User:Cliobon/Freedman's Village

In 1863, the federal government used a piece of land in what is now Arlington County as a settlement for freed slaves and gave it the name "Freedman's Village." The land belonged to the Custis family and had been the home of Robert E. Lee for thirty years. Due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., the Lee family left and the property was occupied by the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War in May of 1861. Rental houses were built on the property and were occupied by as many as one thousand and possibly more freed slaves while they farmed part of the estate and received schooling and occupational training during and after the Civil War. In 1864 the federal government would use another part of the same estate to create what is now Arlington National Cemetery. Freedman's Village would finally be closed in 1900 with many of the families moving to nearby neighborhoods in Arlington and the cemetery would expand to use the land where it had been located.

History

During the Civil War, in April of 1862, the U.S. Government enacted paid emancipation of slaves in the District of Columbia. This, along with the Confiscation Acts and the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863, created the situation that if enslaved persons left Confederate territory and made it to Union Army lines, they, in most cases, would not be returned to their owners and would be free. A refugee crises was created in both Washington D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia with thousands of "contraband" or "freedmen" fleeing slavery in search of freedom. The government attempted to create freedman's camps to provide shelter and food for the freedmen, but conditions were crowded and disease was rampant.

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