This is the true story of how, in 1861, Civil War Union Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler was influenced to take a stance on emancipation by the bravery of the escaped slave George Scott. Scott's example helped persuade Butler to set in motion a legal way to help enslaved people be free of their bonds before the end of the war and formal emancipation.

Scott, born into slavery near Hampton, Virginia, ran away from a brutal slave owner. He heard that Union soldiers inside Fortress Monroe were friends to Blacks, and he went there and offered to help track down Confederates. Scott was successful in locating thousands of Confederates camped out some eight miles away, and alerted Butler, enabling him to eliminate the threat to Fortress Monroe.

Butler, a former lawyer, reasoned he could hold escaped slaves as “contraband of war.” Contraband, the author explained, or “property used for warlike purposes against the government of the United States," could be legally confiscated. Slaveholders, of course, considered their slaves to be not people but "property." His actions were approved by Lincoln.

Thereafter, Butler wrote again to Lincoln, arguing for Scott’s liberty as well as for that of all the contrabands:

“These human beings must be given the free enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Congress endorsed this view by passing the Confiscation Act of 1861, signed into law on August 6, 1861, declaring that any property used by the Confederate military, including slaves, could be confiscated by Union forces, thus legalizing the designation of escaped slaves as contraband. Other Confiscation Acts followed. In March of 1862, Congress passed the Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves, which forbade returning enslaved people to Confederate masters or the military. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, and the Thirteenth Amendment, banishing slavery everywhere in the US, was ratified on December 6, 1865.

In an Afterword, the author argues that the brave contrabands paved the way for emancipation. There were one hundred camps of contrabands by the end of the Civil War, with slave refugees who contributed in various ways to the Union war efforts. As Edward L. Pierce, appointed in the summer of 1861 as Commissioner of Negro Affairs at Fortress Monroe, wrote to Secretary of War Simon Cameron:

“Have they not by their master’s acts, and the state of war, assumed the condition, which we hold to be the normal one, of those made in God’s image? Is not every constitutional, legal, and normal requirement, [both] to the runaway master [and to his] relinquished slaves, thus answered? I confess that my own mind is compelled by this reasoning to look upon them as men and women.”

Extensive back matter includes more information on the contrabands, Benjamin Butler, George Scott, and Fort Monroe, a bibliography, and the Proclamation by President Barack Obama in 2011 establishing the Fort Monroe National Monument.

Gorgeous realistic watercolor illustrations by E.B. Lewis help tell the story.

Evaluation: This dramatic and suspenseful account recommended for grades 1-5 is both thrilling and inspiring. ( )

The story of how two men and a fortress paved the way to freedom for an entire population.

It is May 1861, and George Scott—a formerly enslaved man hiding in the Virginia town of Hampton—hears the story of three Black men’s escape to a nearby Union fortress. Remarkably, the three men were not returned. After seeing more Black men enter the fortress, Scott decides to have a look for himself. Upon entering Fortress Monroe, he meets Maj. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Butler, who interviews newcomers and seeks information about the Confederate soldiers. Butler quickly becomes impressed with Scott’s knowledge of the area and the Confederacy and sends Scott on a special mission—to track the soldiers and relay their whereabouts. Scott’s efforts—and Butler’s decision to keep formerly enslaved people as contraband—save the fortress and contribute to the passing of the Confiscation Act of 1861. The succinct text allows the art to take center stage while relaying pertinent information. What is lost to the brief text is put on display in the rich backmatter, which gives a more in-depth look at life for the contraband and the effect of Butler’s decision to turn the fortress into a place of refuge. The watercolor illustrations present eye-catching images; readers can nearly feel the rough texture of the very woods Scott ran through. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A dramatic, superbly illustrated account of a little-known story. (notes on the aftermath, the contrabands, Benjamin Butler's legacy, George Scott, and Fort Monroe; bibliography; the proclamation on the establishment of the Fort Monroe National Monument) (Informational picture book. 7-10)