Foller's farm.' We know nothing abour Mr. Foller, but his farm is also described as a plantation. Thus he would have had slaves, photgraphs describe the Afro-Americans as 'contrabands', suggesting that at least some had ruaway from other places. Another image shows a group of about 20 contrabands, including men, women, abd children. Federal troops appear to have bivouacked on his plantation, likely against his wishes. A plantation would have been a good place to do as food and water would have been at hand. Cumerland Landing is located east of Richmond, probably an area occupied by the Federals during the Peninsula Campaign.

Photographer

The British took photography during the Ciman war, but the Divil War was the first major war to be extensively photographed. James F. Gibson was not as well known as Gardner and Brady, but he made an important contribution. He was born in New York City. He learned photigraphy working for Brady. He photographed Gen. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, inckiding the Seven Days Battles, Battle of Gaines' Mill, and Battle of Malvern Hill. .

Chronology

We know just went the photograph was taken -- May 1862. By this time the Peninsula Campign was well in progress, but the major battles had not yet been fought.

Peninsula Campaign (March-July 1862)

It looked like the Federal forces would defeat the Confederacy as McClellan slowly and meticulously conducted the Peninsular Campaign. The Army of the Potomac brought the War to the Confederacy with the Peninsula Campaign mastrermined by General McClellan. Using their superior naval forces, the Federals landed on the York Peninsula, shortening the distance they needed to drive toward Richmond. The pace of the War picked up the following year as Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was at this time Lee exerted his military brillance. Major battles were fought punctuated with long period of recovery and inaction. Lee's initial victory was the Seven Days (June-July 1862). These were masterful battles which established Lee as one of the great military commanders of the War. It was a series of costly victories that the Confederacy could scarcely afford, but stopped the Federals before Richmond. Lee was an offensive-minded commander. While achieving these victories, they came at a considerable price, substantial losses even in victory. The losses were dreadful on both sides, but the Federal forces were better prepare to replace the losses than the Confederacy. Mclellan decided to withdraw back to Washington. The failure of the Peninsula Campaign undermined Lincoln's confidence in McClellan.

Contrabands

After the Civil War erupted, large numbers of slaves flocked to Federal lines. Federal troops also occupied substantial areas in the rebelious states, primarily in the areas of the south along the Mississippi River and Tenessee. The slaves who ran away and began reaching Federal units were at first referred to as "contaband". Federal law at the time before issued the Emancipation Proclmation became effective (January 1, 1863) required run away slaves to be returned to their masters. Most of their masters, however, were in rebellion and such an action would have alienated northern abolitionists who were strongly supporting the Federal war effort. It would have also hurt the Federal cause in Europe where diplomats were struggling to keep Britain and France from recognizing the South. Both countrues had strong economic ties to the South which was their primary source of cotton. This is much more important than it sounds today. Cotton was a critical commodity in the 19th century and in fact central to the emerging industrial economies of Britain and France. Yet anti-slavery sentiment made it difficult for either government to recognize the Confederacy. The runaways were not at first accepted as soldiers. Federal units began, however, using them as laborers, both to construct fortifications and in daily camp chores like laundry and cooking.

Individuals

There are several interesting individuals in this photograph. The two most fascinating are an unidentified Federal officer with a 'contaband' slave boy in May 1862. The individuals are noit identified, The officer looks like a junior officer, perhaps a lieutenant. Note the boy's foot is bandaged. He may have walked some distance to rach the Federal lines. The primary motivation for Federal soldiers was the preservation of the Union. That said, destroying slavery was a fervently held goal. albeit a minority of Federal soldiers. The way the photograph is shot, it suggests that the officer took the boy under his care. Civil War photographers could not take actiin shits, the emuslions required long exposures. Thus they were not uncommonly posed images. This was porobably the case here, but I don't think he posed the boy under the officr's legs. I=Even if he did, they clearly did not object. Some of the men are not in uniform. They could be blacksmiths, waggon masters, and other civilian workers. We also see an adult black mam, presumably another contraband.

Questions

Photographs provide fascinating insights into social and historical trends. Knowing what the individuals looked like and how they lived is very important information. But often while providing insights, we are left with questions. We do no any of the names which would be invaluble in assesing what we see here. We do not know far the boy came to reach the Federal lines. We do not know if the boy is relted to the Afro-American man. Perhaps not or theyould be closer. So this boy may have taken it in his own to run away. That would have been an enormous decesion for a boy his age. iven his age he orobably was not yet separated from his mother. We suspect the young Federal officer was a strong anti-slavery man. Such men would be the most likely to help the contrabands. We are left wondering if the officer took the boy with him when McClellan evacuated. We are not sure what happened to the cintrabands in general.







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Created: 3:40 AM 3/28/2015
Last updated: 3:40 AM 3/28/2015