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[Civil War]. Captured Contraband Signed Statement....
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Sold on Feb 26, 2026 for:
$1,000.00
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Description
[Civil War]. Captured Contraband Signed Statement. One page of a bifolium, 4 3/4 x 8 inches, Wheeling, West Virginia; July 16, 1865. A postwar statement by a formerly enslaved man identified as Jake Cage, offering an uncommon firsthand record of the "contraband of war" system, in which southern Black fugitives could gain freedom by serving in the Union Army. The document records Cage's capture during the Civil War and his subsequent service under Union officer Captain Wilmon Whilldin Blackmar of the 1st West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry. Cage's statement reads, in full:"I was captured by Capt. Blackmar Aug. 7th 1864 at the battle of Morfield [Moorefield] - I was there serving Gen. Bradley J Johnston C. S. A. - since that time I have served Capt. Blackmar, he has always fed and clothed me as well as he could considering the constant and long marches & raids we have been on - I have always been clothed and fed as comfortably as he was himself. He has paid me in full for the time I have served him and gives me a parting present of $60 sixty dollars." Signed by Cage with his mark.
On the verso, a contemporary pencil notation reads: "Colored Servants receipt."
The designation of enslaved individuals as "contraband of war" originates from 1861, when Union General Benjamin Butler refused to return fugitive enslaved men to Confederate owners, arguing they constituted seized enemy property. Following Butler's precedent, the federal government formalized this policy on August 6, 1861, classifying fugitive enslaved people as contraband of war and thereby placing them beyond Confederate reach. By the end of the war, an estimated ten thousand individuals had sought protection under this designation.
Condition: Lightly toned with smoothed folds. A few ink stains on the verso.
Auction Info
2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction #6328 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
February, 2026
26th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 1
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 129
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