This week in 1863... During the Civil War, the Confederate government forced free and enslaved Blacks to labor for the Confederate army. They were required to report to the county courthouse where a doctor examined them and determined what work they were fit to do. That’s how James T.S. Taylor ended up in Washington, DC. He was a free Black man from Albemarle County. But he refused to work for the Confederates. So he ran away to Union lines in northern Virginia.