General Joseph Hooker directs his subordinates to send Black men into rebel territory to search for their families and gather military intelligence
Capt. Joseph Dickinson (AAG) to Brig. Gen, Daniel E. Sickles ordering the sending out of all Black Marylanders who will be likely to gather information on the rebel forces on the south side of the Rappahanock. They have families on the other side of the river, and will be willing to encounter almost any peril to secure them. A letter of the same date permits Mr. Posey, a Maryland enslaver, to enter the camp of the 70th New York to reclaim two of his enslaved workers. A subsequent telegram in the folder describes Cornelius, an enslaved man, as reliable for supplying information about the rebel forces to the Union army.