Existing comment:
Pistols belonging to Major John B. Cary
At Fort Monroe, Cary unwittingly pushed federal policy toward emancipation.
A native of Hampton, Cary likely wore one of these revolvers when he demanded that Union general Benjamin Butler return three slaves who had escaped from their owner. Acting on his own authority, Butler announced, "I shall hold these Negroes as contraband of war," thereby taking an early step in transforming Lincoln's "war to preserve the Union" into a war to end slavery. |