15. Many slaves escaped during the retreat
The defeated Confederate Army suffered from disorganization and lack of control, in part due to the loss of so many officers during the Battle of Gettysburg. While stories of the loyalty of slaves, particularly personal servants, abound, there is also evidence of large numbers of slaves escaping during the retreat. Some were freed by being captured during Union cavalry raids. These were usually held as prisoners of war, unless they agreed to enter the Union service in the segregated regiments. Others escaped from their confinement and fled to cities and towns in the north. There they sought work in meat packing plants, the mills of New England, and the iron foundries in Pennsylvania and New York.
Confederate newspapers and magazines made much of the acts of loyalty by slaves such as Moses and many others, and ignored the fact so many slaves escaped to the North. The propaganda, which began while the war continued, grew during the post-Reconstruction period of the Lost Cause. In reality, slaves escaped at a rate which further crippled the Army of Northern Virginia as it reorganized in 1863 and early 1864. The invaluable labors provided by slaves to the army during the first three years of the war deteriorated steadily after the disasters at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Some in the South suggested measures that to Confederate sensibilities were even more drastic than secession and war.