Includes a copy of a letter from Sayles Jenks Bowen discussing proposed anti-slavery bills, schools for formerly enslaved peoples in Washington, DC, and politics (May 31, 1862); discussions of the political situation and Civil War; a letter from Emma V. Brown describing the news of emancipation in DC and how she had stones thrown at her as she walked to the Normal School for Colored Girls, and another describing a banquet given for "contrabands" (formerly enslaved peoples). Correspondents include Samantha Nivison and Samuel J. May among others.