Of course, the details vary depending on when and where in the war you are talking about. Based on your reference to "promising abolition" I'm going to focus on after the Emancipation Proclamation--prior to that, there was no such promise. Strictly speaking, the Emancipation Proclamation did not promise abolition, but it is certainly fair to say that after that proclamation a Union victory in the war very likely meant freedom for all slaves in the confederacy.

Sources-wise, I'm mostly drawing on James M. McPherson's "The Negro's Civil War," which is a collection of primary sources with minimal narration. I'm strictly an interested amateur, but I hope to give a pro-level comment.

Slaves seem to have been widely aware of the general fact that the Union armies meant freedom and streamed toward them for that reason. Slaveholders apparently tried to "warn" that the Yankees would yoke the former slaves like beasts of burden or shoot them, but it seems many slaves saw through the effort to scare them into sticking around--at least, that seems to be what they said after the fact when it had largely proven false. Some slaves were certainly afraid of the oncoming Yankee armies, but on the whole they were "greeted as liberators" as we say.

These freed slaves in the Union camps appear to have maintained at least some contact among current slaves, allowing information to move both ways. Confederate generals believed that underground communications networks in Florida with freed people within union lines gave rise to an increase in slave escapes. When the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina freed hundreds of slaves (A raid that, according to a Northern newspaper report, was conceived of and guided by Harriet Tubman), the confederate General argued there must have been pre-conceived planning with the slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation itself seems to have been widely known by slaves almost immediately. Although most slaves were illiterate, the proclamation was published in southern newspapers and it only took a few learning about it for the information to spread like wildfire. Captured confederates apparently reported first hearing of the proclamation from their slaves.

In short, the main form of "revolt" was simply escape to Union lines, where many former slaves assisted the war effort in camp and later as soldiers--around 100,000 former slaves served as soldiers before the war was over. But slaves were certainly aware of what was going on at least in a general sense and there were certainly incidents of more active resistance.

Slaves were very much aware of the war, and also the promise of abolition, although this was generally overshadowed by the fear of their masters.

However, the fear of a slave revolt was a very real concern to many southerners. The Confederate Army also recruited slaves in the later stages of the war when manpower had all but run out in exchange for freedom and a meager salary.

Many slaves ran away and some did revolt (although, as I mentioned, usually the fear of punishment in defeat outweighed the benefits of freedom in victory).

Not sure how helpful that was, but I hope it was helpful in some way!

A source, I'll happily try and find more when I get home if you'd like.

Not sure if relevant, but the recent best-selling novel and 2013 National Book Award Winner, The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, is a fictional account of slaves and escaped slaves in the south just prior to the Civil War and how slave revolts were dealt with. John Brown, the abolitionist, is a major character. It's not history, certainly, but I'm thinking anyone who is interested in this topic might also be interested in well written fictional treatments of it