Union General Benjamin Butler declared enslaved African American refugees to be contraband, or captured war supplies, primarily because he would not have to return them to slaveholders in the South. This declaration allowed the Union Army to protect these individuals and avoid the obligation to return them to their enslavers, effectively treating them as property seized during a time of war.
Why did Union General Benjamin Butler declare enslaved African American refugees to be contraband, or captured war supplies?
(1 point)
Responses
He did not want them to fight for the Confederacy.
He did not want them to fight for the Confederacy.
He would not have to return them to slaveholders in the South.
He would not have to return them to slaveholders in the South.
He would not have to find slaveholders willing to take them.
1 answer