GDG- Blacks at Gettysburg

[Margaret D. Blough]

In addition, I've never seen anything that indicated that the Confederates bothered with such niceties as determining whether or not the individual was, in fact, a runaway slave.

Regards.

Margaret

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Tom Ryan" <pennmardel at mchsi.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> <> who had escaped slavery before the war and were in PA. Does anyone know 
> about this, or was it just one of the possibilities discussed in Richmond.>> 
> 
> Hi John, 
> 
> Actually the capture of blacks during the Gettysburg Campaign was unofficial 
> policy on the part of the ANV, and evidently was condoned by the army 
> command and the Richmond authorities. This has been documented in any 
> number of articles in recent years, and is mentioned in most of the major 
> histories of the campaign. 
> 
> What has not been well established is how many blacks were captured, and 
> returned to the South. Usually the estimates range up to at least a couple 
> hundred. Most of the capturing was done by ANV cavalry. Jenkins in 
> particular is known to have captured and sent back escaped slaves and free 
> blacks alike. Jeb Stuart also captured some blacks around the Rockville, 
> Maryland area. John Mosby's rangers also captured some and brought them 
> back to Virginia. 
> 
> The only written evidence that I recall is a message from Longstreet to 
> Pickett that discusses the disposition of "contrabands" that had been 
> captured. 
> 
> Regards, Tom 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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