There were slave owners

The Times publishes a fascinating adaptation from the new book 1861: The Civil War Awakening, by Adam Goodheart, which I just received an advance notice of and is on my list of books to read after I finish up James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom. The article tells the story of how the seeds of emancipation were planted in the first days of the Civil War, as three escaped slaves sought asylum at a Union post at Fort Monroe in Virginia literally hours after the State of Virginia approved secession, and the (at least to me) unsung heroism and creativity of Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler who had just taken command of the fort.