ABSTRACT
The plight of refugees who fled to Union lines elicited an outpouring of aid and empathy from free African American women who readily turned their attention to the freedpeople thrown into freedom with few, if any, resources. In 1862, at least 400 homeless, penniless fugitives were in Washington, D.C.; 10,000 were there in 1863 with an additional 3,000 in Alexandria, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington. At the war's end, there were an estimated 40,000 refugees in the District of Columbia. 1 Freedmen's Village in Alexandria, Virginia which was overcrowded with 3,000 refugees in 1863, housed 7,000 by 1864. 2
