Almost Every Day the Slaves Are Flying to Our Lines for Protection": Partial Civil War Letter Describing Escaping Enslaved People Seeking Refuge with Union Forces and the Growing Anti-Slavery Sentiment of the Rank and File

Unknown place, Unknown date. Partial autograph letter signed "Reuben" to his wife. Remaining portion only. A surviving portion of a Civil War soldier's letter to his wife, discussing enslavement and the arrival of enslaved people into Union lines. Though incomplete, the letter preserves several revealing passages documenting the ways in which direct exposure to enslaved people affected the attitudes of ordinary Union soldiers. After reflecting on the separation from his wife and infant child, the soldier writes:

"The people are beginning to see that Slavery must die or our Country is lost. You do not find any proslavery men here among the privates. We have seen something of the effects of Slavery. [...] Almost every day the slaves are flying to our lines for protection & they do not fly in vain, the soldiers will always divide their last ration with them. Some of them are almost naked."

The surviving pages conclude with references to military operations then underway:

"It has rained here this afternoon & our pickets are having a hard time. The cannonading has stopped so I guess we shall not be called out at present [...] Grant is getting an immense army here now & we hope to be successful in our next battle."

The letter presents a firsthand account of enslaved people seeking refuge within Federal lines during the Civil War, and how this came to make the cruelties of enslavement a central cause for the Union soldiers.