Technically I do not think that Tubman was a *contraband*. She fled enslavement long before the Civil War, and it is my understanding that contrabands were so named because of war-time status. They fled from rebel states - and technically for Tubman, Maryland was still in the Union so no *contrabands* officially came from there, although we certainly know that many enslaved people fled to the protection of Union Froces in Southern Maryland and near Washington DC, and that some Union officers did not force them to return to their Maryland enslavers.

She remained a fugitive from the law until Nov. 1, 1864 when Maryland emancipated it's thousands of enslaved people.

Kate Larson