This guy was a big wheel from the African-American Civil War Museum around the corner and was full of facts such as most of the early intelligence gained by the Union about Confederate ship and troop movements was gathered by black men working in Southern ports and forts. This intelligence network was based on a preexisting network of black Freemasons. Blacks were prohibited by law from serving in the army, but not the navy. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, that enabled the black population to join the army, which they did in droves. While black people composed three percent of the total population, they composed ten percent of the Union army. Black enlistment was an international phenomenon, with enlistees coming from Canada, the Carribean, even England to fight the Confederacy. The regiments from DC were composed of 95% freedmen and only 5% former slaves, mostly runaways. That reflected the population of Washington, which had a large population of free black people. Because DC was under direct federal control, the government could declare emancipation unilaterally. Lincoln chose to buy slaves from their owners to emancipate DC. Slaves would go before a panel who estimated their market value. The federal government paid that amount to the slaveowner and the slave went free. Almost all black people in DC were free before the Emancipation Proclamation.