Some would call them concentration camps for the exslaves. While they were given some freedom and there weren't fences around the camps, they weren't really allowed to roam about at will by the Federals either. Confederates, as well as the Federals, were both known to use slaves as spys.

The camps were run much like the army military camps were, where they had their own police (provost marshall) force. You had to have a pass to leave the camps. Many of the able bodied males were used as a labor force in order to be able to obtain food themselves and maybe their family, or they joined the army in order to excape the camps. The women had to do laundry or other services to obtain money or food, The Federals provides some of the tentage and blankets, but usually at some price. Sickness was rampant among the old, the weak and those too young to be of meanful service and because of the overcrowding, poor nutrition and poor sanitation.

All in all not a very pretty picture of their first taste of "freedom".