THE FREEDMEN'S SAVINGS BANK
authorities saw that he received food, clothing,
and sometimes wages. Regular contracts were
made and enforced when possible by the army
officers. The speculators and planters made little
money; in fact most of them lost heavily, but the
Negroes secured some training for the responsibilities
 of freedom.
Such were the conditions surrounding the
Negroes who escaped from slavery before 1865.
The camps, colonies, and settlements, whether
on the Atlantic coast or in the border states, or
in the Mississippi valley and along the Gulf
coast, were constantly receiving accessions of
escaping slaves. These came through the lines,
or were brought out by such expeditions into the
interior as that of Banks up the Red River valley
or Sherman’s raid to Jackson, Mississippi, or his
march through Georgia. All of those thus freed
from slavery had some experience and training
before the general emancipation.
But the majority of the slaves remained with
their masters until very nearly the end of the
war. They worked as usual or better than usual
on the plantations where, because of the absence
of so many of the white men, more than ordinary
responsibility was thrown upon them. In the
Confederate armies numbers of them were employed
 as teamsters and as laborers on fortifications
 and in the munition factories. The slaves
within the Confederate lines were better cared
for and had better health than those in the camps
and colonies within the Federal lines, but at the
time of emancipation they were probably less
fitted for the responsibilities of freedom.

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