“I could not begin to express my newborn hopes, for I felt like I was certain of my freedom now…‘Do you want to be free?’ inquired one [Union soldier]. ‘By all means!’ I answered. I did not know what else to say for I was dumb with joy and could only thank God and laugh.” —Former slave John Washington on the 1862 approach of the Union army to Fredericksburg, VA. Union soldiers helped Washington escape to freedom.