The Black soldiers who supported the Union in the American Civil War were known as “the Contrabands.” The Fugitive Slave Act, which deemed people held as slaves as “property” to be returned to their owners, had been the law in effect prior to the commencement of the Civil War. The Confiscation Act of 1861 was passed in the U.S. to overrule the former law. The Confiscation Act was effectively used to ensure that Black soldiers fighting on the side of the northern army would not be returned to slave holders. The letter from the Committee expressed that “..though many miles divide us from those who have the burden to bear in this great struggle for human liberty, our hearts are with you unto death.”
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