Major-General Christopher Colon Augur

Mrs. Louisa Jane Barker, the wife of the Chaplain of the 1st Mass. Heavy Artillery, writes in 1864 regarding a contraband camp near Ft. Albany, in northern Virginia. The camp, referred to as a “village” by Mrs. Barker, was ordered to be cleared out by order of Gen. Augur. “This order was executed so literally that even a dying child was ordered out of his house—The grandmother who had taken care of it since its mothers death begged leave to stay until the child died, but she was refused. “The men who were absent at work, came home at night to find empty houses, and their families gone, they knew not whither!–Some of them came to Lieutenant Shepard to inquire for their lost wives and children—In tears and indignation they protested against a tyranny worse than their past experiences of slavery—One man said, ‘I am going back to my old master—I never saw hard time till since I called myself a freeman.’ “

Stephen Barker Chaplin 1st Mass Heavy Artillery

General Truman Seymour

‘Well I guess we will let Strong put those damned **** from Massachusetts
in the advance, we might as well get rid of them, one time as another.’
...Union. Gen Truman Seymour

Brig-General George Crockett Strong