Whether enslavers approved, enslaved men in Maryland enlisted in recruitment camps all over the state in the summer of 1863. After much negotiation, the War Department issued General Orders 329 to appease Maryland Unionists and lay out procedures for enlisting enslaved men and paying loyal enslavers. It created the Maryland Board of Claims to adjudicate claims from Maryland and Northampton and Accomack Counties on Virginia’s adjacent eastern shore. Unlike most other border states, Maryland’s governing politicians and Unconditional Unionists generally supported the initiative. As an Eastern Shore Provost Marshal told the Secretary of War, “Loyal slave owners are glad of a last chance to receive some compensation for a property rendered worthless by the Rebellion and the cause of emancipation receives a constant accession of supporters.” The promise of federal compensation for at least some enslaved men would strengthen the Unconditional Unionists and further the cause of emancipation in Maryland.
The Maryland Board of Claims
Almost as soon as it was established in late 1863, the Maryland Board of Claims ran into questions of eligibility, procedural delays, and loyalty politics. Originally, an enslaver had 10 days to make a claim by filing a deed of manumission or release of service for the soldier and proof of enlistment. But recruitment officers rarely provided the necessary documentation, and the War Department extended the submission deadline multiple times. Enslavers also had to take an oath of allegiance with affidavits from two loyalists.
As Marylanders worked out who “deserved” compensation, they began to perform a new politics of loyalty, one that required loyal enslavers to accept immediate emancipation if they wanted payment. Despite clear procedure, Marylanders and Virginians contested their neighbor’s claims. The three Unconditional Unionists who sat on the Board received several anonymous or confidential letters from self-styled Union men warning them that a neighbor who intended to make a claim had taken the loyalty oath but voted for secession. Some offered to verify loyal men if the Board sent them a list of county claimants—but only if their name was kept secret. Others cautioned of county-wide conspiracies of disloyal enslavers vouching for each other’s claims. One board member, Thomas Timmons, worried that even men he considered loyalists vouched for rebel claims. Ironically, the act of claiming compensation called into question an enslaver’s loyalties. Were they loyal, or did they just want payment for property in people?
