Free Negroes
Information about Free Negros in Richmond, VA during the Civil War

Written Accounts

1865-06-08, White Cloud (Kan.) Chief; details of colored troops are busy burying Union soldiers at the Richmond battlefields. Notes that “several hundred” skeletons were interred near Cold Harbor.
1865-06-13, Richmond Whig; interesting paragraph about the new names of former slaves
1865-07-19, Washington (DC) Daily National Republican; interesting letter from a young woman describing the conditions and popular sentiment in Richmond at this time; describes the Fourth of July Celebration in Capitol Square
1865-07-26, Washington (Pa.) Reporter; letter from Col. G. Brown of the Freedmen’s Bureau, giving statistics of negroes now at Chimborazo
1865-07-28, Richmond Whig; description of the current state of Rocketts Landing
1865-08-04, Richmond Whig; Provost Marshal cases in the 2nd district: Liquor sales, thefts and two humorous accounts of unfaithful husbands. One woman escaped Castle Thunder but was “recommitted” after arrest
1865-08-04, Richmond Whig; racist description of the Freedman camp at Chimborazo, the “abiding place of unemployed and no-account negroes”
1865-08-04, Richmond Whig; racist description of the over-use of the Provost Marshal courts by Freedmen. Advocates all parties be put in Castle Thunder
1865-08-12, Columbia (S. C.) Daily Phoenix; interesting article describing the population of Richmond as now 50,000 and notes on the demographics of the city. Also describes the occupation of Chimborazo as “the only barracks occupied by negroes”
1865-09-28, Richmond Commercial Bulletin; recent escapes at Castle Thunder are due to the “dilapidated condition of the edifice,” not the lack of vigilance of the guards.

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