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GATEWAY TO In the summer of 1862, thousands of slaves passed through Fredericksburg to new lives in the North

In the summer of 1862, thousands of slaves passed through Fredericksburg to new lives in the North. By John Hennessy

Date published: 2/25/2006

ISTORY IS FULL of big ideas--freedom, democracy, faith, revolution, liberty, war, emancipation. But rarely in our history books do those big ideas take human form; rarely do they crystallize into an event, a person or a moment we can grasp at the distance of years or decades. And because of that, most people are not much interested in history.

That hard fact is especially tragic in a place like Fredericksburg, which is full of places, people and stories that speak to some of the most important ideas in the history of the world. Washington, Jefferson, religious freedom, war, emancipation, the slave auction block, the Sunken Road, St. George's and a hundred ancient buildings in town. A few of these stories and places stand out as the standard stuff of Fredericksburg's history. But at least one story has been almost entirely overlooked. Here in Fredericksburg, nearly 144 years ago, emancipation and freedom took human form as vividly as any place in America.

Fredericksburg, like America, wrestled with an immense incongruity: the presence of oppression in a land conceived of liberty. This community had known slavery--had come to need slavery--since its founding in 1727. Before the Civil War, about one-third of Fredericksburg's population was enslaved. In Stafford County, the figure was closer to 40 percent. In Spotsylvania and Caroline counties, slaves outnumbered white residents almost 3-2.

Before 1862, emancipation was a distant dream for most Fredericksburg-area slaves. A few gained freedom in the wills of owners who were more charitable in death than they had been in life. Some tried to seize freedom themselves by running away. And in rare cases, slaves rebelled outright, but with the power of government aligned with the slave owner, rebellion invariably ended in death or export for the slaves.

For most slaves, life took on an unwavering rhythm: sow tend harvest. Year after year. Lifetime after lifetime, with little hope for freedom.

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Date published: 2/25/2006