Former Slaves Behind Union Lines

A group of formerly enslaved men, women, and children gather outside a building at the Foller Plantation in Cumberland Landing on May 14, 1862. During the Peninsula Campaign, photographer James F. Gibson made a series of images of Union troops encamped at Cumberland Landing on the Pamunkey River. Among those glass-plate negatives is this portrait of so-called contrabands, or enslaved African Americans who had emancipated themselves by fleeing behind Union lines.