Plans for creation of the nation’s capital included parts of Virginia and Maryland on both sides of the Potomac. With passage of the Organic Act of 1801, inclusion of Alexandria became official after the capital moved from Philadelphia to the District of Columbia. The capital city provided more opportunities for African Americans, such as the ability to gain an education.

Source: An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, 1st Congress, 2nd Sess, ch.28, enacted July 16, 1790; An Act to amend “An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States,” 1st Congress, 3rd Sess, ch.17, enacted March 3, 1791; An Act Concerning the District of Columbia), 6th Congress, 2nd Sess., ch. 15, 2 Stat. 103, enacted 27 February 1801.

First U.S. Census indicated Alexandria had a population of Alexandria of 2,748: 595 were African American individuals; 52 were free.

Source: United States Census Bureau. Statistics of Virginia, Slaveholders and Slaves, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C, 1790.

Penny Hill Cemetery, a public burial ground, was established on Payne Street south of the developed area of the city. This area would become a cemetery complex when Alexandria’s Common Council restricted the creation of new cemeteries within city limits in 1804. Numerous churches bought land in the area for establishment and expansion of their burial grounds. Penny Hill was fenced in July 1809.

Source: Minutes of the Alexandria City Council, 1792-1800, 142; George Gilpin, MAPS-30, deposited with the Clerk for the Alexandria Circuit Court, Plat copied by H. L. Peyton from old Plat Book compiled by Reuben Johnson, cited in Penny Hill Burying Ground, on file Alexandria Library, Alexandria, Virginia; Alexandria Gazette, 29 August 1795, 29 July 1809.

The oldest of two antebellum Black churches in Alexandria, the Alfred Street Baptist Church, was established under the supervision of the Alexandria Baptist Society, a white religious organization. 

A second church opened in 1832 as Davis Chapel Church, and was renamed Roberts Memorial United Methodist when the Methodist Church split on the issue of slavery

Sources: Alton S. Wallace, I Once Was Young: History of Alfred Street Baptist Church, 1803-2003. (Littleton, MA: Tapestry Press, Ltd., 2003), 5; The Afro-American Institute for Historic Preservation and Community Development, “A Study of Historic Sites in the Metropolitan Washington Region of Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland Importantly related to the History of Afro-Americans,” Washington, D.C., August 1978, on file Alexandria Archaeology, Alexandria, VA.

The first documented school for African American children was established in Alexandria, as noted in a special report by the U.S. Department of Education in 1871.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Special Report of the Commissioners of Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools in the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871), 283.

Establishment of Alexandria’s first free Black neighborhoods.

Source: Pamela J. Cressey, “The Archaeology of Free Blacks in Alexandria, Virginia,” Alexandria Archaeology, Publication No. 19, Office of Historic Alexandria, Alexandria, VA, 1985.

The slave pen at 1315 Duke Street opened as Franklin & Armfield, one of Alexandria’s most lucrative enterprises during the antebellum period. It dealt in the trafficking of human suffering by transporting 1,000 to 1,200 slaves annually from Alexandria to the southern states, primarily to work on cotton plantations.

Source: 8Franklin and Armfield Office, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1976, Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Alexandria and Alexandria County (now Arlington) became part of Virginia again when the Virginia General Assembly voted to formally accept retrocession legislation after Congressional approval in 1846. This resulted in more restrictive policies for the city’s African American population, including the closure of schools.

Source: Mark David Richards, "The Debates over the Retrocession of the District of Columbia, 1801–2004", Washington History, Spring/Summer, 2004.

Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850 between southern and northern states. The act required the return of all runaway slaves. Educator and aid worker Harriet Jacobs, formerly enslaved, considered the passage of the law “the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population.” 

Sources: An Act to amend, and supplementary to, the Act entitled "An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons escaping from the Service of their Masters,” approved February twelfth, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, 31st Congress, 1st Session, ch.60, 1850, U.S. Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 12 (Boston, MA: Little Brown and Company, 1851), 462-465; Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (unabridged), Dover Publications, New York, 2001, 155. 

Francis L. Smith purchased the property that would eventually become Freedmen’s Cemetery at what is now 1001 South Washington Street.

Source: Fairfax Deed Book, Liber T3, Folio 11-13, Fairfax County Courthouse, Fairfax, VA.

Alexandria participated in the passage to freedom along the Underground Railroad. As reported in the Alexandria Gazette, “the most wonderful part of the story is that in the transit across the Suspension Bridge at Niagara, the ‘property’ suddenly became metamorphosed into about a dozen smart, intelligent, young and middle-aged men and women. These ‘chattels personal’ were part of a large shipment which left Alexandria, Va., about the time of the Harper’s Ferry insurrection.”

Source: "The Underground Railroad,” Alexandria Gazette, 29 October 1859.

The 1860 census documented that Alexandria was home to 1,386 enslaved Black individuals, held by 251 enslavers. The total population was 11,266, which included 1,415 free African American people.14 On the eve of the Civil War, the percentage of Alexandria’s free Black population was markedly greater than in any other urban area in the Commonwealth, except for Richmond.

Source: Ancestry.com, 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules, Provo, UT, 2010; U.S. Census Bureau, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C., 1860. M653, 1,438 rolls.

Virginia seceded from the Union.15 Union forces seized Alexandria. Federal control lasted until January 26, 1870.

Source: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Ser. IV, Vol. 1, p. 223.

The 1st Michigan Volunteer Infantry liberated enslaved individuals held at the Price, Birch & Company slave pen at 1315 Duke Street, Alexandria. This was the first known act in Alexandria of Union troops freeing enslaved people.

Source: Orland B. Willcox, Forgotten Valor, the Memoirs, Journals, & Civil War Letters of Orlando B. Willcox, edited by Robert Garth Scott (Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999), 267-268.

Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler granted refuge at Fortress Monroe to three enslaved men who made their way to the Union fortification. He considered these individuals “contraband of war” because of their ability to contribute to the southern war effort. His decision not to return the self-emancipators to their enslavers was embraced as the unofficial federal policy.

Source: Benjamin Franklin Butler, Autobiography and Personal Reminiscence of Major-General Benjamin F. Butler: Butler’s Book (Boston, MA: A.M. Thayer and Co., 1892), 256-267.

The First Confiscation Act passed, allowing seizure of all Confederate property used to aid the war effort. This included formerly enslaved individuals.

Source: An Act to Confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes, August 6, 1861, U.S. Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 12 (Boston, MA: Little Brown and Company, 1863), 319.

Mary Chase, an enslaved African American woman abandoned by her enslavers in May 1861, opened the first of 24 schools to educate African American students in Alexandria during the war. The Columbia Street school, located near Wolfe Street, was the first known Contraband school in the U.S. Many of the schools in Alexandria were founded by African American individuals and reflected their recognition of the importance of education. Between 1861 and 1864, 3,732 Black students registered for school, with 1,734 able to read by the war’s end in 1865.

Sources: U.S. Department of Education, Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools in the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871), 285.; U.S. Department of Education, Special Report of the Commissioner of Education on the Condition and Improvement of Public Schools in the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871), 287, 292.

The military government in Alexandria began an official tally of the number of deaths of contrabands and freedmen in Alexandria, as recorded in the “Monthly Official Report,” the opening page of the Book of Records.

Source: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected.  Alexandria, Va., Library of Virginia, Richmond, Accession Number 1100408,  2.

The military government established a smallpox hospital/quarantine facility on the south side of Saint Mary’s Cemetery, along the Manassas Gap Railroad cut that led from Jones Point. The establishment came after Alexandria’s Board of Health reported their difficulty controlling the spread of the disease. As the number of cases increased throughout the fall, three or four African American nurses cared for at least 29 cases in the facility by the end of November. Burials, especially of smallpox victims, may have taken place in a potter’s field near this location. 

Source: Cited in Tim Dennée, “African American Civilians Treated at Claremont Smallpox Hospital, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1862-1865,” 2018, 8.

The Alexandria Gazette reported on the arrival of numerous freedom-seekers in the city:  

“‘Contrabands.’—There are here now numbers of negroes from the adjoining counties of Virginia.”

 “A number of ‘contrabands’ from the counties of Virginia came into [Alexandria] to-day.”

Sources: Alexandria Gazette, 13 May 1862; Alexandria Gazette 19 May 1862.

The federal government created Soldiers’ Cemetery, now known as Alexandria National Cemetery. It was one of the original military cemeteries in the nation. The first burials were soldiers who died during training or from disease in the numerous hospitals around Alexandria.

Source: Alexandria National Cemetery is one of the original fourteen national military cemeteries, which were created in 1862. By 1864, the cemetery was nearly filled to capacity; this eventually led to the establishment of Arlington National Cemetery.

The Second Confiscation Act was enacted, proclaiming the immediate liberation of all slaves who escaped to Union lines and authorizing their employment for the Union cause. The Confiscation Acts and the designation as contraband of war stimulated the race to freedom, providing hope for may enslaved individuals. In addition, President Lincoln signed a bill that allowed for the military recruitment of African Americans to aid the war effort, paving the way for the establishment of the United States Colored Troops (USCT).

Sources: An Act to Suppress Insurrection, to punish Treason and Rebellion, to seize and confiscate the Property of Rebels, and for other Purposes, 17 July 1862, U.S. Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 12 (Boston, MA: Little Brown and Company, 1863), 589-592; Amendment to the Military Act of 1795, July 17, 1862, U.S. Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations of the United States of America, vol. 12 (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1863), 597-600; General Order 143, War Department, May 22, 1863.

The Alexandria Gazette reported on the influx of self-emancipators: “[L]arge numbers of contrabands continue to arrive here, principally from the upper counties. Yesterday about 100 reached here. A large number are engaged in the streets, in the hospitals, public laundries &c. They are paid by the government 40 cts. a day”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 26 August 1862.

The Alexandria Gazette noted that freedom-seekers continued to pour into the area:

“Contrabands are flocking to Washington in great numbers—in wagons, on horseback, and on foot. About half the numbers are little children and old men. Most of the rest are women.”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 30 August 1862.

The Alexandria Gazette announced work opportunities for African Americans: “

The U.S. Government made drafts yesterday, upon the contraband depot, for all the able-bodied contrabands, to work upon the fortifications around Washington.” Fort Ward and Fort Ellsworth, now part of Alexandria, numbered among the more than 160 forts and batteries that surrounded the capital for defensive purposes.

Sources: Alexandria Gazette, 9 September 1862;  Benjamin Franklin Cooling and Walton H. Owen, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010).

The Alexandria Gazette reprinted an article from a New York newspaper that documents the problems facing the new arrivals:

“The Contrabands.—At Alexandria, there are over a thousand deserted and neglected negroes. There is a nominal care over them; but, in reality, it is next to none. They are huddled together in old slave pens in the rudest kind of shanties, under trees and ragged canvas coverings, many times without food, necessary clothing or beds….”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 29 September 1862.

Reverend Albert S. Gladwin unofficially took on the responsibilities of Superintendent of Contrabands in Alexandria.

Source: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected.  Alexandria, Va, Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA, Accession Number 1100408, 2.

Julia Wilbur arrived in Alexandria to serve as a freedmen’s agent for the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. Julia went on to advocate for the freedmen and to recount her experiences as an aid worker in diaries and letters.

Source: Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania; Paula Tarnapol Whitacre, A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time, Julia Wilbur's Struggle for Purpose (University of Nebraska Press: Potomac Books, 2017).

The military government took over Clermont, a 300-acre estate about 3 miles west of the city, for use as the Claremont Smallpox Hospital. Originally established for contrabands who had contracted “eruptive fever,” i.e., smallpox, the hospital did not provide treatment for wounds or general illnesses but functioned more like a quarantine facility to protect the community from the spread of the deadly infection.  By the end of January 1864, with other facilities proving insufficient to deal with the magnitude of the problem, Claremont had begun to care for soldiers as well as civilians, both Black and white, suffering from smallpox. The facility included a cemetery for victims of the disease. At least 121 burials were removed after the war and reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Source: Tim Dennée, “African-American Civilians and Soldiers Treated at Claremont Smallpox Hospital, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1862-1865,” 2018. Spelling for the hospital’s name reflected a change made by the military government when the hospital was created on the grounds of the Clermont plantation.

Recognizing a severe housing shortage and the poor living conditions for the arriving freedom-seekers, the Secretary of War ordered barracks constructed for the increasing number of contrabands in Alexandria.

Source: Chauncey M. Keever, 8 December 1862; Letters Received, 1862-1865, Records of the Military Governor of Alexandria, Records of the United States Army Continental Commands, Record Group 393, Entry 5382, M130; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Julia Wilbur reported home about the horrifying spread of smallpox in Alexandria:

“Smallpox ambulances may be seen in every part of the city. I think it is all over & all around us…How dreadful it will be if it is in the army. Poor soldiers.”

Source: Julia A. Wilbur to Anna M.C. Barnes, 24 December 1862, Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society Papers, 1851-1868, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

The Emancipation Proclamation became law, officially granting freedom to enslaved African American people in Confederate states, including those in Alexandria. It ordered “military and naval authority to recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons….” and explicitly authorized enlistment of African American men as soldiers.

Source: Emancipation Proclamation, 1 January 1863; Presidential Proclamations, 1791-1991, Record Group 11; General Records of the United States Government; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. 

Sponsored by the New York Society of Friends (Quakers), abolitionist, educator, and aid worker Harriet Jacobs, formerly enslaved, arrived in Alexandria to work with the contrabands and freedmen.

Source: Jean Fagan Yellin, Harriet Jacobs: A Life (New York, NY: Basic Civitas Books, 2004), 160 and 183; Julia Wilbur to Mrs. Anna M.C. Barnes, 15 January 1863, Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society papers, 1851-1868, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.

The Contraband Hospital was established in the northern half of the house at 321-323 South Washington Street, specifically for care and treatment of the African American community in Alexandria. Aid workers and government officials occupied the southern half of the house.

Source: Tim Dennée and Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery, “A House Divided Still Stands: The Contraband Hospital and Alexandria Freedmen’s Aid Workers,” 2017, 11.

Working out of Reverend Gladwin’s office, Eliphalet Owen, began the “Personal Record of Deaths,” a list of the names of the contrabands/freedmen who passed away in Alexandria. Morris Grimes, age 5, was the first listed. The individual records, noting name, age, and date of death, ended January 12, 1869.

Source: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected.  Alexandria, Va, Library of Virginia, Accession Number 1100408, 3; Tim Dennée, “A House Divided Still Stands: The Contraband Hospital and Alexandria’s Freedmen’s Aid Workers.”

The Freedman’s Relief Society reported that in “Alexandria, there are 3,000 contrabands at present. About 800 have died since they first began to assemble there.” 

While burials of smallpox victims may have taken place in the vicinity of the hospital at the south end of town prior to the establishment of Freedmen’s Cemetery, most burials of the freedom-seekers in the early years of the war took place in Penny Hill Cemetery, established as a public burial ground in 1796 on Payne Street within what became the city cemetery complex. Harriet Jacobs wrote in a letter that the “refugees were buried in this town by the Government, beside many private burials….”

A month later, Julia Wilbur wrote of the conditions of the cemetery [complex], saying it was “all green & nice but the potters field,” where the “contrabands are packed away, oh, such a place!”

Sources: Alexandria Gazette, 13 April 1863; Harriet Jacobs to Pastor J. Sella Martin, 13 April 1863, in Jean Fagan Yellin, editor, The Harriet Jacobs Family Papers, Volume 2 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2008); Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, 15 May 1863, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania.

The military government officially appointed Reverend Albert S. Gladwin as Superintendent of Contrabands.

Source: Cited in Paula Tarnapol Whitacre, A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time, Julia Wilbur’s Struggle for Purpose (University of Nebraska Press: Potomac Books, 2017), 130.

The Bureau of Colored Troops officially established within the Office of the Adjutant General of the Army. The Bureau managed matters pertaining to recruitment, organization, and service of the U.S. Colored Troops. The Alexandria Gazette noted: “It is reported in official circles that the first drafts at the North will be from the free negro population. All the able-bodied colored men between twenty and thirty-five years of age are to be taken to fill up the ranks of the various negro brigades now under way.”

Sources: General Order 143, War Department, Orders and Circulars, 1797-1910, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; Alexandria Gazette, 28 March 1863.

The 2d United States Colored Infantry organized in Alexandria County (now Arlington) to serve for three years. The unit was mustered out on January 5, 1866.

Source: 2nd Infantry Regiment United State Colored Troops Living History Association. 

The military government seized the property of Francis L. Smith: “[It] has recently been levied by the U.S. authorities, under the Confiscation act…[He has been] absent …since the commencement of the war….”  This seizure included the property at 1001 South Washington Street that would become Freedmen’s Cemetery.

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 23 July 1863.

Beulah Baptist Church on South Washington Street was the first African American church formed after the military seized control. Over the next few years, three other new churches, all associated with schools, would be established to address the spiritual, educational, and social needs of the war-time freed population:  Third Baptist Church at Pitt and Oronoco streets, Shiloh Baptist Church near the L’Ouverture Hospital complex, and Zion Baptist Church on South Lee Street.

Source: The Afro-American Institute for Historic Preservation and Community Development, “A Study of Historic Sites in the Metropolitan Washington Region of Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland Importantly related to the History of Afro-Americans: Beulah Baptist Church,” Washington, D.C., August 1978, 97, on file Alexandria Archaeology, Office of Historic Alexandria, Alexandria, VA.

The Alexandria Gazette noted:

“…hundreds of shanties and slight frame buildings for ‘contrabands’ are going up in the suburbs of the town….”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 29 October 1863.

The Alexandria Gazette reported 48,000 black troops and 106,000 blacks “in all employed in the army of the United States.”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 4 December 1863.

Mayor Charles A. Ware granted the use of Penny Hill Cemetery for burials, giving “Mr. Gladwin, Supt. Contrabands, …permission to bury negroes in Penny Hill until further notice.” 

Julia Wilbur again noted the horrific burial situation, referring to the Penny Hill location: “The Potters field is the most heathenish looking place I ever saw. The[y] were put in holes rather than graves, and bare[ly] covered.” These conditions undoubtedly led to the establishment of Freedmen’s Cemetery by the military government.

Sources: Unregistered letters, Received March 1863 to April 1866, 21 January 1864, Record Group 105, Entry 3853; National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.; Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, 21 January 1864, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania.

The location of the contrabands/freedmen’s burial ground selected and laid out on the confiscated property of Francis L. Smith. General Slough directed Reverend Gladwin to “please superintend the building of a Fence around the Burying Ground recently selected. It is to be done as cheaply & expeditiously as possible.”

Source: General Slough to Reverend Gladwin, Unregistered letters, Received March 1863 to April 1866, Record Group 105, Entry 3853, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Alexandria Gazette published notice of the establishment of Freedmen’s Cemetery: “A grave yard for the burial of ‘contrabands’ who may die in this place [Alexandria] has been laid off near the Catholic Cemetery.”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 4 March 1864.

First interment took place at Freedmen’s Cemetery. In his correspondence to General Slough, Reverend Gladwin recounted the order to begin burials “…with verbal orders from your Head Quarters [sic], …I selected and laid out the grounds for the present Cemetery in February last, and reported back; and on the 29th day of the same, received a written order to superintend the building of a fence to enclose it, and that on the 7th day of March, I commenced to inter bodies there.”

Source: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected. Alexandria, Va., Library of Virginia, Accession Number 1100408, 11; Reverend Albert Gladwin to John P. Slough, 16 December 1864, Letters Received, 1862-1865, Records of the Military Governor of Alexandria, Records of the United States Army Continental Commands, Record Group 393, Entry 2053, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Julia Wilbur described the route of her daily visits in her diary, making a stop at what is probably Penny Hill in the cemetery complex: “At 9 went with Jepitha to the Barracks, the Hospital, the Slave Pen and the Soldiers Rest. Then to the Soldiers Burying Ground, and through the cemetery to Potters Field. Such a heathenish place but no more Contrabands are buried there now.”

Source: Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania.

Julia Wilbur wrote about visiting the new cemetery: “…went in Ambulance to the new Contraband burying Ground, 65 graves there already, as good a place as they could get.”

Source: Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania.

James G.C. Lee was officially appointed to serve as assistant quartermaster in Alexandria. One of his duties was management of the interment of soldiers in the military cemetery of Alexandria.

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 10 December 1863 and 8 July 1864; J.G.C. Lee, Assistant Quartermaster, to Major General M.C. Meigs, Depot Quartermaster’s Office, Alexandria, VA, 28 December 1864, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, General Correspondence and Reports Relating to National and Post Cemeteries, Record Group 92, Entry 576, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Ceremonious celebration held for the naming of the new general hospital—L’Ouverture Hospital—in honor of General Toussaint L’Ouverture, the leader of the successful 1791 Haitian slave revolt. The name for the hospital was adopted before the ceremony; it was apparently in use as early as May 1864. Harriet Jacobs recalled that she awoke early to partake in “Alexandria’s first commemoration of British West Indian Emancipation. The center of the ceremony was to be the presentation of a flag to a representative of the hospital.”

Source: Jean Fagan Yellin, Harriet Jacobs: A Life (New York, NY: Basic Civitas Books, 2004), 181.

A funeral procession ordered to Soldiers’ Cemetery (now Alexandria National Cemetery) from L’Ouverture Hospital by Assistant Quartermaster J.G.C. Lee was intercepted by Reverend Gladwin and redirected to the Freedmen’s Cemetery. Julia Wilbur recorded the day’s events, “Mr. Gladwin has buried 2 soldiers in Col'd Ground this P.M. Quite an excitement. The soldiers at hos[pital] are furious, refused to go as escort. Mr. G. has caused one to be put in Slave Pen.”

Source: Edward A. Miller, Jr., “Volunteers for Freedom: Black Civil War Soldiers in Alexandria National Cemetery, Part I,” Historic Alexandria Quarterly (Alexandria, VA: City of Alexandria, Fall 1998), 9; Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania; Timothy Dennée and Lillian Finklea, “The Story Behind this Document,” Freedmen’s Series: Convalescent Soldiers in L’Ouverture Hospital “Express Our Views” on Burial Locations, No. 1, on file Alexandria Archaeology, Office of Historic Alexandria, VA, 1997.

A petition was prepared by the sick, wounded, and dying soldiers of the USCT at L’Ouverture Hospital, who strongly expressed their desire and honorary right to be buried at Soldiers’ Cemetery rather than at Freedmen’s Cemetery. The document was signed by 443 Black soldiers. The petition read: “As American citizens, we have a right to fight for the protection of her flag, that right is granted, and we are now sharing equally the dangers and hardships in this mighty contest, and should shair [sic] the same privileges and rights of burial in every way with our fellow soldiers, who only differ from us in color….” The petition resulted in what was likely the first successful civil rights action in the city.

Source: U.S. Colored Troops to Major Edwin Bentley, Surgeon in Charge, at L’Ouverture General Hospital, Alexandria VA, 27 December 1864, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, General Correspondence and Reports Relating to National and Post Cemeteries, Record Group 92, Entry 576, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Removal of the remains of 118 USCT from Freedmen’s Cemetery with reinterment in Section B of Soldiers’ Cemetery (now Alexandria National Cemetery) began and continued over a three-week period. The first soldiers to be reinterred were Privates James Brown and Solomon Dorsey.

Source: “Freedmen’s Burial Ground,” Records of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92, Entry 225, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. 66 Alexandria Gazette, 1 January 1865.

The Alexandria Gazette described Alexandria’s contraband neighborhoods:

“[T]wo principal villages of the ‘Contrabands,’ in this place are situated at the North and South ends of the city—whole squares on those localities being now covered with the shanties which they occupy. Some of these frail and temporary buildings are owned by the occupants, being built upon leased [land] at a certain price per foot; whilst many are rented at specified prices per month…. Whilst, however, the ‘contrabands,’ for the most part, settle together in places specified, they occupy houses in various other parts of the city.”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 1 January 1865.

A diary entry by Julia Wilbur documented the removal of Reverend Gladwin as Superintendent of Contrabands as a result of the USCT burial issue:

“When we returned from meeting, Dr. Pettijohn informed us that Capt. Ferree was really to supersede Gladwin & an order to that effect had been given by Sec. of War....

Source: Julia A. Wilbur, Personal Diary, 1844-1894, 15, January 1865, Quaker and Special Collections, Haverford College Libraries, Pennsylvania.; Paula Tarnapol Whitacre, A Civil Life in an Uncivil Time, Julia Wilbur's Struggle for Purpose (University of Nebraska Press: Potomac Books, 2017).

The Alexandria Gazette noted:

“It is said that the negroes, contrabands, and others, have invested, in this place [Alexandria], in the last three years, in ground rents, shanties &c, over $52,000.”

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 22 June 1865.

Francis L. Smith officially pardoned by President Andrew Johnson for his role during the Civil War, allowing him full rights to his Alexandria property, which would have included the cemetery lot. The pardon came as a result of an initiative instituted by President Johnson, a Southern Democrat with pronounced states’ rights views, to begin a process to reconstruct the former Confederate States. He pardoned all Confederates who would take an oath of allegiance, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain special Presidential pardons.

Source: Pardons by the President, H. Exec Doc 16, Serial Set Vol. No. 1330, 4 December 1867, 88, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Freedmen’s Bureau takes over control of the burials at the cemetery and the documentation of the deceased in the Book of Records.

Source: Timothy Dennee, Personal Communications, Nov. 27 – Dec. 5, 2019; Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected.  Alexandria, Va., Library of Virginia, Richmond, Accession Number 1100408, 37.

.L’Ouverture Hospital was closed as a military hospital. Sixty-five remaining sick and wounded soldiers were sent to Slough General Hospital in Alexandria. Admission records show that 1,420 patients had been treated at the hospital since it opened in February 1864.

Source: Pamela J. Cressey, “L’Ouverture Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia,” September 2004, on file at Alexandria Archaeology, Office of Historic Alexandria, Alexandria, VA.

Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution adopted, abolishing slavery nationally.

Source: U.S. Constitution, Thirteenth Amendment - Slavery And Involuntary Servitude.

In furtherance of the transition to the Freedmen’s Bureau’s administration of the cemetery with continued recording of the list of names of the deceased, a new section of the Book of Records was begun, “Records of Deaths and Burials, New System.” The new section summarizes the previous practices related to burials in Freedmen’s Cemetery. It references the supply of coffins and headboards for burial, describes the preparations for funerals with pick-up of the deceased in the government-owned hearse, and lists the names of the grave-diggers--Randall Ward assisted  over the years by Joseph Stuart, Hezekiah Ages, and Joseph Thompson. Randall Ward may have continued care and maintenance of the cemetery until his death in 1880, even after the end of federal control.

Sources: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected, Alexandria, Va., Library of Virginia, Richmond, Accession Number 1100408, 80-84; “Alexandria Annals,” Washington Post, 2 November 1880, 3.

Congress passed the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting citizenship to individuals born in the country, thus extending this right to the formerly enslaved. The amendment also guaranteed due process and equal protection to all citizens, the basis for the Constitutional principle that no one is above the law.

Source: U.S. Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment - Rights Guaranteed Privileges and Immunities of Citizenship, Due Process and Equal Protection.

African American males in Virginia voted for the first time under the military government for delegates to the state’s constitutional convention. About two dozen African American men were elected to the convention, which met from December 3, 1867 to April 17, 1868.76 While African American men cast ballots in Alexandria, their votes were not included in the final tally.

Sources: Remaking Virginia, Transformation Through Emancipation, Library of Virginia online exhibitions, Richmond, VA;  “Discovering the Decades,” Al Cox, Pamela J. Cressey, Timothy J. Dennée, T. Michael Miller, and Peter Smith, City of Alexandria, VA website.

With a reduction in the functions of the Freedmen’s Bureau, the final entry recording the death of Millie Bailey, age 80, was set down in the Book of Records.

Source: Book of Records, Containing The Marriages and Deaths That Have Occurred, Within The Official Jurisdiction of Rev. A. Gladwin: Together, With any Biographical or Other Reminiscences That may be Collected.  Alexandria, Va., Library of Virginia, Richmond, Accession Number 1100408, 118-119.

Virginia agreed to a new constitution granting suffrage to black men, thereby becoming the only state of the former Confederacy that avoided military governance throughout the full period of Reconstruction.

Source: Reconstruction, Library of Virginia, Public Resources, Manuscript Collection, Richmond, VA.

Virginia ratified the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution as a requirement for readmission to the Union.

Source: Reconstruction, Library of Virginia, Public Resources, Manuscript Collection, Richmond, VA.

Virginia readmitted to the Union with representation in Congress.81 This marked the official end of federal military rule and a return to civilian control in Alexandria.

Sources: Source: Reconstruction, Library of Virginia, Public Resources, Manuscript Collection, Richmond, VA;  “Discovering the Decades,” Al Cox, Pamela J. Cressey, Timothy J. Dennée, T. Michael Miller, and Peter Smith, City of Alexandria, VA website.

The Fifteenth Amendment adopted, stating the “right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Source: U.S. Constitution, Fifteenth Amendment - Right of Citizens to Vote; America's Founding Documents, National Archives.

After the passage of the 15th Amendment, the outlook was hopeful for African American voting and political representation. The first African American members of the Common Council and the Board of Aldermen were elected in Alexandria.

Source: “Discovering the Decades,” Al Cox, Pamela J. Cressey, Timothy J. Dennée, T. Michael Miller, and Peter Smith, City of Alexandria, VA website.

Reactionary forces–including the Ku Klux Klan–would reverse the changes brought about by the Constitutional Amendments in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South. Black Codes, laws passed by legislatures of most southern states, restricted the freedom of African American people, making it illegal for Black individuals to vote, serve on juries, travel at will, marry whomever they chose or work at any occupation they chose. In Virginia, an 1870 statute prohibited white and Black children from being taught in the same school.  Following the state legislation, an 1871 Alexandria law instituted segregated schools, a separate but unequal educational system that would last nearly 100 years. Later that decade, the Virginia legislature passed miscegenation laws that stipulated prison sentences and fines for any white marrying a Black person, a statute that also remained on the books for nearly a century.

Sources: Constitutional Rights Foundation, The Southern “Black Codes" of 1865-66. Electronic document; “Integrating Alexandria,” The Connection Newspapers, 22 February 2006; Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

Francis L. Smith died; his will bequeathed the cemetery property to wife, Sarah G. Smith.

Source: Alexandria Wills, Liber 1C, Folio 23, dated 19 August 1856, Alexandria Courthouse, Alexandria VA.

The Smith family received notice that “the House of Representatives War Claims Committee has reported favorably upon the claim of Mrs. Sarah G. Smith, widow of Francis L. Smith of this city.” To date, it is unclear if the family ever received payment.

Source: Alexandria Gazette, 26 February 1890.

By the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century, racial segregation had become entrenched in the South. Southern states enforced a race-based system of political, economic and social relationships through lynching and Jim Crow laws, seeking to control African American populations through policies of terrorism and fear. Virginia was no exception. Two lynchings are documented to have occurred in the heart of Alexandria: Joseph McCoy on April 23, 1897, and Benjamin Thomas on August 8, 1899.

Source: Amy Bertsch, Lynchings in Alexandria, PowerPoint presentation, on file at Alexandria Black History Museum, Alexandria, VA.

The Washington Post published an article describing disturbance to burials in Freedmen’s  Cemetery:

“One of the most uncanny localities in Alexandria is in the vicinity of the old “contraband graveyard,” at the end of South Washington street and just opposite the Catholic cemetery...[where] many of the mounds are still pretty well preserved…Of late the owners have allowed the neighboring brick yards to dig clay from the outer edges of the graveyard with which to make brick. This digging, seconded by heavy rains, has resulted in unearthing many coffins and skeletons and leaving the outer graves in very bad conditions. Some time ago, it is said, coffin ends protruded from the banks like cannon from the embrasures of some great fort...”

Source: “Alexandria Affairs,” Washington Post, 29 March 1892.

Margaret (aka Maggie) Smith, daughter of Francis and Sara, conveyed Washington Street property to Reverend Dennis J. O’Connell, Bishop of Richmond (Catholic Diocese of Richmond). The deed did not include any reference to the presence of a cemetery.

Source: Alexandria Land Records, Liber 66, Folio 132, Alexandria Courthouse, Alexandria, VA.

Construction of the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, part of the George Washington Parkway. The work included the extension and widening of South Washington Street in Alexandria. Cemetery boundaries are known to have extended into the middle of S. Washington Street; thus, parkway construction caused disturbance to graves and desecration of burials.

Source: Classified Central Files, 1912-1950, 420 Right of Way, General Properties, Mount Vernon Virginia, 1928-1942; Bureau of Public Roads, Record Group 30, Box 1385, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Property rezoned for commercial use by City Council at request of Eugene J. Olmi, on behalf of Bishop Peter L. Ireton, the Bishop of Richmond, in anticipation of sale and development. The City Planning Department objected to the change, but City Council granted the rezoning.

Source: Alexandria City Council Minutes, 25 July 1946, Alexandria Library microfilm reel-00473, page 479, Alexandria, VA.

Bishop Peter L. Ireton of Richmond sold part of the tract at 1001 South Washington Street to George Landrith, with restrictions: 1) said property nor any portion thereof, shall never be used for an automobile service station and the definition of automobile service station shall include a public garage either used for storage or automobile repairs; 2) the sale of alcoholic beverages or the storage thereof for sale is prohibited on the property.

Source: Alexandria Land Records Liber 233, Folio 104, Alexandria Courthouse, Alexandria, VA.

“Colored Cemetery” noted on an official city map of Alexandria. Until historical research led to knowledge of the cemetery in the late1980s, a map by Alexandria’s Office of Engineering, updated every two years, may have been one of the last times that the location of the cemetery was shown on an official city document.

Source: Alexandria City Map, Office of the City Engineer, on file, Special Collections, Alexandria City Library, Alexandria, VA.

City permit issued to erect a gas station on property at 1001 South Washington Street. To facilitate the gas station construction, Bishop Ireton revoked the restrictions that were placed on the cemetery property in 1946. Construction of the gas station and later replacement of tanks resulted in disturbance to and desecration of graves.

Sources: Alexandria City Archives, Building Permit #6368, Alexandria, VA; Alexandria Land Records, Liber 416, Folio 460, Alexandria Courthouse, Alexandria, VA.

Construction of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) began in Virginia. The section just south of Freedmen’s Cemetery opened around the time of completion of the highway in April 1964. Construction in this area cut into the southern edge of cemetery, destroying and desecrating graves.

Source: Scott Kozell, Capital Beltway History.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. This landmark legislation outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibited unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.

Source: Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, enacted July 2, 1964.

Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act that mandated federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on historic properties. Implementation of the law requires identification of historic properties, assessment of adverse effects on identified properties, and resolutions to avoid or mitigate recognized adverse effects.

Source: National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Pub. L. 89-665, enacted 15 October 1966; 36 CFR Subpart C - Program Alternatives.

City of Alexandria research librarian, T. Michael Miller, found late nineteenth-century newspaper articles referring to a cemetery in Alexandria for contrabands and freedmen established during Civil War. He produced the first timeline of the site’s history. This work was instrumental in establishing the location of Freedmen Cemetery and paved the way for its inclusion on the Virginia Abandoned Cemetery Survey in 1989.

Source: See timeline entries for newspaper article - “Alexandria Affairs,” Washington Post, 29 March 1892.

Beginning in 1988, the Federal Highway Administration initiated a cooperative study effort among the affected jurisdictions (including the City of Alexandria) and agencies (including the Virginia Department of Transportation-VDOT) to address the operational and structural deficiencies of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. In 1992, the agency established the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Study Coordination Committee to deal with effects of new bridge construction on the environment and affected communities.

Source: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Study Coordination Committee, Maryland Manual On-Line. 

Wesley Pippenger found the Book of Records at the Library of Virginia and transcribed the names and other information, which are published in his book Alexandria, Virginia Death Records 1863-1868 (The Gladwin Record) and 1869-1896.

Source: Wesley Pippenger, Westminster, Alexandria, Virginia Death Records 1863-1868 (The Gladwin Record) and 1869-1896 (Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1995).

In compliance with federal historic preservation laws, the study for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project continued to assess the effects of construction of a new bridge on nearby historical and archaeological resources, including the Freedmen’s Cemetery location. VDOT hired Parsons Engineering Science, Inc. to conduct remote sensing to investigate the possible presence of graves under the asphalt of the gas station lot.

Sources: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Study: Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Section 4(f) Evaluation. Prepared by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Region 3 and Virginia Department of Transportation; Maryland Department of Transportation, State Highway Administration; and District of Columbia Department of Public Works, July 1996, 4-51, table 4-23;  Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Study Scope of Work: Remote Sensing Investigations Associated with the Freedman’s Contraband Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia, (draft), on file at Alexandria Archaeology, Alexandria, VA; J. Sanderson Stevens, Diane E. Hallsall, and Ronald J. Bowers, Addendum: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Improvement Study Documentary Research and Remote Sensing Investigations, Freedmen’s or Contraband Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia, Parsons Engineering Science, Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, January 1997, revised August 1997.

Potomac Crossing Consultants (URS Corporation) was hired by Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to undertake archaeological test excavations in the Capital Beltway right-of-way south and west of the Mobil Station and office building properties. The investigation resulted in the identification of 78 grave locations.

Source: Bernard W. Slaughter, George L. Miller, and Meta Janowitz. Archaeological Investigations to Define the Boundaries of Freedmen’s Cemetery (44AX0179), Within the Property Owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation, Alexandria, Virginia, Potomac Crossing Consultants, Alexandria, VA, May 2001; Bruce Bevan, A Geophysical Survey at the Alexandria Freedmen’s Cemetery, URS Greiner, Inc., 6 January 1999.

Virginia State Marker erected at request of Friends of Freedmen’s Cemetery as part of the group’s goal of increasing public awareness of the cemetery. The marker reads:

“Freedmen’s Cemetery—Federal authorities established a cemetery here for newly freed African Americans during the Civil War. In January 1864, the military governor of Alexandria confiscated for use as a burying ground an abandoned pasture from a family with Confederate sympathies. About 1,700 freed people, including infants and black Union soldiers, were interred here before the last recorded burial in January 1869. Most of the deceased had resided in what is known as Old Town and in nearby rural settlements. Despite mid-twentieth-century construction projects, many burials remain undisturbed. A list of those interred here has also survived.”

Major archaeological excavations conducted by the City’s archaeologists. The goal of the archaeological investigations was to identify grave locations for memorial designers so that construction could be planned and executed with no further disturbance to existing burials. Upon completion of these excavations, the number of graves identified by archaeologists totaled 534.

Source: Boyd Sipe with Francine W. Bromberg, Steven Shephard, Pamela J. Cressey, Eric Larsen, The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial, City of Alexandria, Virginia, Archeological Data Recovery at Site 44AX0179, Prepared by Thunderbird Archeology, A Division of Wetland Studies, and Alexandria Archaeology for U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, 2014.

An artifact unearthed during July archaeological investigations identified as a 13,000-year-old Clovis point. The quartzite tool was discarded when the tip broke off near the end of the manufacturing process.  Identified by Michael Johnson, a specialist in the study of early human occupation in North American, the point represents the oldest artifact discovered to date in Alexandria.  Its discovery pushed the date of the first human occupation in the city back to about 13,000 years ago.

Source: Francine W. Bromberg and Steven J. Shephard, Alexandria Archaeological Testing of Freedmen’s Cemetery (44AX0179) Alexandria, Virginia, June 2004. Alexandria, VA: Alexandria Archaeology Museum, Office of Historic Alexandria, 2007.

Additional archaeological excavations conducted to determine if graves were present in an area of inadvertent disturbances by utility companies. Archaeologists found an additional seven graves, bringing the total number of graves identified to 541 graves.

Source: Boyd Sipe with Francine W. Bromberg, Steven Shephard, Pamela J. Cressey, Eric Larsen, The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial, City of Alexandria, Virginia, Archeological Data Recovery at Site 44AX0179, Prepared by Thunderbird Archeology, A Division of Wetland Studies, and Alexandria Archaeology for U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, 2014.

Conservation Easement for the cemetery (1001 South Washington Street and 741 Church Street) granted to the Alexandria Historical Restoration and Preservation Commission by City of Alexandria.

Source: Deed of Conservation Easement Agreement, 120007513/000558, on file Alexandria Archaeology, Office of Historic Alexandria, Alexandria, VA.

Archaeological investigation and monitoring of construction activities conducted in concert with the construction of the Memorial to ensure protection of burials. Additional grave locations were discovered, bringing the total number of grave locations identified to 631.

Source: Boyd Sipe with Francine W. Bromberg, Steven Shephard, Pamela J. Cressey, Eric Larsen, The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial, City of Alexandria, Virginia, Archeological Data Recovery at Site 44AX0179, Prepared by Thunderbird Archeology, A Division of Wetland Studies, and Alexandria Archaeology for U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, 2014.