Seminal event on 'road to emancipation' gets its due

The name "Shep Mallory" carved in the brick on the side of St. John's Church is understated, but it is believed to point to a momentous act that changed the course of American history.

Historian John Quarstein discovered the inscription two years ago in Hampton, the historic military town at the southern tip of the Virginia peninsula. Quarstein says "the odds are pretty good" that the name was carved by Shepard Mallory in the days after the burning of Hampton in August 1861, when downtown became a vast camp for contrabands — fugitive slaves under the protection of the Union during the Civil War.

Mallory was one of three slaves who gained Union protection at Ft. Monroe early in the war.

Like the inscription, the contraband story has been understated in recent years, according to the Hampton-based Contraband Historical Society. Last month the society held a celebration at Ft. Monroe marking the 150th anniversary of the contraband decision, which was a milestone in the dismantling of slavery in the United States....