On Hallowed Ground by Robert M Poole Page B

among the “dusky faces” she encountered in Freedman’s Village. 65
    Within a few weeks of establishing the new community at Arlington, Lt. Col. Elias Greene declared it a success. “The Arlington
Estate is one of the largest and most fertile of the abandoned farms, has a full supply of good water, [and] is remarkably
healthy,” he wrote. “And being well within the lines of defenses, it secures the safety of the contrabands … The crops
are in fine condition and the farms promise to be very remunerative.” 66
    Despite Greene’s glowing report, not all of those living at Freedman’s Village enjoyed the experience. Toiling in the fields and workrooms under military discipline seemed, for some, scarcely preferable to slavery. The fresh vegetables freedmen grew were requisitioned for sale in Washington, while many of the farm workers were expected to live on army rations.“Don’t feel as if I was free,” said one woman after a few years in Freedman’s Village. “’Pears like there’s nobody free here.” 67 Established residents were suspicious of new arrivals, distrusted as disease-ridden, dirty, and discontented. 68 And in the patronizing fashion of the day, missionaries and well-intentioned Union officers took moral responsibility for villagers, hectoring their charges on the importance of cleanliness, godliness, and other virtues. “You must be industrious,” admonished the Rev. Dr. J. George Butler, preaching to a gathering of Arlington freedmen. “I do not wonder that so many of you do not love to work,” said the Lutheran minister. “But when you look over all this grand land—the cities and factories and farms—at all its great wealth—and ask where it came from, there is but one answer. It is the reward not of indolence, but of industry … Your race can never become manly except they work industriously.” 69
    Many took Butler’s advice, prospered, and established successful lives in Freedman’s Village. Others left Arlington as soon
as they could, creating new communities in Alexandria that thrive to this day. But the majority of black refugees who made
it to the Washington region preferred to stay in the capital. Life could be precarious there, to be sure, but it was less regimented than Arlington—and
perhaps more secure for the long term. 70
    What if the Confederates won the war and Robert E. Lee returned to reclaim his plantation? Where would that leave the blacks
who lived there? To avoid this eventuality, the federal government, having firmly established its physical presence on the
Lee estate, moved to make its legal title secure.

    With little fanfare, Congress had laid the groundwork for seizing the title to Arlington early in the war. Just as the Peninsula
Campaign heated up, lawmakers enacted legislation allowing for direct taxes in the “insurrectionary districts” in June 1862.
Amended in February 1863, the statute was meant not only to raise much-needed revenue for the war effort but also to punish
those supporting the rebellion. It enabled federal commissioners to assess and collect taxes on real estate in Confederate
territory; if those taxes were not paid in person, the commissioners were empowered to sell the land. Acting under that law,
the authorities levied a tax of $92.07 on the 1,100-acre Arlington estate in 1863. Mrs. Lee, stranded in Richmond by the fighting
and by deteriorating health, dispatched a cousin to pay her tax bill. But when Philip R. Fendall presented himself to the
commissioners in Alexandria, they informed him that they would accept the money only from Mrs. Lee. They sent him packing
and set the date for selling Arlington: January 11, 1864. 71
    The Potomac River was covered with ice that day, with no boats running and carriages scarce. Although the auction was well
attended, arctic conditions seemed to chill the bidding. The sole offer for Arlington came from the federal government, which
tendered $26,800 for the estate, something