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As the Civil War broke out and White southern men left for the front lines, many enslaved people saw their chance for freedom and fled north. The laws of the time considered them property, and one Union general began to refer to them as contraband of war. This designation, intentionally or not, allowed the Union army to claim they were seized property and therefore not subject to any requirement, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, to return them into slavery.
Over the course of the war, those who had escaped from slavery could be found in contraband camps, centered around Union forces, and in Northern cities. Whether in camps or in cities, they faced hunger, poverty, poor sanitation, and little aid from governments stretched thin from war. In 1862, Elizabeth Keckly – herself a former slave, and popular dressmaker for those in society including Mary Todd Lincoln – formed the Contraband Relief Association to provide aid to the people referred to as contraband and to advocate on their behalf. Though not the only relief organization, some credit it as the one with the greatest impact on the well-being of the Black people who escaped to the North during the time of the war.
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