Contrabands

We got a break from the War. We were told to join the reserves and bivouac with McClellan's Army of the Potomac. What we saw was awesome. Never in my life had I seen tents or horses in such number. They had everything. My first impression was strange. They had these tents with "CONTRABANDS" stenciled on them. They were the cooks and they fed all of McClellan's Army - all 126,000 of them! They were very resourceful cooking Alligator, Shark - whatever they could find. And since we were in enemy territory there were plenty of Sharks and Alligators. However, we were puzzled by the term "CONTRABANDS" affixed to the tent flaps. I was told that these Black men had been slaves but were captured with Confederate Officers. The officers were paroled, the ex-slaves put to work.

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