Impressment of Slaves and Free Blacks

A June 1, 1864, order from the Conscript Office of the Confederate War Department in Richmond calls for "the immediate impressment of five thousand free Negroes and Slaves to work on the defences of Richmond & Danville." The order goes on to state that the blacks impressed into service should be those "not engaged in agricultural operations and [who] can be spared without too great a sacrifice to the community."