May 23rd, 1861 Smalls escaped a year before three slaves escaped to Fort Monroe. Eventually, the slaves were taken by Union Major General named Bejamin Butler. Butler refused to return the fugitive slaves to their masters, but instead return them to the Confederacy. Butler's new "status" was that they were contraband of war illegal property and forfeited to the north. This allows slaves to work and practice their freedom. Hampton University the oldest black college was still possible because of Mary Peake. Many taught slaves in secret disobeying the law. However, in Union occupied Hampton, Virginia those laws were no longer needed. Mary started to teach a handful amount of students then fifty to nine-hundred students to become full citizens.