Lot 90
A Stop on the Underground Railroad Shelters Contraband Guests During the Civil War. Autograph letter signed ("Nancy"), 6 pages, recto & verso, 8 x 5" (pages 1-4) and 4¾ x 4" (pages 5-6), n.p. (probably Illinois), July 31, n.y. (ca 1862). Folded to fit an envelope, but otherwise fine. Our writer found time for an act of uncommon charity during the Civil War: "A Contraband friend of the man & wife we had live with us came out last year to recruit her health, and now she has come again to spend two weeks I expect at least.so I got dinner for four darkeys while Ezekiel & Emma had gone to a Meeting."
The term "Contraband" was commonly used in the North after 1861 to describe escaped southern slaves who worked for the Union Army. Our writer's references to a "Meeting" and sheltering these "Contrabands" suggest that Nancy and her family served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Estimated Value $300 - 400
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