Contrabands in Illinois

Contrabands Two car loads of contrabands arrived from Cairo yesterday. Farmers were here waiting for them, who took most of them away immediately to work on farms and help save the crops. The war has nearly depopulated some townships of able bodied men, and consequently there is an immense demand for labor to gather the crops. The necessity is so great that people don’t stop to cavil about color. Anyone that can work is accepted. But the Egyptian farmers are securing most of the contrabands that arrive at Cairo. Comparatively few reach the Northern portion of the State — Chicago Tribune.

                                                               (Liberator. October 17, 1862, pg 3)