In the summer of 1864, a 10-year-old enslaved girl sought to leave the plantation of her captivity to attend a new school for the newly freed in Portsmouth, Virginia. Left defenseless and alone after the death of her father and the selling away of her mother, the girl pleaded with her mistress who refused. Effectively orphaned and captive to an unyielding owner, it seemed that she would never receive the freedom that surrounded her. But her uncle, who had seized his own freedom, rescued her. Serving as a soldier in the United States Colored Troops, this man threatened to send Union officials to force the belligerent slaveholder to free the child. Although he was not her parent, he took responsibility for his niece and successfully freed her.
Historian, Writer, and Muser
