GC4DKGR Contrabands (Traditional Cache) in Virginia, United States created by johnaugus

This cache has been archived.

CardinalReviewer: There has been no response from the CO. Without recent communication on future cache availability, we can not hold this area for you any longer and so this cache is being archived. Please pick up any remaining cache bits as soon as possible.

Thank you for your understanding,
CardinalReviewer
Volunteer Geocaching.com Reviewer
Known Virginia Geocaching Guidelines

GC4DKGR ▼

A cache by johnaugus Message this owner

Hidden : 6/5/2013

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is located across the street from the Alexandria Contrabands’ and Freedmen’s Cemetery, where a memorial is currently being constructed. You do not have to be inside the iron fence to retrieve the cache, so please do not intrude in the Catholic cemetery on this side of the street after hours. Traffic and parking will be most difficult at rush hours.

During the Civil War, thousands of slaves who escaped from the Confederacy sought refuge and relative freedom in Union-occupied Alexandria. In mid-1861 their status as Confederate “property” became a legal basis for allowing them to stay in the United States: they were called “contraband of war.” Later would they become known as “freedmen.”

Most of these freedom seekers arrived destitute, undernourished, and even sick. Some found employment, as many people were needed to assist the Union’s war efforts, but others did not. Because of their large numbers, many refugees were housed in barracks, through which disease spread quickly.

Rev. Albert Gladwin, Superintendant of Contrabands, requested that land on the southern edge of town, then owned by a Confederate sympathizer, should be confiscated as a cemetery for the nearly 1,800 freedmen who died in these conditions from 1864-1869. Randall Ward, a freedman from Culpeper County, became the head gravedigger and day-to-day supervisor of the site.

(Initially black soldiers were buried here as well, but in 1865 they were disinterred and moved to the Soldiers’ Cemetery, now Alexandria National Cemetery.)

After ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, the nearly 9,000 freed people living in Alexandria helped elect the first black Alexandrians in City Council and the Virginia legislature.

Over time, the Alexandria Contrabands’ and Freedmen’s Cemetery was neglected and even forgotten. Wooden tombstones disintegrated or disappeared. In the mid-20^th century, a gas station and office building were constructed here.

Only in recent decades did plans for rebuilding the Woodrow Wilson Bridge attract attention to the cemetery. Archaeologists have confirmed the presence of graves on the site, and a memorial is being built.

A different history lesson is located at the cache site for those who are interested!

As best I can tell, the Handicaching.com rating of this geocache might be H11121 when street parking is available, but perhaps as high as H22121. You can provide fellow cachers more information about accessibility by rating this cache (and others!) at Handicaching.com.

Congratulations, awesnap, First to Find!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ba gur veba srapr, haqre bar bs gur pvepyrf, zntargvp.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Contrabands Traditional Cache

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