by Larry Chowning
There was standing room only under a large tent in the Deltaville Community Center parking lot Saturday as more than 100 people attended the dedication and celebration of the Stingray Point Contraband Virginia Historic Road Sign.
The marker recognizes six enslaved Middlesex County men who “self-emancipated” 160 years ago at Stingray Point on July 15, 1861. The men knew that the United States Navy had blockaded the Chesapeake Bay and they escaped to the Stingray Point Lighthouse, where they took shelter until they hailed the U.S.S. Mount Vernon, which took them aboard.
The six men enlisted in the Navy after the secretary of the Navy invoked the contraband of war theory established earlier that year at Fort Monroe. The marker’s sponsor is….
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