FRANK BAKER, SHEPARD MALLORY AND JAMES TOWNSEND

Slaves whose escape in the early days of the Civil War helped change Union policy on escaped slaves 
Birth dates unknown but estimated as 1819 for Baker, 1841 for Mallory and 1825 for Townsend; birthplaces unknown

A Bit of History: The Contraband; The Recruit; The Veteran (1865–66) depicts the narrative of a fictional emancipated
slave who enrolls in the Union Army and loses his leg. It commemorates the transition of the African American from slavery to freedom

All three men were slaves owned by Charles Mallory on a Hampton-area farm. When Mallory, a Confederate colonel, ordered them to help build an artillery emplacement across the harbor from Union-held Fortress Monroe (as Fort Monroe was then known) during the Civil War in 1861, the three slaves slipped away. They rowed to the fort and presented themselves to Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler. The slaves offered intelligence about rebel fortifications - and, by seeking refuge, prompted Butler to come up with the novel legal theory that these escaped slaves were contraband of war and did not have to be returned to their owners. The trio's bold move prompted a flood of escaping slaves to follow in their footsteps, establishing Fort Monroe as an early outpost of freedom well before President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

LINKS

New York Times story "How slavery really ended in America"

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/may-june/the-forgotten.html