Existing comment:
Because the slaves who worked at Ellwood had no legal names, it is difficult to track their transition into a life of freedom. Some surely stayed in the area -- a few perhaps at Ellwood -- to work as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. We know with certainty the fate of only one. Charles Sprow (or Sprout), a slave of J. Horace Lacy, escaped during the war and joined the Union army, serving in the cavalry. He lived in Fredericksburg until his death in 1926 and is today buried in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery -- one of only twenty African-Americans so honored. |