During the Civil War, thousands of enslaved African-Americans escaped from captivity in the South to liberty in the North, and the grounds before once sheltered these freedom-seekers, known at that time as “Contraband.” Conditions in the “Contraband Camp” were appalling, with men, women, and children living half underground in dark, damp, smoky dens. Nurse Sophronia Bucklin described holes three to four feet deep dug in black soil and roofed with boards packed with turf, with only one opening for people to enter on their hands and feet and another for smoke to escape, leaving almost no fresh air or light. Some residents later found jobs at Point Lookout as military service staff or laborers, exchanging the bonds of slavery for work on the government payroll.