When such property
consisted of slaves, it stated that those slaves were to be
forever free. Thereafter, slaves flocked into Union lines in an
ever-swelling flood. Besides fighting the war, the Union army
found itself bogged down caring for thousands of escaped slaves,
a task for which it was unprepared. In some cases confiscated
plantations were leased to Northern whites, and escaped slaves
were hired out to work them. In December of 1862 General Saxton
declared that abandoned land could be used for the benefit of the
ex-slave. Each family was given two acres of land for every
worker in the family, and the government provided some tools with
which to work it. However, most of the land was sold to Northern
capitalists who became absentee landlords with little or no
interest in maintaining the quality of the land or in caring for
the ex-slave who did the actual labor. These ex-slaves were
herded into large camps with very poor facilities. The mortality
rate ran as high as 25 percent within a two-year period.
Gradually, a very large number of philanthropic relief
associations, many of which were related to the churches, sprang
up to help the ex-slave by providing food, clothing, and
education.
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