Download 07.2_Who Built Fort Curtis_March 11, 2012.ai

Who Built Fort Curtis?
Thousands of escaped slaves, known as Contraband, followed
the Union army to Helena in July 1862. Within weeks, the army
put hundreds of Contraband to work building Fort Curtis.
Hard Labor in Hot Weather
African American laborers moved tons of earth, cut trees, milled
lumber and did everything else required to build Fort Curtis. Imagine
moving enough dirt to build this fort with only shovels, picks and
wheelbarrows. Then imagine doing this backbreaking work in the
hottest months of the year. The men who came to Helena seeking
freedom did just that, building a fort larger than this reconstruction
in three months.
Union soldiers under orders seized African American men, including
those workingg for the army in other jobs, and set them to work on Fort
Curtis. General Eugene Carr, an advocate for the Contraband,
complained to General Curtis, writing, “It would be
com
better to send the orders through the proper
bett
channels than to send parties to gather them
cha
[Contraband] wherever they may be found!”
[Co
Carr felt that the Union army’s actions sent the
Car
wrong message about freedom saying, “. . . there is
wro
no ssecurity for those [who] in good faith have
engaged in labor in our service.”
eng
General Eugene A. Carr
Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs
tographs Division
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ongre
of C
rary
Lib
nd
Prints a
Photograapphs Division
In spite of being forced to labor on the fort many of the men who
built Fort Curtis enlisted in the Union army the following
ollowing spring.
A Part of the
Civil War Discovery Trail
V
O
C
Support for Civil War Helena generously provided by Southern
Bancorp, Department of Arkansas Heritage Delta Cultural Center,
and Helena-West Helena Advertising and Promotion Commission.
DIS
Arkansas Civil War
Sesquicentennial Site
CI
Libra
r ry
r of
o Congress
Cong
ngress Prints
t and Photographs
Photog
ographs Division
Library
DRAFT DATE : March 11, 2011
Seized and Set to Work
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