Virginia Vignettes

Historians of Norfolk have long regarded the city as an anomaly to the traditional view of a southern seaport. Its white citizens were known for their opposition to the war until the firing on Fort Sumter, at which point they became staunch secessionists. Its free black citizens were known for their quiet abolitionism (e.g., many were part of the underground railroad or helped area black slaves to escape within the city until they could be smuggled out of the South) until Norfolk’s occupation by Union forces in 1862. When the war began in 1861, many of Norfolk’s white men enlisted while the women utilized their varied talents to assist the war effort. The black slaves were utilized in the labor brigades while a few free blacks volunteered their services to the Confederate Army. The majority of blacks patiently waited for freedom. Many believed, as a result of the articles and editorials published by abolitionist newspapers, that emancipation would eventually emerge as the real purpose behind the war. Once Union forces successfully seized power and control in Norfolk, the blacks–both free and bond–began exercising and exerting their right to bear arms in the Union Army.

This Vignette Provided By

Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Associate Professor of History, Norfolk State University