American Textbooks Define the Underground Railroad
Landmarks of the Underground Railroad
Course Book
July 2008
Prepared for …
NEH “Landmarks of the Underground Railroad” Workshop held at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa
With contributions from …
Stephen Acker, Scott Ackerman, Meg Allen, Rafael Alvarado, Sayo Ayodele, Michael Blake, Larrisha Burrell, Angela Crilley, Matthew Dudek, Meghan Fralinger, Michael Geduldig, Jim Gerencser, Michael Gogoj, Ben Harney, Cara Holtry, Kristen Huddleston, Carolina Jimenez, Brenda Landis, Elaine Mellen, Wes McCoy, Todd Mealy, Jeff Mummert, John Osborne, Jim Percoco, Matt Pinsker, Meghan Rafferty, Zak Rosenberg, Pat Sheahan, Leah Suhrstedt, and Tracey Weis.
Table of Contents
Textbooks and the Underground Railroad …..…………………………… 4
Glossary for Kids…………………………………………………………. 10
Timeline……………………………………….…………………………. 12
Christiana (1851)………………………………………………………….. 19
Underground Railroad (1830s -1860s)……………………………….…… 44
Harpers Ferry (1859)…………….…..………..…………………………… 80
Lesson Plans ……………………………………………………………… 91
Biographical Profiles………….……………………………..…………… 106
Bibliography………………………………………………………………. 118
Maps……………………………………………………………………… 125
Textbooks and the Underground Railroad
American history textbooks struggle to define and describe the Underground Railroad. Textbook editors seem nervous by the absence of hard evidence yet wary of appearing too skeptical about an institution that has become part of national folklore. The compromise is usually a short paragraph or two that highlights the bravery of Harriet Tubman followed by a quick leap into the political narrative of the 1850s. The result is unsatisfying to read and difficult to teach. Students want to know about the Underground Railroad. They deserve to hear more than about codes and safe houses and a brave woman conductor named Tubman.
A study of ten popular recent high school and college American history textbooks illustrates the problem. Each textbook devotes on average about 180 words to the subject of the Underground Railroad. That amounts to about a paragraph or two. Even if you count all the additional material on subjects like abolitionists or the Fugitive Slave Law, the space devoted to the topic rarely exceeds a few pages. Under those space constraints, it is difficult to present anything of substance, but most of these samples seem especially weak on historical content.
Eight of the ten textbooks cite Harriet Tubman as the best example of Underground Railroad bravery. The textbooks that chose to ignore her simply don’t mention any specific individuals. All the textbooks taken together only mention five historic figure other than Tubman: Levi Coffin (once), Frederick Douglass (twice), Josiah Henson (once), and Nat Turner (once). The authors generally refer to groups, such as northern free blacks, abolitionists, or in some cases, Garrisonians, but such vague references often confuse students. None of the textbooks describe key figures such as Lewis Hayden (Boston Vigilance Committee), David Ruggles (New York Vigilance Committee) or William Still (Philadelphia Vigilance Committee). None identify the most famous escaped slave of the era, Henry “Box” Brown, a man who literally shipped himself from Richmond to Philadelphia in 1849, though one textbook did manage to refer indirectly to his remarkable story.
One exercise that you might consider with advanced students is to compare the following ten textbook excerpts, asking them to identify patterns which they see emerging from the various descriptions. A series of questions should emerge. How do textbooks define the Underground Railroad? Which individuals or episodes do they highlight most frequently? What do they say about the scope and timeframe of Underground Railroad operations? Which keywords, such as “network” or “safe houses” are repeated most often, and how is that significant? And finally, after some study and reading, how would you define the Underground Railroad?
Ten Textbooks on the Underground Railroad
R. Thomas A. Bailey and David M. Kennedy, The American Spirit. 9th ed., Vol.1
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 403-404.
“[The Underground Railroad] consisted of an informal chain of “stations” (antislavery homes), through which scores of “passengers” (runaway slaves) were spirited by “conductors” (usually white and black abolitionists) from the slave states to the free-soil sanctuary of Canada. By 1850 southerners were demanding a new and more stringent fugitive-slave law. The old one, passed by Congress in 1793, had proved inadequate to cope with runaways, especially since unfriendly state authorities failed to provide needed cooperation. Unlike cattle thieves, the abolitionists who ran the Underground Railroad did not gain personally from their lawlessness. But to the slaveowners the loss was infuriating, whatever the motives. The moral judgments of the abolitionists seemed, in some ways, more galling than outright theft. The reflected not only a holier-than-thou attitude but a refusal to obey the laws solemnly passed by Congress. Estimates indicate that the South in 1850 was losing perhaps 1,000 runaways a year, out of its total of some 4 million slaves. In fact, more blacks probably gained their freedom by self-purchase or voluntary emancipation than ever escaped. But the principle weighted heavily with the slavemasters. They rested their argument on the Constitution, which protected slavery, and on the laws of Congress, which provided for slave-catching. “Although the loss of property is felt,” said a southern senator, “the loss of honor is felt still more.”
[Word Count: 222]
2) Paul Boyer and Sterling Stuckey, The American Nation: Civil War to Present (Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2001), 25.
Slaves constantly protested their bondage, both through group and individual actions. Several small uprisings took place in the early 1800s. Then, in 1831 Nat Turner organized a violent revolt in Virginia. Turner and his followers killed some 60 whites before being captured. These uprisings led southern states to pass stricter slave codes that further limited slaves’ activities. Other methods of protest included disrupting the plantation routine through such tactics as faking illness or working slowly. Some slaves ran away and tried to gain their freedom in the North. Assistance came from the Underground Railroad, a network of white and African American people who helped escaped slaves reach the North. Escaped slave Harriet Tubman was the most famous and successful “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. She made at least 19 trips and escorted more than 300 slaves to freedom. “There was one of two things I had a right to,” she stated. “Liberty or death: if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man would take me alive.”
[Word Count: 172]
3) Henry W. Bragdon, Samuel Proctor McCutchen, and Donald A. Ritchie, History of a Free Nation (New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1998), 343.
The Underground Railroad
Another leader who favored political action was Fredrick Douglass, self-educated and formerly enslaved, who edited an abolitionist newspaper, The North Star. The title was meant to remind people of the Underground Railroad. This secret abolitionist organization, which had hiding places, or stations, throughout the Northern states and even into Canada, brought enslaved people out of the South and thus ensured their freedom. Moving at night, the agents of the Underground Railroad had only Polaris, the fixed star in the Northern skies, to guide them. They not only took care of African Americans after they had come North, but they risked their lives to go into the slave states and lead enslaved others to freedom. One of the most successful agents was Harriet Tubman, the “Black Moses,” who herself had been born into slavery. After escaping, she returned to the South many times, liberating more than 300 enslaved people. Tubman avoided arrest, despite a reward of $40,000 offered for her capture.
[Word Count: 163]
4) Alan Brinkley, American History: A Survey, Eleventh Edition (Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003), 312, 340.
For the most part, however, resistance to slavery took other, less drastic forms. Some blacks attempted to resist by running away. A small number managed to escape to the North or to Canada, especially after sympathetic whites began organizing the so-called underground railroad to assist them in flight. But the odds against a successful escape, particular from the Deep South, were impossibly high. The hazards of distance and the slaves’ ignorance of geography were serious obstacles. From 1840 on, therefore, abolitionism moved in many channels and spoke with many different voices. The Garrisonians remained influential, with their uncompromising moral stance. Others operated in more moderate ways, arguing that abolition could be accomplished only as the result of a long, patient, peaceful struggle – “immediate abolition gradually accomplished,” as they called it. At first, such moderates depended on “moral suasion.” They would appeal to the conscience of the slaveholders and convince them that their institution was sinful. When that produced no results, they turned to political action, seeking to induce the northern states and the federal government to aid the cause wherever possible. They joined the Garrisonians in helping runaway slaves find refuge in the North or in Canada through the so-called underground railroad (although their efforts were never as highly organized as the terms suggests).
[Word Count: 214]
5) James West Davidson, The American Nation: Beginnings Through 1877 Teacher’s Edition (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2005), 441.
Some abolitionists formed the Underground Railroad. It was not a real railroad, but a network of black and white abolitionists who secretly helped slaves escape to freedom in the North or Canada. “Conductors” guided runaways to “stations” where they could spend the night. Some stations were homes of abolitionists. Others were churches or even caves. Conductors sometimes hid runaways under loads of hay in wagons with false bottoms. One daring conductor, Harriet Tubman, had escaped from slavery herself. Risking her freedom and her life, Tubman returned to the South 19 times. She led more than 300 slaves, including her parents, to freedom. Admirers called Tubman the “Black Moses” after the biblical leader who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Slave owners offered a $40,000 reward for her capture.
[Word Count: 130]
6) Robert A. Divine, et al, The American Story. 3rd ed., vol. 1 (New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007), 288, 323.
Thousand of slaves showed their discontent and desire for freedom by running away. Most fugitives never got beyond the neighborhood of the plantation; after “lying out” for a time, they would return, often after negotiating immunity from punishment. But many escapees remained free for years by hiding in swamps or other remote areas, and a fraction escaped to the North or Mexico, stowing away aboard ships or traveling overland for hundreds of miles. Light-skinned blacks sometimes made it to freedom by passing for white. The Underground Railroad, an informal network of sympathetic free blacks (and a few whites), helped many fugitives make their way North. For the majority of slaves, however, flight was not a real option. Either they lived too deep in the South to have any chance of reaching free soil, or they were reluctant to leave family and friends behind….Free blacks in the North did more than make verbal protests against racial injustice. They were also the main conductors of the fabled Underground Railroad that opened a path for fugitives from slavery. Courageous ex-slaves such as Harriet Tubman and Josiah Henson made regular forays into the slave states to lead other blacks to freedom, and many of the “stations” along the way were run by free blacks. In northern towns and cities, free blacks organized “vigilance committees” to protect fugitives and thwart the slave-catchers. Groups of blacks even used force to rescue recaptured fugitives from the authorities.
[Word Count: 241]
7) Gary B. Nash, et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. 4th ed. (New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1998), 387.
The means of escape were manifold: forging passes, posing as master and servant, disguising one’s sex, sneaking aboard ships, and pretending loyalty until taken by the master on a trip to the North. One slave even hid in a large box and had himself mailed to the North. The underground railroad, organized by abolitions, was a series of safe houses and stations where runaway slaves could rest, eat, and spend the night before continuing. Harriet Tubman, who led some 300 slaves out of the South on 19 separate trips, was the railroad’s most famous “conductor.” It is difficult to know exactly how many slaves actually escaped to the North and Canada, but the numbers were not large. One estimate suggests that in 1850, about 1,000 slaves (out of over 3 million) attempted to run away, and most of them were returned. Nightly patrols by white militiamen, and important aspect of southern life, reduced the chances for any slave to escape and probably deterred many slaves from even trying to run away.
[Word Count: 171]
8) James L. Roark, et. al, The American Promise: A History of the United States Vol. 1 to 1877, 2d edition (Boston, MA: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2002), p. 382
Outside the public spotlight, free African Americans in the North and West contributed to the antislavery cause by quietly aiding fugitive slaves. Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1849 and repeatedly risked her freedom and her life to return to the South and escort slaves to freedom. Few matched Tubman’s heroic courage, but when the opportunity arose, free blacks in the North provided fugitive slaves with food, a safe place to rest, and a helping hand. This ‘underground railroad’ ran mainly through black neighborhoods, black churches, and black homes, an outgrowth of the antislavery sentiment and opposition to white supremacy that unified virtually all African Americans in the North. While a few fortunate southern slaves rode the Underground Railroad to freedom in the North, millions of other Americans uprooted their families and headed west.
[Word Count: 136]
9) George Brown Tindall and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History, Sixth Edition (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004), 605.
Escapees often made it out on their own – [Fredrick] Douglass borrowed a pass from a free black seaman – but many were aided by the Underground Railroad, which grew into a vast system to conceal runaways and spirit them to freedom, often over the Canadian border. Levi Coffin, a North Carolina Quaker who moved to Cincinnati and did help many fugitives, was the reputed president. Actually, there seems to have been more spontaneity than system about the matter, and blacks contributed more than was credited in the legend. A few intrepid refugees actually ventured back into slave states to organize escapes. Harriet Tubman, the most celebrated, went back nineteen times.
[Word Count: 109]
10) Lewis Paul Todd and Merle Curti, Triumph of the American Nation (Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1986), 379-80.
The underground railroad was a secret system used between 1830 and 1860 to help southern slaves escape to freedom. It was neither underground nor a railroad, but was so called because its activities were carried out in darkness and disguise and because it used railroad terms as code words. Hiding places such as secret rooms and tunnels (shown here) were called “stations,” routes were “lines,” sympathetic persons who helped the slaves escape were “conductors,” and the fugitives themselves were “freight.” The work of the railroad involved hiding runaway slaves and giving them food, clothing, and directions to the next station. Northern abolitionists and free blacks, as well as many southern slaves who themselves were unable to escape, participated in the system. The most daring conductor was Harriet Tubman, a former slave who had escaped via the railroad. Tubman was called the “Moses of her people” for helping more than 300 slaves escape. She later worked as a spy for the Union during the Civil War. It is estimated that the underground railroad helped between 40,000 and 100,000 slaves reach freedom. The railroad’s existence aroused northern sympathies and southern anger, and thus contributed to the ill-will that resulted in the Civil War.
[Word Count: 201]
Glossary for kids
Underground Railroad is a term that people first used before the American Civil War to describe the organized efforts to help runaway slaves escape to freedom. These activities were often secret, sometimes dangerous, and almost always illegal, but many of the people who helped runaways flee on the Underground Railroad did so openly because they hated slavery so much and because they believed that any laws protecting slavery were wrong and should be broken.
Abolitionist refers to someone who wanted to see an immediate end to slavery. In the early history of the United States, many people were opposed to slavery, but there were few true abolitionists. However, these abolitionists had influence far beyond their numbers, because they were so active in the struggle. That is why many, but not all of them, supported the Underground Railroad. Some abolitionists wanted to end slavery but still could not support the idea of breaking the law to free individual slaves.
Canaan is a place described in the Bible as land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. For runaway slaves, “Canaan” was a word they used to describe Canada, which was then a country that had banned slavery and bravely refused to send escaped slaves back to their masters.
Conductor refers to people who helped runaway slaves move from place to place during their flight to freedom. Today, Harriet Tubman is the best known conductor of the Underground Railroad, but there were hundreds of others who performed this most dangerous job.
Fugitive is a word that Americans used in the nineteenth century to describe a slave who ran away from his or her master. Fugitives were also called “runaways” but today many people prefer to think of them as “freedom seekers.” Not all fugitives escaped on the Underground Railroad –many left slavery on their own and ran away without any organized help.
North Star refers to the star “Polaris” which can only be seen in the northern hemisphere and which can be used to help guide travel in a northern direction. Some runaway slaves relied on the North Star as their main navigational tool during their flight to freedom.
Slavery was a system of laws and customs that existed in the United States until 1865 which treated most black people in the country as property. Masters owned slaves and could decide every aspect of their lives, from where they lived (and with whom) to what they did each day, and how, or whether, they should be punished. Different forms of slavery had existed throughout the world’s history, but there was something especially cruel about an American slave system that was based on race and offered almost no hope of freedom.
Station refers to a home or location that provided fugitive slaves or runaways with a safe resting place during their escape. Today, there are lots of stories about secret stations along the Underground Railroad, but many of them cannot be proven to be true.
Timeline
1830s: Rise of the Underground Railroad
|January 1, 1831 |William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of The Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper. Many |
| |southerners blame the new climate of northern hostility to slavery, embodied by the Garrisonian message of|
| |“immediatism,” on outbreaks of violence such as Nat Turner’s slave revolt in Virginia or the increasing |
| |numbers of slave escapes –more and more frequently labeled by the late 1830s and early 1840s as part of an|
| |“Underground Railroad” to freedom. |
|August 1831 |Nat Turner leads his slave revolt, the bloodiest in American history. The aftermath of the revolt leads |
| |to much stricter rules regulating slaves and free blacks in the Upper South. |
|1833 |Slavery is formally abolished in the British Empire |
|December 1833 |The first nationwide antislavery conference is held in Philadelphia, organized by William Lloyd Garrison |
| |(Bordewich, 143). |
|1834 |William Wells Brown escapes slavery in Kentucky and becomes involved with Underground Railroad and |
| |abolitionist activities, traveling to Europe to speak his beliefs (William Wells Brown, Narrative of |
| |William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave (Boston: The Anti-slavery Office, 1847) |
| |). |
|June 1835 |Harriet Jacobs, who later publishes Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, escapes from slavery in North |
| |Carolina on what becomes a 7-year journey to freedom (Bordewich, 277). |
|October 1835 |Utica Riots- At a meeting of delegates to form New York branch of American Anti-Slavery Society people are|
| |mobbed, rooms raided, etc. because of their abolitionist activities (Bordewich, 149-153). |
|November 1835 |The Vigilance Committee of New York is formed with David Ruggles as the leader. Vigilance Committees |
| |represent a new approach to fugitive aid and constitute the core of the antebellum Underground Railroad. |
| |During Ruggles’s tenure, the New York Vigilance operation reportedly rescues over 1,000 slaves from |
| |slavery (Bordewich 171-178). One of the first organizations in which African Americans hold most |
| |positions of power; Ruggles doesn’t believe in the superiority of white leadership. The New York |
| |Committee becomes a model for others across the country. |
|August 1837 |Philadelphia Vigilance Committee founded under the leadership of James McCrummel and Robert Purvis |
| |(Bordewich, 176). |
|3 September 1838 |Frederick Douglass escapes slavery by train, using borrowed freedom papers (Bordewich, 181; McDougall, |
| |58). |
1840s: Crisis over Personal Liberty
|1840 |Solomon Northup, a free man from New York State, is tricked by kidnappers into believing he had a position|
| |in a traveling circus. Instead, he finds himself enslaved in Washington D.C., where he would remain until|
| |his rescue in 1853 (Marion Gleason McDougall, Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865) (Freeport: Books for Libraries |
| |Press, 1971), 37.) |
|1840 |John Van Zandt takes nine fugitive slaves into his wagon when returning to the country from Cincinnati. |
| |Van Zandt is arrested, tried, and fined $12,000, which drives him into bankruptcy. The case, Jones v. Van|
| |Zandt, eventually reaches the Supreme Court in 1847 (McDougall, 42). |
|1840s |Ohio, a border state, becomes more and more involved in Underground Railroad activity, specifically |
| |Ripley, Ohio (Bordewich 189-213; ). Figures such as |
| |John Rankin, George DeBaptiste, Calvin Fairbank and Delia Webster grow in importance. |
|1841 |Josiah Henson founds the Dawn Institute, a community in which former slaves learn self-sufficiency, |
| |emphasizing useful trades and teaching literacy (Bordewich, 240; |
| |). He also becomes one of the most important |
| |conductors on the Underground. |
|1841 |Henry Bibb escapes from slavery in the Kansas/Oklahoma Territory. First moves to Detroit then to Canada |
| |when the second Fugitive Slave Act is passed. Bibb becomes one of the most famous escaped slaves, writing|
| |memoirs and leading activists (Henry Walton Bibb, Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an |
| |American Slave, Written by Himself (New York: Author, 1849) .)|
|1842 |The Supreme Court rules in Prigg v. Pennsylvania. The case involves Margaret Morgan, a slave who escaped |
| |from Maryland to Pennsylvania and was reported by attorney Albert Prigg, arrested, and sent back to |
| |Maryland without any legal recourse. The case determines that although states could not violate federal |
| |fugitive slave laws, they did not have to participate in the enforcement of those laws. Many northern |
| |states pass new personal liberty laws in response to this ruling that aim to protect their free black |
| |citizens from kidnapping by would-be slave catchers (McDougall, 27-28.) |
|October 25, 1842 |George Latimer is seized in Boston without a warrant and a trial ensues after which he is emancipated. |
| |This is the first in a series of high-profile fugitive slave cases in Boston which do a great deal to |
| |bring the issue of fugitive slaves into public debate (McDougall, 39-40). |
|1844 |Jonathan Walker receives the brand “S.S.” on his hand (meaning “Slave Stealer”) when he attempts to take |
| |escaped slaves to the free Bahamas. He is caught and put on trial, and the jury sentences him to public |
| |exhibition and the branding. He is left penniless. In the North the case becomes famous and Walker is |
| |seen as a martyr; the “S.S.” is said to stand for “Salvation to the Slave.” (Bordewich, 283-292; |
| |McDougall, 42). |
|1847 |William Still is hired as a clerk by the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society where he works for Dickinson |
| |College graduate, J. Miller McKim. By the early 1850s, Still becomes the leader of the Philadelphia |
| |Vigilance Committee, the network organized by the Anti-Slavery Society to help run the region’s |
| |Underground Railroad. |
|1847 |Daniel Kauffman receives and keeps several runaway slaves in his barn with the help of Philip Breckbill |
| |and Stephen Weakley. Kauffman is later found guilty for harboring fugitives (Stanley W. Campbell, The |
| |Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860 (Chapel Hill: The University of North |
| |Carolina Press, 1970)123-124.) |
|June 1847 |The McClintock Riots in Carlisle result in the death of a slaveowner and lead to a widely publicized trial|
| |involving over three dozen participants. |
|1848 |Thomas Garrett is put on trial for his Underground Railroad work in Delaware. He is convicted for helping|
| |six slaves and fined $15,000. (Bordewich, 353-354). |
|January 1848 |Gold is discovered in California. |
|April 13, 1848 |The Pearl arrives in Washington, D.C. to carry 77 fugitive slaves North. The plot is revealed and the |
| |ship captured, and all of the slaves and the ship’s owner (Edward Sayres) and captain (Daniel Drayton) are|
| |taken back to D.C. and paraded through the streets. President Polk has to order federal employees into |
| |the streets to stop the violence (Bordewich, 295-299; McDougall, 42). |
|July 27, 1848 |The trials of Drayton and Sayres begin, garnering national attention. This incident in the nation’s |
| |capital foreshadows both a political realignment and changing attitudes of many Americans as sectional |
| |rhetoric and lines harden (Bordewich, 301-304). |
|December 1848 |Ellen and William Craft escape from slavery when Ellen, who is nearly white, disguises herself as an |
| |injured Southern planter traveling North for medical attention and William as her slave (McDougall, 58-60;|
| |see also ). |
|1849 |Harriet Tubman escapes slavery in Maryland overland to Pennsylvania (Bordewich, 346). |
|1849 |In March, Henry “Box” Brown escapes from Richmond to Philadelphia in a box 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. |
| |James Miller McKim and William Still are among those who witness the “resurrection” of Henry Brown. |
| |(Jeffrey Ruggles, The Unboxing of Henry Brown (2003), 32. |
1850s: Fugitives and the Coming of War
|August 1850 |William Still of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee is reunited with his long lost brother, Peter, who |
| |had been left behind in slavery. Still’s awe at the recovery of his brother leads him to begin to keep |
| |better records for the Vigilance Committee in the hopes that he might help other families reunite. |
|August 26, 1850 |Congress votes the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act into law as part of the Compromise of 1850, admitting |
| |California as a free state and allowing popular sovereignty in the New Mexico territories |
|September 1850 |James Hamlet, a free black from New York, is arrested by a U.S. Marshal as the fugitive slave of Mary |
| |Brown of Baltimore. When people hear of the event, money is immediately raised for his return and he is |
| |back with his family by the 5 October 1850. (McDougall, 43-44; Campbell, 115). |
|1850s |Escaped slaves begin publishing their stories, increasing awareness and sympathy across the North. Henry |
| |Bibb and Mary Ann Shad, both fugitives and becoming leaders of the black community in Canada, publish |
| |their stories and later become enemies over their views of what life for fugitives would be like after |
| |their escape from slavery (Bordewich, 384-386; ). |
|1851 |Henry Bibb runs the North American Convention of Colored People in Toronto, addressing the question of |
| |what fugitives are to do upon their escape to freedom. Bibb wishes to develop colonies in places such as |
| |Canada and Jamaica (Bordewich, 384-385). |
|February 1851 |Frederic Wilkins, an escaped slave from Norfolk, VA living in Boston under the alias of Shadrach, is |
| |discovered and taken to court. Before a trial can take place, however, a group of free blacks forcibly |
| |enter the courtroom, take the prisoner and see him on his way to Canada. The incident is discussed by |
| |Congress, giving it national prominence (McDougall, 45-46). |
|September 11, 1851 |Edward Gorsuch and his party reach the home of William Parker. Parker responds but refuses to allow them |
| |entry. (Thomas P. Slaughter, Bloody Dawn: The Christiana Riot and Racial Violence in the Antebellum North |
| |(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 60. |
|September 11, 1851 |After multiple exchanges between the parties, Eliza Parker, wife of William Parker, allegedly blows a horn|
| |to sound an alarm for neighboring fugitives to come to their aid (Slaughter, 62). |
|September 11, 1851 |The Christiana Slave Riot occurs. Edward Gorsuch, the slaveholder from Maryland who came to Pennsylvania |
| |to recapture his four runaway slaves, dies in the violence. A federal treason trial begins on November |
| |24, 1851 (Slaughter, 62). |
|October 1851 |The “Jerry” incident takes place; Jerry, an escaped slave working in Syracuse, is carried out of the |
| |restaurant where he works by slavecatchers. A Liberty Party convention happens to be taking place at the |
| |same time, and when he is put on trial they carry him out of the courtroom and send him to freedom. |
| |Though people are indicted in the case, no one receives punishment (Bordewich, 333-340). |
|November 24 – December |The Christiana Treason trial results in no convictions. The incident polarizes sectional differences and |
|11, 1851 |dramatically undermines the new Fugitive Slave Law. |
|March 1851 |Seth Concklin is killed after attempting to save the family of William Still’s brother from slavery in |
| |Alabama. His death gains national attention (Bordewich, 361). |
|Winter 1851 |Calvin Fairbank is arrested and sentenced to 15 years in the Kentucky State Penitentiary for aiding a |
| |fugitive to safety; he had only recently completely another sentence of five to six years (Bordewich, |
| |365). |
|1852 |Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published as a novel. The book stirs northern indignation and further exacerbates |
| |sectional tensions over slavery. |
|December 1852 |William Still becomes the key organizer of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, which spearheads |
| |Underground Railroad operations in eastern Pennsylvania and across much of the East. |
|1853 |Anderson, a slave, is found and arrested as a fugitive slave by Mr. Seneca T. P. Diggs near his farm in |
| |Howard County, Missouri without a pass. Anderson stabs and kills Diggs then escapes to Canada where he |
| |lives in peace until 1860 when he was placed on trial. The U.S. government does not ask Canada to return |
| |him until 1860 under the extradition treaty. There is a legal struggle over where Anderson is to be |
| |tried, but ultimately he is tried in Toronto and defended by Gerrit Smith, whose speech is widely |
| |circulated around the United States. Anderson is released on a technicality. (McDougall, 25-26). |
|March 1853 |Mary Ann Shadd becomes the first black woman to publish a newspaper in North America when she begins |
| |publication of Provincial Freeman (Bordewich, 386-387). |
|August 1853 |The trial of George Washington McQuerry, the slave of Henry Miller, takes place; McQuerry is sent back to |
| |slavery after having escaped in 1849 to Cincinnati (Campbell, 121-123). |
|September 3, 1853 |Near Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, fugitive slave William Thomas is pursued by deputy marshals G. M. |
| |Wynkoop, John Jenkins, and James Crossin. As he tries to escape, they fire and hit Thomas, who jumps into|
| |the river covered with blood claiming he would rather die than return to slavery. His pursuers leave the |
| |scene but local abolitionists press charges against multiple them times after the incident (Campbell, |
| |139-140). |
|January 1854 |The Kansas-Nebraska Act is introduced (and later passed into law), establishing popular sovereignty in the|
| |former Nebraska territories and thus repealing the 1820 Missouri Compromise. |
|March 11, 1854 |Joshua Glover is claimed as the escaped slave of Benjamin Garland when found and jailed in Wisconsin. He |
| |is severely beaten in the encounter, and when word gets out the jail is eventually stormed and Glover sent|
| |to freedom in Canada. Results in the Supreme Court case of Ableman v. Booth (1859), a Supreme Court |
| |decision which upholds the federal fugitive slave law (Campbell, 157-159). |
|2May 26, 1854 |Anthony Burns, an escaped slave, is arrested, put on trial, and sent back into slavery despite a large |
| |effort by antislavery sympathizers across the country. The episode galvanizes abolitionist opinion. |
| |Burns wins his freedom a year later when a local black church in Boston buys and frees him (McDougall, |
| |45-46). |
|July 1855 |Passmore Williamson, secretary of the PA Antislavery Society, aids slave Jane Johnson and her children in |
| |escaping slavery when their master brings them into free territory on a ship. The subsequent trial |
| |captures national attention (Campbell, 143-144). |
|28 January 1856 |Margaret Garner and her family attempt to escape slavery; when they are caught by their master, Garner |
| |tries to kill her children, wishing them dead rather than forced back into slavery (Bordewich, 401-403; |
| |McDougall 46-47). |
|Late 1850s |A new round of personal liberty laws spread across the North, designed to prevent enforcement of the |
| |federal fugitive slave law. These personal liberty laws add to the conflict between the North and South. |
|May 1856 |Proslavery forces attack abolitionists in Lawrence, Kansas (Bordewich, 414). |
|23 May 1856 |John Brown and his followers slaughter five known proslavery men in Pottawatomie, Kansas, contributing to |
| |what is now known as “Bleeding Kansas” (Bordewich, 415). |
|November 1856 |James Buchanan is elected President. He takes office on March 4, 1857 just days before the announcement |
| |of the Dred Scott decision. |
|March 6, 1857 |In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sandford that the Missouri Compromise had been|
| |unconstitutional because Congress cannot prohibit slavery in the territories and that blacks “had no |
| |rights which the white man was bound to respect.” |
|May 21, 1857 |Addison White, the slave of Daniel White, escapes pursuers who arrive at his hiding place at the home of |
| |Udney Hyde. Addison is taken care of by members of the Underground Railroad, including Hyde, who went into|
| |hiding for six months after aiding in Addison’s escape (Campbell, 161-162). |
|November 26, 1857 |Fugitive slave West is captured by Dr. Austin W. Vallandigham in Illinois without a warrant. The court |
| |discharges him based on the absence of a warrant, but the claimant arrests him immediately afterwards |
| |based on the Fugitive Slave Law and ultimately he is sent back to slavery (Campbell, 132-133). |
|1858 |John Rice, a black man from Oberlin, is enticed by an offer of work to a secluded area where kidnappers |
| |await him. However, because of the efforts of the people of both Oberlin and Wellington John is rescued. |
| |Thirty-seven people from the two towns are arrested and tried, but no severe punishments are given. The |
| |trial captures national attention (McDougall, 49-50). |
|July 4, 1859 |John Brown rents the Kennedy farmhouse from the family of Dr. Booth Kennedy under the fake name of Isaac |
| |Smith. To avoid any suspicions, Brown gives out a cover story that he and his followers are farmers from |
| |New York, who have traveled to Virginia to find more suitable conditions to grow crops. Brown pays $35 to|
| |rent the farm until the following March. (David S. Reynolds, John Brown, Abolitionist. The Man who |
| |Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 297. |
|August 16, 1859 |Brown meets with Frederick Douglass in a quarry near the town of Chambersburg, PA. Douglass tells Brown |
| |that Harpers Ferry is “a perfect steel trap.” Brown ignores his warnings, more intent on trying to |
| |convince Douglass to join his plan. (Reynolds, 299). |
|October 17, 1859 |John Brown and a small contingent of men, including Brown’s sons and a fugitive slave Shields Green, storm|
| |the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. Brown dreams of creating a subterranean passageway to help slaves |
| |escape from across the Appalachian mountain range. The raid fails and Brown is ultimately hanged in early|
| |December. He becomes a martyr for many abolitionists in the North and the Harpers Ferry incident serves |
| |as a catalyst for the start of the Civil War. |
|October 26 –November 2, |John Brown is tried in a state court in Charles Town, Virginia, even though the armory he attacked was |
|1859 |federal property. Brown is convicted on three counts: treason against the State of Virginia, murder and |
| |attempting to incite servile insurrection. He is sentenced to hang on December 2, 1859 (Reynolds, |
| |347-357). |
|December 2, 1859 |John Brown is executed at around 11 o’clock in the morning. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Brown |
| |impresses many northerners and even some southerners with his eloquence and calm demeanor. Just prior to |
| |his execution, Brown hands a note to his jailer which reads “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the |
| |crimes of this guilty land cannot be purged away but with blood” (Reynolds, 395). |
CHRISTIANA RIOT (1851)
SLAVEHOLDER WARNED TO COME “DISGUISED”
Citation
Letter from William Padgett to Edward Gorsuch, August 28, 1851, reprinted in Thomas P. Slaughter, Bloody Dawn: The Christiana Riot and Racial Violence in the Antebellum North (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 18-19.
Background
William Padgett was a white man who belonged to a group of kidnappers and slave catchers from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania called The Gap Gang. In this letter from August 1851, Padgett informs Maryland slaveholder Edward Gorsuch about the location of four male slaves who had been missing from the Gorsuch plantation for nearly two years. Note how Padgett (who signs his letter, “William M.P.”) warns Gorsuch to “come as a hunter, disguised,” suggesting that he anticipated danger from the fugitives and their defenders.
Transcript
I have the required information of four men that is within two miles of each other. Now, the best is for you to come as a hunter, disguised about two days ahead of your son and let him come by way of Philadelphia and get the deputy marshal, John Nagle I think is his name. Tell him the situation and he can get force of the right kind. It will take about twelve so that they can divide and take them all within half an hour. Now, if you can come on the 2nd or 3rd of September come on & I will meet you at the gap when you get there. Inquire for Benjamin Clay’s tavern. Let your son and the marshal get out [at?] Kinyer’s [sic] hotel. Now, if you cannot come at the time spoken of, write very soon and let me know when you can. I wish you to come as soon as you possibly can.
Very respectfully thy friend
William M.P.
WILLIAM PARKER’S STORY
Citation
William Parker, “The Freedman’s Story” In Two Parts, Atlantic (Feb. 1866), 52-66; (March1866), 276-95; available online at
Background
William Parker was an escaped slave from Maryland who had settled in southern Lancaster County and became a leader of the local black community. Parker spearheaded much of the resistance against slave-catchers and kidnappers whose activities constantly threatened black residents in the region. It was William Parker, more than anyone else, who was the leader of the resistance at Christiana in September 1851. The excerpts from this recollection, which was ghostwritten for Parker, describes some of his background and his version of the events on September 11, 1851 that led to the death of Edward Gorsuch. Parker escaped from Lancaster County after the riot and eventually resettled to Canada with his family.
Transcript
I WAS born opposite to Queen Anne, in Anne Arundel County, in the State of Maryland, on a plantation called Rowdown. My master was Major William Brogdon, one of the wealthy men of that region. He had two sons,--William, a doctor, and David, who held some office at Annapolis, and for some years was a member of the Legislature.
My old master died when I was very young; so I know little about him, except from statements received from my fellow-slaves, or casual remarks made in my hearing from time to time by white persons. From those I conclude that he was in no way peculiar, but should be classed with those slaveholders who are not remarkable either for the severity or the indulgence they extend to their people.
* * *
On the day I ceased working for master, after gaining the woods, we lurked about and discussed our plans until after dark. Then we stole back to the Quarter, made up our bundles, bade some of our friends farewell, and at about nine o’clock of the night set out for Baltimore. How shall I describe my first experience of free life? Nothing can be greater than the contrast it affords to a plantation experience, under the suspicious and vigilant eye of a mercenary overseer or a watchful master. Day and night are not more unlike. The mandates of Slavery are like leaden sounds, sinking with dead weight into the very soul, only to deaden and destroy. The impulse of freedom lends wings to the feet, buoys up the spirit within, and the fugitive catches glorious glimpses of light through rifts and seams in the accumulated ignorance of his years of oppression. How briskly we ispatch on that eventful night and the next day!
We reached Baltimore on the following evening, between seven and eight o’clock. When we neared the city, the patrols were out, and the difficulty was to pass them unseen or unsuspected. I learned of a brick-yard at the entrance to the city; and thither we went at once, took brick-dust and threw it upon our clothes, hats, and boots, and then walked on. Whenever we met a passer-by, we would brush off some of the dust, and say aloud, “Boss gave us such big tasks, we would leave him. We ought to have been in a long time before.” By this ruse we reached quiet quarters without arrest or suspicion.
We remained in Baltimore a week, and then set out for Pennsylvania.
We started with the brightest visions of future independence; but soon they were suddenly dimmed by one of those unpleasant incidents which annoy the fugitive at every step of his onward journey.
The first place at which we stopped to rest was a village on the old York road, called New Market. There nothing occurred to cause us alarm; so, after taking some refreshments, we proceeded towards York; but when near Logansville, we were interrupted by three white men, one of whom, a very large man, cried,--
“Hallo!”
I answered,--
“Hallo to you!”
“Which way are you ispatche?” he asked.
We replied,--
“To Little York.”
“Why are you ispatche so late?”
“We are not later than you are,” I answered.
“Your business must be of consequence,” he said.
“It is. We want to go to York to attend to it; and if you have any business, please attend to it, and don’t be meddling with ours on the public highway. We have no business with you, and I am sure you have none with us.”
“See here!” said he; “you are the fellows that this advertisement calls for,” at the same time taking the paper out of his pocket, and reading it to us.
Sure enough, there we were, described exactly. He came closely to us, and said,--
“You must go back.”
I replied,--
“If I must, I must, and you must take me.”
“Oh, you need not make any big talk about it,’ he answered; “for I have taken back many a runaway, and I can take you. What’s that you have in your hand?’
“A stick.’
He put his hand into his pocket, as if to draw a pistol, and said,--
“Come! Give up your weapons.”
I said again,--
“’T is only a stick.’
He then reached for it, when I stepped back and struck him a heavy blow on the arm. It fell as if broken; I think it was. Then he turned and ran, and I after him. As he ran, he would look back over his shoulder, see me coming, and then run faster, and halloo with all his might. I could not catch him, and it seemed, that, the longer he ran, the faster he went. The other two took to their heels at the first alarm,--thus illustrating the valor of the chivalry!
At last I gave up the chase. The whole neighborhood by that time was aroused, and we thought best to retrace our steps to the place whence we started. Then we took a roundabout course until we reached the railroad, along which we ispatch. For a long distance there was unusual stir and commotion. Every house was lighted up; and we heard people talking and horses galloping this way and that way, with other evidences of unusual excitement. This was between one and two o’clock in the morning. We walked on a long distance before we lost the sounds; but about four o’clock the same morning, entered York, where we remained during the day.
Once in York, we thought we should be safe, but were mistaken. A similar mistake is often made by fugitives. Not accustomed to ispatche, and unacquainted with the facilities for communication, they think that a few hours’ walk is a long journey, and foolishly suppose, that, if they have few opportunities of knowledge, their masters can have none at all at such great distances. But our ideas of security were materially lessened when we met with a friend during the day, who advised us to proceed farther, as we were not out of imminent danger.
According to this advice we started that night for Columbia. Going along in the dark, we heard persons following. We went very near to the fence, that they might pass without observing us. There were two, apparently in earnest conversation. The one who spoke so as to be distinctly heard we discovered to be Master Mack’s brother-in-law. He remarked to his companion that they must hurry and get to the bridge before we crossed. He knew that we had not gone over yet. We were then near enough to have killed them, concealed as we were by the darkness; but we permitted them to pass unmolested, and went on to Wrightsville that night.
The next morning we arrived at Columbia before it was light, and fortunately without crossing the bridge, for we were taken over in a boat. At Wrightsville we met a woman with whom we were before acquainted, and our meeting was very gratifying, We there inclined to halt for a time.
I was not used to living in town, and preferred a home in the country; so to the country we decided to go. After resting for four days, we started towards Lancaster to try to procure work. I got a place about five miles from Lancaster, and then set to work in earnest.
While a slave, I was, as it were, groping in the dark, no ray of light penetrating the intense gloom surrounding me. My scanty garments felt too tight for me, my very respiration seemed to be restrained by some supernatural power. Now, free as I supposed, I felt like a bird on a pleasant May morning. Instead of the darkness of slavery, my eyes were almost blinded by the light of freedom.
Those were memorable days, and yet much of this was boyish fancy. After a few years of life in a Free State, the enthusiasm of the lad materially sobered down, and I found, by bitter experience, that to preserve my stolen liberty I must pay, unremittingly, an almost sleepless vigilance; yet to this day I have never looked back regretfully to Old Maryland, nor yearned for her flesh-pots.
I have said I engaged to work; I hired my services for three months for the round sum of three dollars per month. I thought this an immense sum. Fast work was no trouble to me; for when the work was done, the money was mine. That was a great consideration. I could go out on Saturdays and Sundays, and home when I pleased, without being whipped. I thought of my fellow-servants left behind, bound in the chains of slavery,--and I was free! I thought, that, if I had the power, they should soon be as free as I was; and I formed a resolution that I would assist in liberating every one within my reach at the risk of my life, and that I would devise some plan for their entire liberation.
My brother went about fifteen miles farther on, and also got employment. I “put in” three months with my employer, “lifted” my wages, and then went to visit my brother. He lived in Bart Township, near Smyrna; and after my visit was over, I engaged to work for a Dr. Dengy, living near by. I remained with him thirteen months. I never have been better treated than by the Doctor; I liked him and the family, and they seemed to think well of me.
While living with Dr. Dengy, I had, for the first time, the great privilege of seeing that true friend of the slave, William Lloyd Garrison, who came into the neighborhood, accompanied by Frederick Douglass. They were holding anti-slavery meetings. I shall never forget the impression that Garrison’s glowing words made upon me. I had formerly known Mr. Douglass as a slave in Maryland; I was therefore not prepared for the progress he then showed, neither for his free-spoken and manly language against slavery. I listened with the intense satisfaction that only a refugee could feel, when hearing, embodied in earnest, well-chosen, and strong speech, his own crude ideas of freedom, and his own hearty censure of the man-stealer. I believed, I knew, every word he said was true. It was the whole truth,--nothing kept back,--no trifling with human rights, no trading in the blood of the slave extenuated, nothing against the slaveholder said in malice. I have never listened to words from the lips of mortal man which were more acceptable to me; and although privileged since then to hear many able and good men speak on slavery, no doctrine has seemed to me so pure, so unworldly, as his. I may here say, and without offence, I trust, that, since that time, I have had a long experience of Garrisonian Abolitionists, and have always found them men and women with hearts in their bodies. They are, indeed and in truth, the poor slave’s friend. To shelter him, to feed and clothe him, to help him on to freedom, I have ever found them ready; and I should be wanting in gratitude, if I neglected this opportunity–the only one I may ever have–to say thus much of them, and to declare for myself and for the many colored men in this free country whom I know they have aided in their journey to freedom, our humble confidence in them. Yes, the good spirit with which he is imbued constrained William Lloyd Garrison to plead for the dumb; and for his earnest pleadings all these years, I say, God bless him! By agitation, by example, by suffering, men and women of like spirit have been led to adopt his views, as the great necessity, and to carry them out into actions. They, too, have my heartfelt gratitude. They, like Gideon’s band, though few, will yet rout the enemy Slavery, make him flee his own camp, and eventually fall upon his own sword.*
One day, while living at Dr. Dengy’s, I was working in the barn-yard, when a man came to the fence, and, looking at me intently, went away. The Doctor’s son, observing him, said,--
“Parker, that man, from his movements, must be a slaveholder or kidnapper. This is the second time he has been looking at you. If not a kidnapper, why does he look so steadily at you and not tell his errand?”
I said,--
“The man must be a fool! If he should come back and not say anything to me, I shall say something to him.”
We then looked down the road and saw him coming again. He rode up to the same place and halted. I then went to the fence, and, looking him steadily in the eye, said,--
“Am I your slave?”
He made no reply, but turned his horse and rode off, at full speed, towards the valley. We did not see him again; but that same evening word was brought that kidnappers were in the valley, and if we were not careful, they would “hook” some of us. This caused a great excitement among the colored people of the neighborhood.
A short while prior to this, a number of us had formed an organization for mutual protection against slaveholders and kidnappers, and had resolved to prevent any of our brethren being taken back into slavery, at the risk of our own lives. We collected together that evening, and went down to the valley; but the kidnappers had gone. We watched for them several nights in succession, without result; for so much alarmed were the tavern-keepers by our demonstration, that they refused to let them stop over night with them. Kidnapping was so common, while I lived with the Doctor, that we were kept in constant fear. We would hear of slaveholders or kidnappers every two or three weeks; sometimes a party of white men would break into a house and take a man away, no one knew where; and, again, a whole family would be carried off. There was no power to protect them, nor prevent it. So completely roused were my feelings, that I vowed to let no slaveholder take back a fugitive, if I could but get my eye on him.
* * *
A short time after the events narrated in the preceding number, it was whispered about that the slaveholders intended to make an attack on my house; but, as I had often been threatened, I gave the report little attention. About the same time, however, two letters were found thrown carelessly about, as if to attract notice. These letters stated that kidnappers would be at my house on a certain night, and warned me to be on my guard. Still I did not let the matter trouble me. But it was no idle rumor. The bloodhounds were upon my track.
I was not at this time aware that in the city of Philadelphia there was a band of devoted, determined men,--few in number, but strong in purpose,--who were fully resolved to leave no means untried to thwart the barbarous and inhuman monsters who crawled in the gloom of midnight, like the ferocious tiger, and, stealthily springing on their unsuspecting victims, seized, bound, and hurled them into the ever open jaws of Slavery. Under the pretext of enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, the slaveholders did not hesitate to violate all other laws made for the good government and protection of society, and converted the old State of Pennsylvania, so long the hope of the fleeing bondman, wearied and heartbroken, into a common hunting-ground for their human prey. But this little band of true patriots in Philadelphia united for the purpose of standing between the pursuer and the pursued, the kidnapper and his victim, and, regardless of all personal considerations, were ever on the alert, ready to sound the alarm to save their fellows from a fate far more to be dreaded than death. In this they had frequently succeeded, and many times had turned the hunter home bootless of his prey. They began their operations at the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and had thoroughly examined all matters connected with it, and were perfectly cognizant of the plans adopted to carry out its provisions in Pennsylvania, and, through a correspondence with reliable persons in various sections of the South, were enabled to know these hunters of men, their agents, spies, tools, and betrayers. They knew who performed this work in Richmond, Alexandria, Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Harrisburg, those principal depots of villany, where organized bands prowled about at all times, ready to entrap the unwary fugitive.
They also discovered that this nefarious business was conducted mainly through one channel; for, spite of man’s inclination to vice and crime, there are but few men, thank God, so low in the scale of humanity as to be willing to degrade themselves by doing the dirty work of four-legged bloodhounds. Yet such men, actuated by the love of gold and their own base and brutal natures, were found ready for the work. These fellows consorted with constables, police-officers, aldermen, and even with learned members of the legal profession, who disgraced their respectable calling by low, contemptible arts, and were willing to clasp hands with the lowest ruffian in order to pocket the reward that was the price of blood. Every facility was offered these bad men; and whether it was night or day, it was only necessary to whisper in a certain circle that a negro was to be caught, and horses and wagons, men and officers, spies and betrayers, were ready, at the shortest notice, armed and equipped, and eager for the chase.
Thus matters stood in Philadelphia on the 9th of September, 1851, when Mr. Gorsuch and his gang of Maryland kidnappers arrived there. Their presence was soon known to the little band of true men who were called “The Special Secret Committee.” They had agents faithful and true as steel; and through these agents the whereabouts and business of Gorsuch and his minions were soon discovered. They were noticed in close converse with a certain member of the Philadelphia bar, who had lost the little reputation he ever had by continual dabbling in negro-catching, as well as by association with and support of the notorious Henry H. Kline, a professional kidnapper of the basest stamp. Having determined as to the character and object of these Marylanders, there remained to ascertain the spot selected for their deadly spring; and this required no small degree of shrewdness, resolution, and tact.
Some one’s liberty was ispatche; the hunters were abroad; the time was short, and the risk imminent. The little band bent themselves to the task they were pledged to perform with zeal and devotion; and success attended their efforts. They knew that one false step would jeopardize their own liberty, and very likely their lives, and utterly destroy every prospect of carrying out their objects. They knew, too, that they were matched against the most desperate, daring, and brutal men in the kidnappers’ ranks,--men who, to obtain the proffered reward, would rush willingly into any enterprise, regardless alike of its character or its consequences. That this was the deepest, the most thoroughly organized and best-planned project for man-catching that had been concocted since the infamous Fugitive Slave Law had gone into operation, they also knew; and consequently this nest of hornets was approached with great care. But by walking directly into their camp, watching their plans as they were developed, and secretly testing every inch of ground on which they trod, they discovered enough to counterplot these plotters, and to spring upon them a mine which shook the whole country, and put an end to man-stealing in Pennsylvania forever.
The trusty agent of this Special Committee, Mr. Samuel Williams, of Philadelphia,--a man true and faithful to his race, and courageous in the highest degree,--came to Christiana, ispatche most of the way in company with the very men whom Gorsuch had employed to drag into slavery four as good men as ever trod the earth. These Philadelphia roughs, with their Maryland associates, little dreamed that the man who sat by their side carried with him their inglorious defeat, and the death-warrant of at least one of their party. Williams listened to their conversation, and marked well their faces, and, being fully satisfied by their awkward movements that they were heavily armed, managed to slip out of the cars at the village of Downington unobserved, and proceeded to Penningtonville, where he encountered Kline, who had started several hours in advance of the others. Kline was terribly frightened, as he knew Williams, and felt that his presence was an omen of ill to his base designs. He spoke of horse thieves; but Williams replied,--“I know the kind of horse thieves you are after. They are all gone; and you had better not go after them.”
Kline immediately jumped into his wagon, and rode away, whilst Williams crossed the country, and arrived at Christiana in advance of him.
The manner in which information of Gorsuch’s designs was obtained will probably ever remain a secret; and I doubt if any one outside of the little band who so masterly managed the affair knows anything of it. This was wise; and I would to God other friends had acted thus. Mr. Williams’s trip to Christiana, and the many incidents connected therewith, will be found in the account of his trial; for he was subsequently arrested and thrown into the cold cells of a loathsome jail for this good act of simple Christian duty; but, resolute to the last, he publicly stated that he had been to Christiana, and, to use his own words, “I done it, and will do it again.” Brave man, receive my thanks!
Of the Special Committee I can only say that they proved themselves men; and through the darkest hours of the trials that followed, they were found faithful to their trust, never for one moment deserting those who were compelled to suffer. Many, many innocent men residing in the vicinity of Christiana, the ground where the first battle was fought for liberty in Pennsylvania, were seized, torn from their families, and, like Williams, thrown into prison for long, weary months, to be tried for their lives. By them this Committee stood, giving them every consolation and comfort, furnishing them with clothes, and attending to their wants, giving money to themselves and families, and procuring for them the best legal counsel. This I know, and much more of which it is not wise, even now, to speak: ‘t is enough to say they were friends when and where it cost something to be friends, and true brothers where brothers were needed.
After this lengthy digression, I will return, and speak of the riot and the events immediately preceding it.
The information brought by Mr. Williams spread through the vicinity like a fire in the prairies; and when I went home from my work in the evening, I found Pinckney (whom I should have said before was my brother-in-law), Abraham Johnson, Samuel Thompson, and Joshua Kite at my house, all of them excited about the rumor. I laughed at them, and said it was all talk. This was the 10th of September, 1851. They stopped for the night with us, and we went to bed as usual. Before daylight, Joshua Kite rose, and started for his home. Directly, he ran back to the house, burst open the door, crying, “O William! Kidnappers! Kidnappers!”
He said that, when he was just beyond the yard, two men crossed before him, as if to stop him, and others came up on either side. As he said this, they had reached the door. Joshua ran up stairs, (we slept up stairs,) and they followed him; but I met them at the landing, and asked, “Who are you?”
The leader, Kline, replied, “I am the United States Marshal.”
I then told him to take another step, and I would break his neck.
He again said, “I am the United States Marshal.”
I told him I did not care for him nor the United States. At that he turned and went down stairs.
Pinckney said, as he turned to go down,--“Where is the use in fighting? They will take us.”
Kline heard him, and said, “Yes, give up, for we can and will take you anyhow.”
I told them all not to be afraid, nor to give up to any slaveholder, but to fight until death.
“Yes,” said Kline, “I have heard many a negro talk as big as you, and then have taken him; and I’ll take you.”
“You have not taken me yet,” I replied; “and if you undertake it you will have your name recorded in history for this day’s work.”
Mr. Gorsuch then spoke, and said,-- “Come, Mr. Kline, let’s go up stairs and take them. We can take them. Come, follow me, I’ll go up and get my property. What’s in the way? The law is in my favor, and the people are in my favor.”
At that he began to ascend the stair; but I said to him,--“See here, old man, you can come up, but you can’t go down again. Once up here, you are mine.”
Kline then said,--“Stop, Mr. Gorsuch. I will read the warrant, and then, I think, they will give up.”
He then read the warrant, and said, “Now, you see, we are commanded to take you, dead or alive; so you may as well give up at once.”
“Go up, Mr. Kline,” then said Gorsuch, “you are the Marshal.”
Kline started, and when a little way up said, “I am coming.”
I said, “Well, come on.”
But he was too cowardly to show his face. He went down again and said,--“You had better give up without any more fuss, for we are bound to take you anyhow. I told you before that I was the United States Marshal, yet you will not give up. I’ll not trouble the slaves. I will take you and make you pay for all.”
“Well,” I answered, “take me and make me pay for all. I’ll pay for all.”
Mr. Gorsuch then said, “You have my property.”
To which I replied,--“Go in the room down there, and see if there is anything there belonging to you. There are beds and a bureau, chairs, and other things. Then go out to the barn; there you will find a cow and some hogs. See if any of them are yours.”
He said,--“They are not mine; I want my men. They are here, and I am bound to have them.”
Thus we parleyed for a time, all because of the pusillanimity of the Marshal, when he, at last, said,--“I am tired waiting on you; I see you are not going to give up. Go to the barn and fetch some straw,” said he to one of his men. “I will set the house on fire, and burn them up.”
“Burn us up and welcome,” said I. “None but a coward would say the like. You can burn us, but you can’t take us; before I give up, you will see my ashes scattered on the earth.”
By this time day had begun to dawn; and then my wife came to me and asked if she should blow the horn, to bring friends to our assistance. I assented, and she went to the garret for the purpose. When the horn sounded from the garret window, one of the ruffians asked the others what it meant; and Kline said to me, “What do you mean by blowing that horn?”
I did not answer. It was a custom with us, when a horn was blown at an unusual hour, to proceed to the spot promptly to see what was the matter. Kline ordered his men to shoot any one they saw blowing the horn. There was a peach-tree at that end of the house. Up it two of the men climbed; and when my wife went a second time to the window, they fired as soon as they heard the blast, but missed their aim. My wife then went down on her knees, and, drawing her head and body below the range of the window, the horn resting on the sill, blew blast after blast, while the shots poured thick and fast around her. They must have fired ten or twelve times. The house was of stone, and the windows were deep, which alone preserved her life.
They were evidently disconcerted by the blowing of the horn. Gorsuch said again, “I want my property, and I will have it.”
“Old man,” said I, “you look as if you belonged to some persuasion.”
“Never mind,” he answered, “what persuasion I belong to; I want my property.”
While I was leaning out of the window, Kline fired a pistol at me, but the shot went too high; the ball broke the glass just above my bead. I was talking to Gorsuch at the time. I seized a gun and aimed it at Gorsuch’s breast for he evidently had instigated Kline to fire; but Pinckney caught my arm and said, “Don’t shoot.” The gun went off, just grazing Gorsuch’s shoulder. Another conversation then ensued between Gorsuch, Kline, and myself, when another one of the party fired at me but missed. Dickinson Gorsuch, I then saw, was preparing to shoot; and I told him if he missed, I would show him where shooting first came from.
I asked them to consider what they would have done, had they been in our position. “I know you want to kill us,” I said, “for you have shot at us time and again. We have only fired twice, although we have guns and ammunition, and could kill you all if we would, but we do not want to shed blood.”
“If you do not shoot any more,” then said Kline, “I will stop my men from firing.”
They then ceased for a time. This was about sunrise.
Mr. Gorsuch now said,--“Give up and let me have my property. Hear what the Marshal says; the Marshal is your friend. He advises you to give up without more fuss, for my property I will have.”
I denied that I had his property, when he replied, “You have my men.”
“Am I your man?” I asked.
“No.”
I then called Pinckney forward.
“Is that your man?”
“No.”
Abraham Johnson I called next, but Gorsuch said he was not his man.
The only plan left was to call both Pinckney and Johnson again; for had I called the others, he would have recognized them, for they were his slaves.
Abraham Johnson said, “Does such a ispatche up old slaveholder as you own such a nice, genteel young man as I am?”
At this Gorsuch took offence, and charged me with dictating his language. I then told him there were but five of us, which he denied, and still insisted that I had his property. One of the party then attacked the Abolitionists, affirming that, although they declared there could not be property in man, the Bible was conclusive authority in favor of property in human flesh.
“Yes,” said Gorsuch, “does not the Bible say, ‘Servants, obey your masters’?”
I said that it did, but the same Bible said, “Give unto your servants that which is just and equal.”
At this stage of the proceedings, we went into a mutual Scripture inquiry, and bandied views in the manner of garrulous old wives.
* * *
It was now about seven o’clock.
“You had better give up,” said old Mr. Gorsuch, after another while, “and come down, for I have come a long way this morning, and want my breakfast; for my property I will have, or I’ll breakfast in hell. I will go up and get it.”
He then started up stairs, and came far enough to see us all plainly. We were just about to fire upon him, when Dickinson Gorsuch, who was standing on the old oven, before the door, and could see into the up-stairs room through the window, jumped down and caught his father, saying,--“O father, do come down! Do come down! They have guns, swords, and all kinds of weapons! They’ll kill you! Do come down!”
The old man turned and left. When down with him, young Gorsuch could scarce draw breath, and the father looked more like a dead than a living man, so frightened were they at their supposed danger. The old man stood some time without saying anything; at last he said, as if soliloquizing, “I want my property, and I will have it.”
Kline broke forth, “If you don’t give up by fair means, you will have to by foul.”
I told him we would not surrender on any conditions.
Young Gorsuch then said,--“Don’t ask them to give up,--make them do it. We have money, and can call men to take them. What is it that money won’t buy?”
Then said Kline,--“I am getting tired waiting on you; I see you are not going to give up.”
He then wrote a note and handed it to Joshua Gorsuch, saying at the same time,--“Take it, and bring a hundred men from Lancaster.”
As he started, I said,--“See here! When you go to Lancaster, don’t bring a hundred men,--bring five hundred. It will take all the men in Lancaster to change our purpose or take us alive.”
He stopped to confer with Kline, when Pinckney said, “We had better give up.”
“You are getting afraid,” said I.
“Yes,” said Kline, “give up like men. The rest would give up if it were not for you.”
“I am not afraid,” said Pinckney; “but where is the sense in fighting against so many men, and only five of us?”
The whites, at this time, were coming from all quarters, and Kline was enrolling them as fast as they came. Their numbers alarmed Pinckney, and I told him to go and sit down; but he said, “No, I will go down stairs.”
I told him, if he attempted it, I should be compelled to blow out his brains. “Don’t believe, that any living man can take you,” I said. “Don’t give up to any slaveholder.”
To Abraham Johnson, who was near me, I then turned. He declared he was not afraid. “I will fight till I die,” he said.
At this time, Hannah, Pinckney’s wife, had become impatient of our persistent course; and my wife, who brought me her message urging us to surrender, seized a corn-cutter, and declared she would cut off the head of the first one who should attempt to give up.
Another one of Gorsuch’s slaves was coming along the highroad at this time, and I beckoned to him to go around. Pinckney saw him, and soon became more inspirited. Elijah Lewis, a Quaker, also came along about this time; I beckoned to him, likewise; but he came straight on, and was met by Kline, who ordered him to assist him. Lewis asked for his authority, and Kline handed him the warrant. While Lewis was reading, Castner Hanway came up, and Lewis handed the warrant to him. Lewis asked Kline what Parker said.
Kline replied, “He won’t give up.”
Then Lewis and Hanway both said to the Marshal,--“If Parker says they will not give up, you had better let them alone, for he will kill some of you. We are not going to risk our lives”; and they turned to go away.
While they were talking, I came down and stood in the doorway, my men following behind.
Old Mr. Gorsuch said, when I appeared, “They’ll come out, and get away!” and he came back to the gate.
I then said to him,--“You said you could and would take us. Now you have the chance.”
They were a cowardly-looking set of men.
Mr., Gorsuch said, “You can’t come out here.”
“Why?” said I. “This is my place. I pay rent for it. I’ll let you see if I can’t come out.”
“I don’t care if you do pay rent for it,” said he. “If you come out, I will give you the contents of these”;--presenting, at the same time, two revolvers, one in each hand.
I said, “Old man, if you don’t go away, I will break your neck.”
I then walked up to where he stood, his arms resting on the gate, trembling as if afflicted with palsy, and laid my hand on his shoulder, saying, “I have seen pistols before to-day.”
Kline now came running up, and entreated Gorsuch to come away.
“No,” said the latter, “I will have my property, or go to hell.”
“What do you intend to do?” said Kline to me.
“I intend to fight,” said I. “I intend to try your strength.”
“If you will withdraw your men,” he replied, “I will withdraw mine.”
I told him it was too late. “You would not withdraw when you had the chance, --you shall not now.”
Kline then went back to Hanway and Lewis. Gorsuch made a signal to his men, and they all fell into line. I followed his example as well as I could; but as we were not more than ten paces apart, it was difficult to do so. At this time we numbered but ten, while there were between thirty and forty of the white men.
While I was talking to Gorsuch, his son said, “Father, will you take all this from a nigger?”
I answered him by saying that I respected old age; but that, if he would repeat that, I should knock his teeth down his throat. At this he fired upon me, and I ran up to him and knocked the pistol out of his hand, when he let the other one fall and ran in the field.
My brother-in-law, who was standing near, then said, “I can stop him”;--and with his double-barrel gun he fired.
Young Gorsuch fell, but rose and ran on again. Pinckney fired a second time, and again Gorsuch fell, but was soon up again, and, running into the cornfield, lay down in the fence corner.
I returned to my men, and found Samuel Thompson talking to old Mr. Gorsuch, his master. They were both angry.
“Old man, you had better go home to Maryland,” said Samuel.
“You had better give up, and come home with me,” said the old man.
Thompson took Pinckney’s gun from struck Gorsuch, and brought him to his knees. Gorsuch rose and ispatch to his men. Thompson then knocked him down again, and he again rose. At this time all the white men opened fire, and we rushed upon them; when they turned, threw down their guns, and ran away. We, being closely engaged clubbed our rifles. We were too closely pressed to fire, but we found a good deal could be done with empty guns. Old Mr. Gorsuch was the bravest of his party; he held on to his pistols until the last, while all the others threw away their weapons. I saw as many as three at a time fighting with him. Sometimes he was on his knees, then on his back, and again his feet would be where his head should be. He was a fine soldier and a brave man. Whenever he saw the least opportunity, he would take aim. While in close quarters with the whites, we could load and fire but two or three times. Our guns got bent and out of order. So damaged did they become, that we could shoot with but two or three of them. Samuel Thompson bent his gun on old Mr. Gorsuch so badly, that it was of no use to us.
“SCENE OF CONFUSION”
Citation
Elizabeth Pownall to “My Dear Aunt,” Christiana, PA, 1851. Christiana Resistance Collection, Moores Memorial Library, Christiana, PA.
Background
This letter reveals the state of mind of many white residents in Christiana in the aftermath of the September 11, 1851 shootout at William Parker’s house. Elizabeth Pownall expresses horror at the violence and wonder at the “scene of confusion” as federal marshals flooded into the area.
Transcript
Second-day morn My Dear Aunt
I hardly know how to begin to write to thee we have passed through so much since I last sent my note to thee over the mountains I expect thee has read in the papers of the sorrowful tragedy that has happened at Parkers it took place 5th day morn before day I never experienced such feelings we were almost frantic I feared [illegible] for mother thinking it was enough to kill her and after the fighting was over Levi went over but soon returned bringing us word of the death of the old man and that his son was badly if not mortally wounded and proposed bringing him to our house which we consented to We dispatched a person for the Dr. and had him brought over in a carriage his life was despaired of until yesterday the Dr. think now he may recover with careful nursing. It has caused much distress in this neighborhood as there are many of our white neighbors arrested and sent to jail on account of their thoughtlessly running to the scene of battle fortunately not one of our family left the house but remained at home. The county is one scene of confusion. The Marshals and police are here from Lancaster and Philadelphia and 50 Marines with the United States troops are stationed in Christiana I expect there was a hundred police with commissions and officers around our house that day making [illegible] our house seems more like a public one than anything else we can count and ten carriages [illegible] in front of our house at a time [illegible] horseback company—last evening our house was completely filled partly with Southerners There never has been such an excitement in our county they being one of the first families of Maryland We do feel deeply interested in the young gentleman who is here he seems as mild and gentle as out Levi we all feel much attached to him Oh [illegible] I wish Levi(?) was here indeed we feel so sad in can hardly keep up it almost seems wrong for the sun to shine on such misery as there is in this neighborhood Ella and I went out on the balcony last night it was one of the most beautiful moonlight nights I ever hazed on we felt better we trusted one who cause the moon to shine so peacefully would in his time cause light to shine on our path.
This is a sad letter dear aunt but I cannot write different give my love to John and Martha Joseph and Jane and accept a large portion for thyself
thy sincerely attached,
Lizzi
NEWSPAPER REACTION TO CHRISTIANA
Citation
“If this be Treason, make the most of it,” New York Times, September 29, 1851, p. 2.
Background
This article from the New York Times illustrates the northern disdain for the southern outrage over the incident at Christiana. The Times certainly considered Gorsuch’s death as murder and wanted the criminals punished but also clearly believed that a charge of treason was unwarranted and even foolish.
Transcript
“If this be Treason, make the most of it.”
On Thursday last, after a prolonged hearing of the case, Alderman J. FRANKLING REIGART committed the thirteen prisoners charged with participation in the Christiana homicide to answer for the offence of high treason against the United States. The testimony taken will be found in our columns this morning. Such an event had, of course, been anticipated. It was pre-ordained. The District Attorney had placed that catastrophe at the end of his programme of proceeding. His Honor Judge KANE did his share in preparing the public mind for that issue by charging the Grand Jury of the term upon the nature and penalties of high treason. Everything pointed to such a determination, and Alderman J. FRANKLIN REIGART has no more claim to merit for the part he played, than the obscurest tipstave in the Aldermanic court. He was the mere mechanical watch-hand, which pointed the right hour in consequence of the working of the springs and balance-wheels beneath.
Far be it from us to censure the legal judgments of the eminent authorities referred to. But we must show what stupid fools COKE, and BLACKSTONE were; and how absurdly wide of sense the common law of England wanders. High treason, according to the statue 24, Edw. III., c. 2, declarative of the common law upon the point, consists in levying war against the King. In the interpretation of the definition all the judicial authorities and all commentators of England have agreed. The crime requires an intention to overthrow the Government. Passive resistance, or even armed resistance, to any particular act of Government, constitutes nothing more than a misdemeanor. The design must be general. The design of pulling down all the jails in the county, for instance, would amount to high treason, by what is considered among the weightiest commentators as a forced and unnatural construction of the law. But a design of destroying a half-dozen particular jails would constitute a riot, and be punishable as a misdemeanor. And so a resistance to all the laws of the State, if a design to overthrow the Government of the State be provable as the basis of it, amounts to high treason; but if no such motive be demonstrable, the offense is relieved of any higher degree of criminality than that of a mere rioting resistance of the law. There can be no room for doubt about the meaning of the common law. There must be an avowed and not merely constructive design of overthrowing the existing government. If there be no such design, there is no treason.
Now the evidence upon which the commitment was made out against the thirteen persons, was solely the testimony of Henry M. Kline, deputy Marshal, and that of a colored boy, Scott, who turned State’s evidence, but whose presence at all at the riot is more than doubtful. Their testimony is conflicting, and is rebutted in very many essential particulars by a number of reliable witnesses. Alibis were distinctly proved in the cases of prisoners Morgan and Sims, charged with the murder of Mr. Gorsuch, upon the single testimony of Young Scott. There was nothing brought to light against the white men, Lewis and Haneway, further than that they were spectators of the scene, and when requested by Kline to assist in arresting the fugitives, replied that they did not choose to do so; that the force was inadequate and the attempt impossible in the face of seventy or eighty armed negroes. There was nothing but the testimony of Kline, to show the presence or aid of the remaining prisoners. There was no attempt to prove a preconcerted design of resistance. On the contrary, it appeared that negroes had been carried off within a short time previous by kidnappers; and that the mob gathered upon the supposition that Parker, a negro well known to be a free man, was the object of the officer’s search. In short, there was not one element of the Common Law crime of Treason proved at all, and certainly not proved against the prisoners. The evidence would support an allegation of murder; of a riotous and most gross resistance of law; of crimes, in fact, amply sufficient in the punishment annexed to them to satify the most violent appetite for vengeance; but nothing can justify a commitment for treason as defined by English jurists.
But the legal gentlemen who have this business in hand, have resolved that treason it is, and treason it is to be. We fear that in stretching the offense too far the criminals may escape. We claim their punishment whoever they are. They are guilty of a terrible crime, and of misdemeanors, the penalty of which should be most exemplary. It is full time this spirit of insubordination to law should be checked. To check it, the nature of the crime to which the sanction is appended should be distinctly understood; the benefit of the example is lost if we disguise the offense under an improper title. This we do when we miscall murder and riot high treason; and if the criminals in the Christiana riot and murder do not reap their reward, we may thank the mistaken zeal of the prosecutors. It would have been wiser to have trusted the loyalty of the State tribunals in vindicating the laws, than to forcibly place the affair within federal jurisdiction by a ispatc exaggeration of the offense. Besides, people will suspect that the already expressed opinions of Judge Kane have something to do with the transfer of the case of his jurisdiction; and popular confidence in the fairness of the proceedings receives a further shock. The zeal should have been more largely tempered with discretion. They fancied a case of treason and are bent on making the most of it. The result will probably be comparative impunity to the guilty.
CHRISTIANA TREASON TRIAL
Citation
James J. Robbins, Report of the trial of Castner Hanway for treason, in the resistance of
the execution of the Fugitive slave law of September 1850. Before Judges Grier and Kane, in the Circuit Court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. Held at Philadelphia in November and December, 1851, (Philadelphia, King & Baird, 1852), available online at .
Background
The federal treason trial for the accused ringleaders of the Christiana Riot began in Philadelphia on Monday, November 24, 1851. The so-called “riot” involved a resistance effort orchestrated by fugitives and free blacks in southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that resulted in the death of a Maryland slaveholder named Edward Gorsuch. Castner Hanway, a white neighbor not really involved in the episode, was the first defendant to stand trial. Here are excerpts from the transcript, including selections from the opening arguments by prosecutor John W. Ashmead and defense attorney Theodore Cuyler, witness testimony from U.S. Marshal Henry H. Kline, neighbors Elijah Lewis and Isaac Rogers, closing statements by prosecutor James R. Ludlow and defense attorney Joseph Lewis, and finally, the charge to the jury by Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier (sitting in circuit). Grier’s charge clearly indicates his disappointment with the prosecution’s case. The jury returned an acquittal within a matter of minutes. Nobody was ever convicted for the killing of Edward Gorsuch, nor were any of Gorsuch’s runaways ever returned to slavery. This was a pivotal act of defiance against the new Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
Transcript
Opening Argument for the Prosecution (John W. Ashmead)
“ First. –That on the 11th of September, 1851, in the County of Lancaster, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, the defendant, with a great number of persons, armed and arrayed in a war-like manner, with guns, swords and other weapons, assembled and traitorously combined to oppose and prevent by intimidation and violence, the execution of the laws of the United States already adverted to, and arrayed himself in a warlike manner against the said United States.
Second. –That at the same time and place, the said Castner Hanway assembled with others, with the avowed intention by force and intimidation to prevent the execution of the said laws to which I have alluded, and that in pursuance of this combination, he unlawfully and traitorously resisted and opposed Henry H. Kline, an officer duly appointed by Edward D. Ingraham, Esq., a Commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States, from executing lawful process to him directed against certain persons charged before the Commissioner with being persons held to service or labor in the State of Maryland, owing such service and labor to a certain Edward Gorsuch, under the laws of the State of Maryland, who had escaped into the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Third. –That in further execution of his wicked design, the defendant assembled with certain persons who were armed and arrayed with the design, by means of intimidation and violence, to prevent the execution of the laws already alluded to, and being so assembled, knowingly and ispatche assaulted Henry H. Kline, the officer appointed by the Commissioner to execute his process, and then and there, against the will of the said Henry H. Kline, liberated and took out of his custody persons before that time arrested by him.
Fourth: That the defendant in pursuance of his traitorous combination and conspiracy to oppose and prevent the said laws of the United States from being carried into execution, conspired and agreed with others to oppose and prevent by force and intimidation, the execution of the said laws, and in the ways already described, did violently resist and oppose them
Fifth: That the defendant in pursuance of his combination to oppose and resist the said laws of the United States, prepared and composed divers books and pamphlets, and maliciously and traitorously distributed them, which books and pamphlets contained incitements and encouragements to induce and persuade persons held to service in any of the United States by the laws thereof, who had escaped into this district, as well as other persons, citizens of this district, to resist and oppose by violence and intimidation the execution of the said laws, and also containing instructions how, and upon what occasions the traitorous purposes should and ought to be carried into effect.”
Ashmead comments on the Fugitive Slave Law:
“If obnoxious acts of Congress are passed they can be changed or repealed. Hence this defendant, if he has perpetrated the offence charged in the indictment, has raised his hand without excuse or palliation against the freest government on the face of the earth. He has not only set its laws at defiance, by seeking to overturn them, and to render them inoperative and void; but the conspiracy into which he entered, assumed a deeper and more malignant dye, from the wanton manner, in which it was actually consummated. I allude to the murder in which it resulted. An honorable and worthy citizen of a neighboring State, who entered our Commonwealth, under the protection of the constitution and laws of the Union , for the purpose of claiming his property under due process of law, was mercilessly beaten and murdered, in consequence of the acts of the defendant and his associates.”
Opening Argument for the Defense (Theodore Cuyler):
“This defendant, gentlemen, is not here through his counsel to defend those sad deeds which disgraced the sweet and peaceful valley near Christiana on the 9th of September last, or by one unkind or reproachful word to open again the yet fresh wounds of any member of that family which suffered so deeply there. It is no part of his defence to defend those who took part in that conflict. His defence is simply that he was in no way a party to these outrages; but as a precaution, I shall pass beyond this line, and added to this, will open to you, that however grave and serious may be and is the offence of those who took part in those outrages, yet it does not amount to the offence charged in the indictment.”
“On the borders of Lancaster county there realties a band of miscreants, who are well known to the laws, and well known to the records of the Penitentiary in this State. They are professional kidnappers...These men by a series of a lawless and diabolical outrages, have invaded the peace of this valley–begetting dread in every household, and a general sense of insecurity in every home.”
“Treason shall consist only in levying war against the United States . Do the facts of the case sustain the charge?
Sir–Did you hear it? That three harmless, non-resisting Quakers, and eight-and-thirty wretched, miserable, penniless negroes, armed with corn-cutters, clubs, and a few muskets, and headed by a miller, in a felt hat, without a coat, without arms, and mounted on a sorrel nag, levied war against the United States.
Blessed be God that our Union has survived the shock.”
Witness testimony (Henry H. Kline)
Kline: In the mean while Mr. Hanway came up on horseback. The old gentleman, Mr. Edward Gorsuch, requested me to go and ask him to assist us. We found that there was a larger force in the house than we calculated. I came out of the house and went to the bars where Mr. Hanway was sitting on a sorrel horse, and went up to him and said, “Good morning, sir,” and he made no reply. I then asked him his name, and he allowed it was none of my business. I then asked him if he lived in the neighborhood, and he made a remark in the same way. I then told him who I was, and showed him my authority. I took my papers out and handed them to him, and he read them.
Question: Did you hand him these papers? (The warrants.)
Kline: I did, and he read them not only once, but twice.
Question: What did you say to him at that time?
Kline: I told him I was Deputy Marshal, and came to arrest two fugitives belonging to Edward Gorsuch.
Question: When you told him that, what did he say?
Kline: He allowed that the colored people had a right to defend themselves. There was some fifteen or twenty standing there, as near as I can tell, with their guns loaded.
Question: Will you state to the Court again, exactly what Mr. Hanway said at that time?
Kline: After I got through telling him these things, who I was, and he had refused to assist me, I told him what the Act of Congress was, and urged him to assist me. After I had told him my warrants, he read them and handed them back, and he said the colored people had a right to defend themselves, and he was not going to help me, and I asked if he would keep them away, and he said No,--he would not have anything to do with them.
Ashmead: Had you any conversation with Mr. Hanway in regard to any law of Congress?
Kline: I had, sir.
Ashmead: Be good enough to state to the Court and Jury what it was.
Kline: After he refused, I told him what the act of Congress was as near as I could tell him. That any person aiding or abetting a fugitive slave, and resisting an officer, the punishment was $1000 damages for the slave, and I think to the best of my knowledge imprisonment for five years. I told him that. He said he did not care for any act of Congress or any other law. That is what he said.
R. * *
Witness testimony (Elijah Lewis):
Mr. Brent: When Hanway said to Kline he would have nothing to do with it, was not that in reply to Kline’s request to assist him?
Lewis: It was.
Mr. Brent: When he requested him to assist him, his reply was, he would have nothing to do with it?
Lewis: Yes.
Witness testimony (Isaac Rogers):
Question: What did Mr. Hanway do?
Rogers : He turned on his critter and he says several times, “don’t shoot, boys.”
R. * *
Closing Statement by Prosecution (James R. Ludlow)
“But I may here notice, what perhaps was intended to weigh with the jury–that this man Hanway–the miller in his shirt sleeves, and with the felt hat on, intended to levy war against the United States. Sir, it struck me painfully–ridiculous as the description seemed–it struck me painfully, when I remembered, that within a few feet of that same miller, lay a man–dead–and within six hundred yards of him was another, riddled with shot, and sir, in addition to that–if the evidence for the prosecution is to be believed–that that man had instigated these blacks to do these deeds of horror. You need not tell me, that to lead a set of conspirators, you are to be armed and arrayed in all the panoply of war. It is not law nor fact. Their general left them when his own life was in danger, but he commanded them as efficiently while upon the ground; they knew him in his every day dress.”
“What would be the conduct of a guilty man upon that occasion? If he had been an ignorant one, we can easily perceive what he would have done. He would have rushed, as did these blacks, right into the middle of the fight, he would by some overt, positive act, have convicted himself upon the spot. But with all the shrewdness of a leader, he just so far mingles in the affray, as to direct it, and the moment he has started the attack he makes good his escape.”
Closing Statement by Defense (Joseph Lewis)
“The whole prosecution, gentlemen, is founded upon a mistaken idea; that idea seems to be, that in this township of Sadsbury there prevails an unwholesome and unpatriotic spirit, or I should rather say sentiment, upon the subject of the Fugitive Slave Law, and that Castner Hanway is one of those who cherishes the bane of these opinions, and that therefore he was fitted to become a sacrifice to the spirit of concord. Now, gentlemen, nothing of this kind appears in the evidence at all; it supplies us with no facts upon which such an idea can be based. The evidence leaves us here, and the truth leaves us here; without any ground whatever for the suspicion that Mr. Hanway belongs to any sect or any class which have set themselves in opposition to this law, or who cherish opinions that are adverse to its execution.”
“Can it be that it is expected to terrify the people of the north, or the people of Pennsylvania, from looking on whenever any attempt is made to arrest blacks, whether fleeing from slavery, or expected to be fleeing from slavery–from looking on to see that no freeman is taken away, that they may have a free field to themselves? If this is the object, it is not such as Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvania does not deserve this treatment. She deserves it neither by her legislation, nor by the general feelings or sentiments of her people. She has always stood by the compromises of the constitution, not merely fairly, but with an inclination favorable to the south.”
“It ought always to be remembered, that this business of hunting down fugitives, is the business of the persons from whom they escape, peculiarly, and that we really have nothing to do with it. We have no interest in it–and if the scenes to which such man and woman hunting give rise, are revolting to the sensibilities of our people, it is too much to expect them to assist, and they cannot and will not be frightened into it by prosecutions for treason.
You may irritate and exasperate public feeling, but you cannot make active slave catchers of any respectable men in Pennsylvania , even by threats of the gallows.
If, therefore, the object of this prosecution is to drive our people into an active pursuit of such slaves as may happen to come into our State, it must fail. It cannot and ought not to succeed in the accomplishment of any such object. They will not chase frightened men and women, though they be black, from wood to wood, and from hill to hill, with fire arms and bludgeons, to the great alarm of peaceful neighborhoods, and the scandal of human society.”
“Throw Kline out, and there is not a word in the testimony of any one witness, to inculpate the prisoner in a single impropriety, in word or act. And ought he not to be thrown out? To his cowardice is owing this whole tragedy. Had he kept his force together, and withdrawn them in a body from the ground, there is no probability of their being assailed. After three of the seven, who constituted the force that went to execute the warrants, had retired, the danger was greatly increased, and yet it appears, that even then, if it had not been that Mr. Gorsuch after retreating some sixty yards from the house, had not attempted to return to make the intended arrest, nothing serious could have happened. It was that attempt that exasperated the negroes, and brought about the conflict.”
“If the issue were on the Fugitive Slave Law, and the question here was, whether Mr. Hanway disapproved it; he could not be convicted even of that offence–if offence it may be permitted to call it. Let me ask you, can any one of you say, from any thing you can have heard here, that Castner Hanway has any opinion either one way or the other on that subject. Yet, though he disapproved of that law, I trust there is still some space between that and treason. We are not here to try that law, or to try him for his opinions about it.”
R. * *
Charge to the Jury, December 11, 1851 (Justice Robert Cooper Grier)
Without desiring to invade the prerogatives of the jury in judging the facts of this case, the Court feel bound to say, that they do not think the transaction with which the prisoner is charged with being connected, rises to the dignity of treason or levying war. Not because the numbers or force was insufficient. But 1st, For want of any proof of previous conspiracy to make a general and public resistance to any law of the United States . 2ndly, Because there is no evidence that any person concerned in the transaction knew there were such acts of Congress, as those with which they were charged with conspiring to resist by force and arms, or had any other intention than to protect one another from what they termed kidnappers (by which slang term they probably included not only actual kidnappers, but all masters and owners seeking to recapture their slaves, and the officers and agents assisting therein).
The testimony of the prosecution shows that notice had been given that certain fugitives were pursued; the riot, insurrection, tumult, or whatever you may call it, was but a sudden `conclamatio’ or running together, to prevent the capture of certain of their friends or companions, or to rescue them if arrested. Previous to this transaction, so far as we are informed, no attempt had been made to arrest fugitives in the neighborhood under the new act of Congress by a public officer. Heretofore arrests had been made by the owner in person, or his agent properly authorized, or by an officer of the law. Individuals without any authority, but incited by cupidity, and the hope of obtaining the reward offered for the return of a fugitive, had heretofore under- taken to seize them by force and violence, to invade the sanctity of private dwellings at night, and insult the feeling and prejudices of the people. It is not to be wondered at that a people subject to such inroads, should consider odious the perpetrators of such deeds and denominate them kidnappers–and that the subjects of this treatment should have been encouraged in resisting such aggressions, where the rightful claimant could not be distinguished from the odious kidnapper, or the fact be ascertained whether the person seized, deported or stolen in this manner, was a free man or a slave. But the existence of such feelings is no evidence of a determination or conspiracy by the people to publicly resist any legislation of Congress, or levy war against the United States . That in consequence of such excitement, such an outrage should have been committed, is deeply to be deplored. That the persons engaged in it are guilty of aggravated riot and murder cannot be denied. But riot and murder are offences against the State Government. It would be a dangerous precedent for the Court and jury in this case to extend the crime of treason by construction to doubtful cases.”
VIGILANCE COMMITTEE FUNDRAISING
Citation
Philadelphia Vigilance Committee records, February 10, 1852, reprinted in (Rochester, NY) Frederick Douglass’ Paper, March 4, 1852.
Background
The following excerpt from the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee records appeared in Frederick Douglass’ Paper on March 4, 1852. The report details activities by the committee in the aftermath of the Christiana Riot of 1851. George Williams and Jacob Moore were two men accused of being involved in the riot who had escaped from custody.
Transcript
The Committee have expended the following amount:
Paid to several Council, $200
For board, clothing, Medical Attendance, and passage to Canada of Geo. Williams, Jacob Moore, and their families, $125
Expended for the 25 prisoners during their four months of confinement, $150
Paid to Dr. A. Cain, $30, Joseph Benn, $20, Josiah Clarkson, $10 (to be distributed among the prisoners’ families)
For board & incidental expenses of witnesses during the trials, $95
[Total] $630
Amount of Receipts, $689.41
Expenses, $630
Balance in hand, $59.41
There are several families not yet cared for. The committee return thanks to dealers in clothing on Second street , for the contributions so much needed, amounting to some one hundred and twenty-five pieces of clothing.
NATH’L. W. DEPEE, Secretary. February 10, 1852
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
(1830s – 1860s)
EARLY VIGILANCE EFFORTS
Citation
Joseph A. Borome, “The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 92 (January 1968), 331-51).
Background
The Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, or Vigilant Association as it was originally called, was first organized in the late 1830s, making it one of the nation’s earliest anti-slavery vigilance groups (following the committee organized by David Ruggles in New York). Vigilance Committees formed the organized core of the Underground Railroad and were able to maintain their existence by claiming to devote themselves to the protection of free blacks, not to the aid of escaping fugitives. Yet Philadelphia Vigilant Association records from the last seven months of 1839 demonstrate that out of 54 cases of assistance, only two were directed toward free blacks from the area. All the rest were fugitives, including three people identified as “imposters” who were helped anyway. The committee recorded only eight of the fugitives’ names –most were referred to simply as “man” or “woman” or even just “case.” The committee’s secretary (Jacob White) never appeared to use any railroad terminology such as “passenger” or “conductor.” Out of the 45 records with gender information, 33 were listed as men or boys and 12 as women, including an “elderly” woman from Blue Ridge, Maryland. There were also 45 fugitive records with place of origin data. Of these, 24 came from Virginia (including one “very interesting” family of eight traveling together), 18 from Maryland, one from Delaware, one from New Orleans, Louisiana, and one (imposter) from Columbia, Pennsylvania. There was hardly any mention of age. In about one-third of the cases, however, the secretary noted the fugitive’s complexion (i.e. dark, light, or, in one case, pockmarked) –an important fact emphasized in runaway advertisements. Here is an excerpt from the Vigilant Association journal in late 1839.
Transcript
Record Of Cases Attended To For The
Vigilent Committee Of Phila by the Agent
No. 25. Oct 15th [1839] Man, dark complexion from Bal [timore], sent to N.Y. for Trinidad. Note to Wm. B. Johnson. Expence $2.62
No. 26. Oct. 17th [1839] Man, light complexion from Vir.[ginia] Sent to N.Y.C.V. for Can. Note Williams, Junior. Ex. $2.45
No. 27-28. [Oct.] 18th [1839] Two cases, man & woman from Myd sent to Quakertown [Pa], to J. Leas –n. ex. Two week board 3 carriage, 3 toll in[cidental] $7.09
No. 29-30. [Oct.] 27th [1839] Two boys from Ken [MD] sent to Byberry [Pa], one 16, the other 10, by E. Coates. Ex. Carriage toll $3.75
RUTHERFORD FAMILY STORIES
Citation
S.S. Rutherford, “The Under Ground Railroad,” Publications of the Historical Society of Dauphin County, 1928.
Background
Transcript
Some time in the month of October, about the year 1845 – ten runaways were brought to Mr. Rutherford by some agent, now unknown. They arrived on Thursday night and were to be kept secreted until the following Saturday night, by which time arrangements for their future progress would be perfected and conductors sent to pilot them onward. The party consisted of an elderly man and his six sons – all mulattos, the youngest of whom was a youth of eighteen. Two brothers of a darker hue, remarkable for their stalwart proportions—and a short thick-set black man, so black that, as one of the wits of the day remarked, ‘charcoal would make a white mark on his face.’ Mr. Rutherford quartered them in his barn and supplied them with eatables which were carried to the barn from time to time in a large basket.
For some reason, now forgotten, the conductors failed to appear at the appointed time. Mr. Rutherford could have easily forwarded the party to some other station, but, not wishing to interfere with plans already perfected, and no intelligence of pursuit, having reached him, he deemed it safe to allow them to remain over Sunday. Nothing extraordinary occurred during the day until about five o’clock in the evening, when someone called attention to a cavalcade, consisting of two carriages preceded by four horsemen, moving slowly down the turnpike road, like a funeral . . . Mr. S. B. Rutherford, then a boy, was at the barn, and ran to the house to tell his grandfather, who immediately sent him back to warn the Negroes of danger. When he reached the barn, however, not a Negro was visible.
By this time two of the horsemen had reached the barn, and, dismounting stationed themselves as outside guards, the other two took up similar positions at the house. The leading carriage, driven by John W. Fitch, a liveryman of Harrisburg, and containing four men, stopped at the house, Mr. Rutherford came out and was introduced by Fitch to Mr. Buchanan, of Maryland . . . Meanwhile the second carriage, containing four men—one of whom was Mr. Potts, of Maryland, owner of several of the fugitives, had driven to the barn and the men stationed themselves in front of the stable doors.
Mr. Buchanan, having finished his interview, also went to the barn and with one or two others entered the floor, where nothing was visible . . . Buchanan and Potts both called their servants by name repeatedly, but got no answer, and whilst it was by no means certain that the Negroes were in the barn at all, not a man of the pursuing party dared venture up to see. . . While this was going on above, Mr. Rutherford’s boys were doing up the chores, closely watched by the detachment of slave hunters stationed about the stable doors . . .
An hour passed, and no sound coming from the lofts, it was determined by the party on the floor to ascend and see what was up there. Upon hearing this the Negroes became alarmed, and one of them appeared at the top of the opening and threatened to brain the first man who came within his reach. This satisfied the hunters that the birds had not flown . . . A consultation was now held which resulted in sending a messenger to Harrisburg for reinforcements. Soon after the departure of the messenger . . . Rutherford and Potts were sitting in the house discussing the slavery question, four strange Negroes arrived, two of whom went directly to the barn and the other two entered the house and sat down behind the stove. These were the conductors sent to pilot the fugitives to Pottsville, and until their arrival at Mr. Rutherford’s had no knowledge of the betrayal of the arrested by the guards. The two who went to the barn were arrested by the guards. The two at the house were not molested, but remained quietly behind the stove until an opportunity offered of communicating with Mr. Rutherford . . . They soon afterwards disappeared.
About 10:30 p.m. the pro-slavery messenger arrived with two carriages and several men, prominent among whom was a character well-known in Harrisburg at the time as “Moll Rockey,” who afterwards became a very respectable citizen and often spoke of that night’s escapade as one of the things of which he had repented. “Moll Rockey” was a host in himself and proved a valuable acquisition to the slave catchers, for in a short time the Negroes surrendered and came down-when lo, instead of ten their were only six. A search with lanterns and pitchforks was made in every part of the barn, but in vain, no more Negroes could be found. Among the missing was the “nigger” owned by the blustering big whiskered man before mentioned.
By midnight the search had ended and the slave holders hurriedly took their departure. Instead of returning to Harrisburg they crossed the country to Middletown and thence to York.
About an hour after their departure a company of probably forty men, mostly colored, armed with all sorts of weapons, arrived upon the scene. They had come from Harrisburg and vicinity in two division over different roads, and their temper was such that had they encountered the slave-holders a bloody battle would doubtless have been fought. Of the four slaves who escaped two fled from the barn, unobserved, on the approach of the pursuers and secreted themselves in a neighboring corn field until night fall, when they made their way to Mr. A Rutherford’s barn, where they remained until the following night, then they were sent north in company with a third who had hid himself so deeply in the hay mow that he was overlooked. The fourth, who was the father of the six sons, was in the mow at the time of the surrender—but slipped down the hay hole into the stables and escaped through a cellar window which the besiegers had not observed, and was consequently unguarded. He was never heard of afterwards. So quietly was this affair conducted, that the nearest neighbors knew nothing of it until the next day.
MCCLINTOCK RIOT (1847)
Citation
“Tumult and Riot,” Carlisle (PA) Herald, June 9, 1847, p. 2: 5.
Background
On June 2, 1847, there was a “riot” in Carlisle, Pennsylvania that resulted in a successful escape for two out of three detained fugitive slaves and ultimately the death of a Maryland slaveholder named James Kennedy who was injured during the melee. Kennedy’s death was a milestone –probably the first fatality for a slaveholder who had pursued his fugitive slaves into the North. People don’t always connect the Underground Railroad with such examples of resistance to fugitive slave laws, but the situation in Carlisle in 1847 demonstrates how free blacks in communities along the Mason-Dixon Line organized themselves to defy the laws and aid in escapes. In that sense, this newspaper report about “Tumult and Riot” from the Carlisle (PA) Herald is misleading and vastly underestimates the depth of both black resistance to slavery and northern white resentment over interference with their “states’ rights.” Eventually, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would throw out all of the convictions in this case, sending an unmistakable message to southerners seeking “justice” for their dead colleague.
Transcript
Tumult and Riot.
Carlisle, June 3d., 1847.
Our town was thrown into great commotion and excitement yesterday afternoon, by an attempt on the part of a large portion of our colored population to rescue several slaves who had been arrested as fugitives. The slaves (one man, a woman and little girl) were arrested in the morning, and in the afternoon taken before Judge Hepburn on a writ of habeas corpus. Mssrs. Adair and ----bury appeared for the retainers, and W. H. Miller, Esq. for the parties claiming the fugitives. In the course of this hearing testimony was taken fully identifying the slaves as the property of Col. Hollingsworth and Mr. Kennedy, of Hagerstown, Md. Exceptions were then taken by the counsel for the slaves, to the commitment by the Magistrate and the holding of the slaves in the custody of the Sheriff.
These exceptions were sustained by the Court, who discharged them from the custody of the Sheriff, and they were then taken in charge by their owners. A second writ of habeas corpus, to inquire by what right they were held by the claimants, we are informed was immediately taken out, but the hearing of it was prevented by the occurrence of the riot.
During the hearing a large crowd of infuriated negro men and women gathered in and about the Court House, who evidenced by their violent conduct a disposition to rescue the fugitives by force. An attempt was made first in the Court-room but quickly frustrated by the constables.
A second attempt was made as the slaves were brought down from the Court-room to the carriage, which resulted in a serious riot. The attack was commenced at the door of the carriage, where before the slaves were got into the vehicle a general rush was made on the slave-owners and constables by the negro men and women, and a frightful melee ensued in the street, in which for some minutes paving stones were burled in showers and clubs and canes used with terrible energy. The result was that the woman and girl escaped, while the man was secured and taken back to Maryland. We regret to say that
Mr. Kennedy, one of the owners, was very severely hurt, having been felled to the earth under a succession of blows from stones and clubs which completely disabled him A boy in the street by the name of Black, we are informed was also so severely wounded in the head by a stone, that his life is endangered. The remainder of the party received no serious injury.
The rescue was a bold and vigorous attempt, and although there were numerous indications of such a disposition, we believe it was not seriously apprehended by wither the slave-owners or our citizens. If it had been a stronger force and more precaution should have been used. Much excitement prevails in our community in relation to this unfortunate affair, and the Sheriff and Constables have arrested a score or more negroes, who were identified as leaders in the riot, who are now confined in jail to await their trial. Our citizens generally made no inference.—The evidence that the slaves were fugitives was clear, and the mass of our citizens therefore regarded them as the rightful property of their owners.
Inasmuch as the whole affair will be made the subject of legal investigation we refrain from all comments. We regret extremely that our borough has been made the scene of so disgraceful a riot, and especially that its consequences should have been so serious. Mr. Kennedy, the gentleman so severely wounded, has since remained in the hands of Drs. Myers and Mahoe, two of our most experienced physicians, from whom we regret to learn that his injuries are such as will probably unfit him for active duties for many weeks. Besides being much bruised in various parts of his person, he has suffered a more serious injury in the dislocation and severing of the joint and ligament of the right knee, which will probably cause lameness for life. The warmest sympathies of our citizens are with him under his unhappy misfortune. The boy who was wounded is now doing well, his injuries not being as great as was at first thought.
HENRY “BOX” BROWN
Citation
William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 82-86.
Background
Henry “Box” Brown’s escape from slavery in March 1849 was probably the best known of his era, mostly because it was so unusual and dramatic. Brown and a brave friend (Samuel A. Smith) literally shipped him in a box from Richmond to Philadelphia. His miraculous survival captivated the northern public. Eventually, Brown became a popular lecturer and performer in England before he finally returned to the U.S. in the 1870s. William Still was present at Brown’s “resurrection” in Philadelphia and re-told the story in his 1872 monograph on the Underground Railroad.
Transcript
HENRY BOX BROWN.
ARRIVED BY ADAMS’ EXPRESS.
Although the name of Henry Box Brown has been echoed over the land for a number of years, and the simple facts connected with his marvelous escape from slavery in a box published widely through the medium of anti-slavery papers, nevertheless it is not unreasonable to suppose that very little is generally known in relation to this case.
Briefly, the facts are these, which doubtless have never before been fully published-
Brown was a man of invention as well as a hero. In point of interest, however, his case is no more remarkable than many others. Indeed, neither before nor after escaping did he suffer one-half what many others have experienced.
He was decidedly an unhappy piece of property in the city of Richmond, Va. In the condition of a slave he felt that it would be impossible for him to remain. Full well did he know, however, that it was no holiday task to escape the vigilance of Virginia slave-hunters, or the wrath of an enraged master for committing the unpardonable sin of attempting to escape to a land of liberty. So Brown counted well the cost before venturing upon this hazardous undertaking. Ordinary modes of travel he concluded might prove disastrous to his hopes; he, therefore, hit upon a new invention altogether, which was to have himself boxed up and forwarded to Philadelphia direct by express. The size of the box and how it was to be made to fit him most comfortably, was of his own ordering. Two feet eight inches deep, two feet wide, and three feet long were the exact dimensions of the box, lined with baize. His resources with regard to food and water consisted of the following: One bladder of water and a few small biscuits. His mechanical implement to meet the death-struggle for fresh air, all told, was one large gimlet. Satisfied that it would be far better to peril his life for freedom in this way than to remain under the galling yoke of Slavery, he entered his box, which was safely nailed up and ispa with five hickory hoops, and was then addressed by his next friend, James A. Smith, a shoe dealer, to Wm. H. Johnson, Arch street, Philadelphia, marked, “This side up with care.” In this condition he was sent to Adams’ Express office in a dray, and thence by overland express to Philadelphia. It was twenty-six hours from the time he left Richmond until his arrival in the City of Brotherly Love. The notice, “This side up, &c.,” did not avail with the different expressmen, who hesitated not to handle the box in the usual rough manner common to this class of men. For a while they actually had the box upside down, and had him on his head for miles. A few days before he was expected, certain intimation was conveyed to a member of the Vigilance Committee that a box might be expected by the three o’clock morning train from the South, which might contain a man. One of the most serious walks he ever took-and they had not been a few-to meet and accompany passengers, he took at half past two o’clock that morn-ing to the depot. Not once, but for more than a score of times, he fancied the slave would be dead. He anxiously looked while the freight was being unloaded from the cars, to see if he could recognize a box that might contain a man; one alone had that appearance, and he confessed it really seemed as if there was the scent of death about it. But on inquiry, he soon learned that it was not the one he was looking after, and he was free to say he experienced a marked sense of relief. That same afternoon, however, he received from Richmond a telegram, which read thus, “Your case of goods is shipped and will arrive to-morrow morning.”
At this exciting juncture of affairs, Mr. McKim, who had been engineering this important undertaking, deemed it expedient to change the programme slightly in one particular at least to insure greater safety. In-stead of having a member of the Committee go again to the depot for the box, which might excite suspicion, it was decided that it would be safest to have the express bring it direct to the Anti-Slavery Office.
But all apprehension of danger did not now disappear, for there was no room to suppose that Adams’ Express office had any sympathy with the Abolitionist or the fugitive, consequently for Mr. McKim to appear personally at the express office to give directions with reference to the coming of a box from Richmond which would be directed to Arch street, and yet not intended for that street, but for the Anti-Slavery office at 107 North Fifth street, it needed of course no great discernment to foresee that a step of this kind was wholly impracticable and that a more indirect and covert method would have to be adopted. In this dreadful crisis Mr. McKim, with his usual good judgment and remarkably quick, strategical mind, especially in matters pertaining to the U. G. R. R., hit upon the following plan, namely, to go to his friend, E. M. Davis, who was then extensively engaged in mercantile business, and relate the circumstances. Having daily intercourse with said Adams’ Express office, and being well acquainted with the firm and some of the drivers, Mr. Davis could, as Mr. McKim thought, talk about “boxes, freight, etc.,” from any part of the country without risk. Mr. Davis heard Mr. McKim’s plan and instantly approved of it, and was heartily at his service.
Dan, an Irishman, one of Adams’ Express drivers, is just the fellow to go to the depot after the box,” said Davis. “He drinks a little too much whiskey sometimes, but he will do anything I ask him to do, promptly and obligingly. I’ll trust Dan, for I believe he is the very man.” The difficulty which Mr. McKim had been so anxious to overcome was thus pretty well settled. It was agreed that Dan should go after the box next morning before daylight and bring it to the Anti-Slavery office direct, and to make it all the more agreeable for Dan to get up out of his warm bed and go on this errand before day, it was decided that he should have a five dollar gold piece for himself. Thus these preliminaries having been satisfactorily arranged, it only remained for Mr. Davis to see Dan and give him instructions accordingly, etc.
Next morning, according to arrangement, the box was at the Anti-Slavery office in due time. The witnesses present to behold the resurrection were J. M. McKim, Professor C. D. Cleveland, Lewis Thompson, and the writer.
Mr. McKim was deeply interested; but having been long identified with the Anti-Slavery cause as one of its oldest and ablest advocates in the darkest days of slavery and mobs, and always found by the side of the fugitive to counsel and succor, he was on this occasion perfectly composed.
Professor Cleveland, however, was greatly moved. His zeal and earnestness in the cause of freedom, especially in rendering aid to passengers, knew no limit. Ordinarily he could not too often visit these travelers, shake them too warmly by the hand, or impart to them too freely of his substance to aid them on their journey. But now his emotion was overpowering.
Mr. Thompson, of the firm of Merrihew & Thompson-about the only printers in the city who for many years dared to print such incendiary documents as anti-slavery papers and pamphlets-one of the truest friends of the slave, was composed and prepared to witness the scene.
All was quiet. The door had been safely locked. The proceedings commenced. Mr. McKim rapped quietly on the lid of the box and called out, “All right!” Instantly came the answer from within, “All right, sir!”
The witnesses will never forget that moment. Saw and hatchet quickly had the five hickory hoops cut and the lid off, and the ispatche resurrection of Brown ensued. Rising up in his box, he reached out his hand saying, “How do you do, gentlemen?” The little assemblage hardly knew what to think or do at the moment. He was about as wet as if he had come up out of the Delaware. Very soon he remarked that, before leaving Richmond he had selected for his arrival-hymn (if he lived) the Psalm beginning with these words: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He heard my prayer.” And most touchingly did he sing the psalm, much to his own relief as well as to the delight of his small audience.
He was then christened Henry Box Brown, and soon afterwards was sent to the hospitable residence of James Mott and E. M. Davis, on Ninth street where, it is needless to say, he met a most cordial reception from Mrs. Lucretia Mott and her household. Clothing and creature comforts were furnished in abundance, and delight and joy filled all hearts in that strong hold of philanthropy.
As he had been so long doubled up in the box he needed to promenade considerably in the fresh air, so James Mott put one of his broad-brim hats on his head and tendered him the hospitalities of his yard as well as his house, and while Brown promenaded the yard flushed with victory, great was the joy of his friends.
After his visit at Mr. Mott’s, he spent two days with the writer, and then took his departure for Boston, evidently feeling quite conscious of the wonderful feat he had performed, and at the same time it may be safely said that those who witnessed this strange resurrection were not only elated at his success, but were made to sympathize more deeply than ever before with the slave. Also the noble-hearted Smith who boxed him up was made to rejoice over Brown’s victory, and was thereby encouraged to render similar service to two other young bondmen, who appealed to him for deliverance. But, unfortunately, in this attempt the undertaking proved a failure. Two boxes containing the young men alluded to above, after having been duly expressed and some distance on the road, were, through the agency of the telegraph, betrayed, and the heroic young fugitives were captured in their boxes and dragged back to hopeless bondage. Consequently, through this deplorable failure, Samuel A. Smith was arrested, imprisoned, and was called upon to suffer severely, as may be seen from the subjoined correspondence, taken from the New York Tribune soon after his release from the penitentiary.
THE DELIVERER OF BOX BROWN–MEETING OF THE COLORED CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA
[Correspondence of the N. Y. Tribune.]
PHILADELPHIA, Saturday, July 5, 1856.
Samuel A. Smith, who boxed up Henry Box Brown in Richmond, Va., and forwarded him by overland express to Philadelphia, and who was arrested and convicted, eight years ago, for boxing up two other slaves, also directed to Philadelphia, having served out his imprisonment in the Penitentiary, was released on the 18th ultimo, and arrived in this city on the 21st.
Though he lost all his property; though he was refused witnesses on his trial (no officer could be found, who would serve a summons on a witness); though for five long months, in hot weather, he was kept heavily chained in a cell four by eight feet in dimensions; though he received five dreadful stabs, aimed at his heart, by a bribed assassin, nevertheless he still rejoices in the motives which prompted him to “undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free.” Having resided nearly all his life in the South, where he had traveled and seen much of the “peculiar institution,” and had witnessed the most horrid enormities inflicted upon the slave, whose cries were ever ringing in his ears, and for whom he had the warmest sympathy, Mr. Smith could not refrain from believing that the black man, as well as the white, had God-given rights. Consequently, he was not accustomed to shed tears when a poor creature escaped from his “kind master;” nor was he willing to turn a deaf ear to his appeals and groans, when he knew he was thirsting for freedom. From 1828 up to the day he was incarcerated many had sought his aid and counsel, nor had they sought in vain. In various places he operated with success. In Richmond, however, it seemed expedient to invent a new plan for certain emergencies, hence the Box and Express plan was devised, at the instance of a few heroic slaves, who had manifested their willingness to die in a box, on the road to liberty, rather than continue longer under the yoke. But these heroes fell into the power of their enemies. Mr. Smith had not been long in the Penitentiary before he had fully gained the esteem and confidence of the Superintendent and other officers. Finding him to be humane and generous-hearted-showing kind- ness toward all, especially in buying bread, &c., for the starving prisoners, and by a timely note of warning, which had saved the life of one of the keepers, for whose destruction a bold plot had been arranged-the officers felt disposed to show him such favors as the law would allow. But their good intentions were soon frustrated. The Inquisition (commonly called the Legislature), being in session in Richmond, hearing that the Superintendent had been speaking well of Smith, and circulating a petition for his pardon, indignantly demanded to know if the rumor was well founded. Two weeks were spent by the Inquisition, and many witnesses were placed upon oath, to solemnly testify in the matter. One of the keepers swore that his life had been saved by Smith. Col. Morgan, the Superintendent, frequently testified in writing and verbally to Smith’s good deportment; acknowledging that he had circulated petitions, &c.; and took the position, that he sincerely believed, that it would be to the interest of the institution to pardon him; calling the attention of the Inquisition, at the same time, to the fact, that not unfrequently pardons had been granted to criminals, under sentence of death, for the most cold-blooded murder, to say nothing of other gross crimes. The effort for pardon was soon abandoned, for the following reason given by the Governor: “I can’t, and I won’t pardon him!”
In view of the unparalleled injustice which Mr. S. had suffered, as well as on account of the aid he had rendered to the slaves, on his arrival in this city the colored citizens of Philadelphia felt that he was entitled to sympathy and aid, and straightway invited him to remain a few days, until arrangements could be made for a mass meeting to receive him. Accordingly, on last Monday evening, a mass meeting convened in the Israel church, and the Rev. Wm. T. Catto was called to the chair, and Wm. Still was ap-pointed secretary. The chairman briefly stated the object of the meeting. Having lived in the South, he claimed to know something of the workings of the oppressive system of slavery generally, and declared that, notwithstanding the many exposures of the evil which came under his own observation, the most vivid descriptions fell far short of the realities his own eyes had witnessed. He then introduced Mr. Smith, who arose and in a plain manner briefly told his story, assuring the audience that he had al-ways hated slavery, and had taken great pleasure in helping many out of it, and though he had suffered much physically and pecuniarily for the cause’ sake, yet he murmured not, but rejoiced in what he had done. After taking his seat, addresses were made by the Rev. S. Smith, Messrs. Kinnard, Brunner, Bradway, and others. The following preamble and resolutions were adopted-
WHEREAS, We, the colored citizens of Philadelphia, have among us Samuel A. Smith, who was incarcerated over seven years in the Richmond Penitentiary, for doing an act that was honorable to his feelings and his sense of justice and humanity, therefore, Resolved, That we welcome him to this city as a martyr to the cause of Freedom. Resolved, That we heartily tender him our gratitude for the good he has done to our suffering race. Resolved, That we sympathize with him in his losses and sufferings in the cause of the poor, down-trodden slave. W. S.
During his stay in Philadelphia, on this occasion, he stopped for about a fortnight with the writer, and it was most gratifying to learn from him that he was no new worker on the U. G. R. R. But that he had long hated slavery thoroughly, and although surrounded with perils on every side, he had not failed to help a poor slave whenever the opportunity was presented. Pecuniary aid, to some extent, was rendered him in this city, for which he was grateful, and after being united in marriage, by Wm. H. Furness, D.D., to a lady who had remained faithful to him through all his sore trials and sufferings, he took his departure for Western New York, with a good con-science and an unshaken faith in the belief that in aiding his fellow-man to freedom he had but simply obeyed the word of Him who taught man to do unto others as he would be done by.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT (1850)
Citation
Fugitive Slave Act (September 18, 1850), available online
Background
The 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was the element of the Compromise of 1850 that was most specifically designed to allay the concerns of the South. For decades, but especially during the latter years of the 1840s, southerners had been infuriated by the failure of northern states to assist in the rendition or return of fugitive slaves. The 1850 statute offered a formula for compelling such assistance and for improving the efficiency of the federal mechanism for hunting down and remanding fugitive slaves. Yet the law had little positive effect in quelling the sectional debate. Continued examples of successful escapes and northern defiance of the federal system only added to the trend toward sectional war.
Transcript
Section 1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the Circuit Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled “An Act to establish the judicial courts of the United States” shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
Section 2
And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized Territory of the United States shall have the same power to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which is now possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall hereafter be appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United States, shall possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by law upon the commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the United States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
Section 3
And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall from time to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.
Section 4
And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in their respective circuits and districts within the several States, and the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled.
Section 5
And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond, to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped: and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties; with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said officers, any where in the State within which they are issued.
Section 6
And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.
Section 7
And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.
Section 8
And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the like fees as may be allowed for similar services in other cases; and where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant, his or her agent or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest, and take before any commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending at the examination, keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and until the final determination of such commissioners; and, in general, for performing such other duties as may be required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the premises, such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.
Section 9
And be it further enacted, That, upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will he rescued by force from his or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for transportation of criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.
Section 10
And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other office, authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant, And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs, competent in law.
Approved, September 18, 1850.
REORGANIZATION OF PHILADELPHIA VIGILANCE COMMITTEE
Citation
(Philadelphia) Pennsylvania Freeman, December 9, 1852, in William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 613.
Background
This article challenges many modern assumptions about the Underground Railroad. It was a public document boldly announcing the reorganization of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, the principal agent of the Underground Railroad along the eastern seaboard. James Miller McKim, head of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, also makes clear in the report below that many anti-slavery advocates worried about “irregular” underground activities, preferring instead a more orderly and efficient committee system. Robert Purvis served as general chairman of the new committee with William Still, a young free black clerk at the Anti-Slavery Society, acting as the operational chief of the “Acting Committee.” Note how the newspaper goes so far as to provide the addresses of the committee members.
Transcript
Pursuant to the motion published in last week’s “Freeman,” a meeting was held in the Anti-slavery rooms, on the evening of the 2d inst., for the purpose of organizing a Vigilance Committee.
On motion Samuel Nickless was appointed chairman, and William Still secretary. J. M. McKim then stated at some length, the object of the meeting. He said, that the friends of the fugitive slave had been for some years past, embarrassed, for the want of a properly constructed active, Vigilance Committee; that the old Committee, which used to render effective service in this field of Anti-slavery labor, had become disorganized and scattered, and that for the last two or three years, the duties of this department had been performed by individuals on their own responsibility, and sometimes in a very irregular manner; that this had been the cause of much dissatisfaction and complaint, and that the necessity for a remedy of this state of things was generally felt. Hence, the call for this meeting. It was intended now to organize a committee, which should be composed of persons of known responsibility, and who could be relied upon to act system-atically and promptly, and with the least possible expenditure of money in all cases that might require their attention.
James Mott and Samuel Nickless, expressed their hearty concurrence in what had been, said, as did also B. N. Goines and N. W. Depee. The opinion was also expressed by one or more of these gentlemen, that the organization to be formed should be of the simplest possible character; with no more machinery or officers than might be necessary to hold it together and keep it in proper working order. After some discussion, it was agreed first to form a general committee, with a chairman, whose business it should be to call meetings when necessity should seem to require it, and to preside at the same; and a treasurer to take charge of the funds; and second, to appoint out of this general committee, an acting committee of four persons, who should have the responsibility of attending to every ease that might require their aid, as well as the exclusive authority to raise the funds necessary for their purpose. It was further agreed that it should be the duty of the chairman of the Acting Committee to keep a record of all their doings, and especially of the money received and expended on behalf of every case claiming their interposition.
The following persons were appointed on the General Vigilance Committee:
Robert Purvis was understood to be Chairman of the General Committee, having been nominated at the head of the list, and Charles Wise was appointed treasurer. The Acting Committee was thus constituted:
William Still, chairman, N. W. Depee, Passmore Williamson, J. C. White. This Committee was appointed for the term of one year.
On motion, the proceedings of this meeting were ordered to be published in the “Pennsylvania Freeman.”
(Adjourned.)
WILLIAM STILL, Secretary. SAMUEL NICKLESS, Chairman.
The Committee having been thus organized, J. M. McKim, corresponding secretary and general agent of the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society, issued the subjoined notice, which was published shortly afterwards in the “Pennsylvania Freeman,” and the colored churches throughout the city:
“We are pleased to see that we have at last, what has for some time been felt to be a desideratum in Philadelphia, a responsible and duly authorized Vigilance Committee. The duties of this department of Anti-slavery labor, have, for want of such an organization, been performed in a very loose and unsystematic manner. The names of the persons constituting the Acting Committee, are a guarantee that this will not be the case hereafter. They are-
WILLIAM STILL (Chairman), 31 North Fifth Street, NATHANIEL W. DEPEE, 334 South Street, JACOB C. WHITE, 100 Old York Road, and PASSMORE WILLIAMSON, southwest cor. Seventh and Arch Streets.
We respectfully commend these gentlemen, and the cause in which they are engaged, to the confidence and co-operation of all the friends of the hunted fugitive. Any funds contributed to either of them, or placed in the hands of their Treasurer, Charles Wise, corner of Fifth and Market Streets, will be sure of a faithful and judicious appropriation.
“WORD TO THE WISE”
Citation
“Help the Fugitives,” (Toronto) Provincial Freeman, July 8, 1854.
Background
The following “secret” notice for the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, under the heading “Help the Fugitives,” originally appeared in the Pennsylvania Freeman, an abolitionist newspaper from Philadelphia. It was reprinted in the (Toronto) Provincial Freeman on July 8, 1854.
Transcript
Fugitives from southern injustice are coming thick and fast. The underground railroad never before did so large a business as it is doing now. The Vigilance Committee have their hands full, and all they want is the pecuniary means to meet the demands made upon them. This is a matter that of course cannot be made the subject of much public remark. A word to the wise is sufficient. The members of the Acting Committee are Wm. Still, 31 N. 5th St; N.W. Depee, 334 South St; Jacob C. White, 100 Old York Road, and Passmore Williamson, S.W. corner of Seventh and Arch streets. Any money placed in the hands of either of these gentlemen, or forwarded to Charles Wise, corner of 5th and Market streets, Treasurer of the Vigilance Committee, will be secure of a faithful and a judicious appropriation.” –Pa. Freeman
HARRIET TUBMAN IN ACTION
Citation
Letter from Thomas Garrett to J. Miller McKim, December 29, 1854, reprinted in William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 296.
Background
Thomas Garrett was a leading Underground Railroad organizer in Delaware. J. Miller McKim was a Dickinson College graduate who headed the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. McKim’s organization provided the offices and support for the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, headed by William Still. Here Garrett writes about Harriet Tubman, who essentially relied on the vigilance system from Delaware through Philadelphia to support her various efforts to free slaves from Maryland.
Transcript
WILMINGTON. 12 mo. 29th, 1854.
ESTEEMED FRIEND, J. MILLER McKIM:-We made arrangements last night, and sent away Harriet Tubman, with six men and one woman to Allen Agnew’s, to be forwarded across the country to the city. Harriet, and one of the men had worn their shoes off their feet, and I gave them two dollars to help fit them out, and directed a carriage to be hired at my expense, to take them out, but do not yet know the expense. I now have two more from the lowest county in Maryland, on the Peninsula, upwards of one hundred miles. I will try to get one of our trusty colored men to take them to-morrow morning to the Anti-slavery office. You can then pass them on. THOMAS GARRETT.
DR. THOMAS BAYNE, FUGITIVE SLAVE
Citation
William Still, Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 254-259.
Background
One of the more memorable stories of the Underground Railroad concern a black dentist named Sam Nixon who later became known as Dr. Thomas Bayne (c.1824-1888). Dr. Bayne began his life as a slave named Sam in North Carolina who escaped, but was eventually captured and purchased by local dentist in Norfolk, Virginia. The dentist, impressed by Sam’s intelligence, trained him in the profession. Sam Nixon, who was literate and obviously gifted, later told William Still that his owner had not only taught him about the practice of dentistry, but also allowed him to keep the firm’s books and make house-calls all over the town. This independence allowed Nixon (Bayne) to work covertly as an agent for the Underground Railroad, helping fugitives find schooner captains who would carry them to Philadelphia. Eventually, Nixon became fearful that his activities might be discovered so he fled northward himself. Arriving in New Jersey, he stayed with a Quaker woman named Abigail Goodwin who expressed her shock (and skepticism) about his self-described accomplishments in a letter to Still (excerpted below). Although she called Nixon a “smart young man,” Goodwin wrote that he appeared to be a “great brag” who claimed “he was a dentist for ten years” –a fact which she found astonishing. She concluded, “I don’t feel much confidence in him.” Nixon then settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts where he changed his name to Thomas Bayne and became a prominent local dentist. Bayne became so prominent that he was elected to the city council on the eve of the Civil War. During Reconstruction, he returned to Norfolk and became a leader in the state Republican Party. However, Bayne soon became a target of local white political rage and was eventually driven out of politics. Just before the end of his life, suffering either from exhaustion or senility, Bayne was admitted to the Central State Lunatic Asylum in Petersburg. Virginia historian John T. Kneebone has identified him as one of the most “intriguing” stories in Virginia history.
Transcript
THE ESCAPE OP A DENTIST ON THE U. G. R. R.-HE IS TAKEN FOR AN IMPOSTOR- ELECTED A MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL IN NEW BEDFORD-STUDYING MEDICINE, ETC.
But few could be found among the Underground Rail Road passengers who had a stronger repugnance to the unrequited labor system, or the recognized terms of “master and slave,” than Dr. Thomas Bayne. Nor were many to be found who were more fearless and independent in uttering their sentiments. His place of bondage was in the city of Norfolk, Va., where he was held to service by Dr. C. F. Martin, a dentist of some celebrity. While with Dr. Martin, “Sam” learned dentistry in all its branches, and was often required by his master, the doctor, to fulfil professional engagements, both at home and at a distance, when it did not suit his pleasure or convenience to appear in person. In the mechanical department, especially, “Sam” was called upon to execute the most difficult tasks. This was not the testimony of “Sam” alone; various individuals who were with him in Norfolk, but had moved to Philadelphia, and were living there at the time of his arrival, being invited to see this distinguished professional piece of property, gave evidence which fully corroborated his. The master’s profess-ional practice, according to “Sam’s” calculation, was worth $3,000 per annum. Full $1,000 of this amount in the opinion of “Sam” was the result of his own fettered hands. Not only was “Sam” serviceable to the doctor in the mechanical and practical branches of his profession, but as a sort of ready reckoner and an apt penman, he was obviously considered by the doctor, a valuable “article.” He would frequently have “Sam” at his books instead of a book-keeper. Of course, “Sam” had never received, from Dr. M., an hour’s schooling in his life, but having perceptive faculties naturally very large, combined with much self-esteem, he could hardly help learning readily. Had his master’s design to keep him in ignorance been ever so great, he would have found it a labor beyond his power. But is no reason to suppose that Dr. Martin was opposed to Sam’s learning to read and write. We are pleased to note that no charges of ill-treatment are found recorded against Dr. M. in the narrative of “Sam.”
True, it appears that he had been sold several times in his younger days, and had consequently been made to feel keenly, the smarts of Slavery, but nothing of this kind was charged against Dr. M., so that he may be set down as a pretty fair man, for aught that is known to the contrary, with the exception of depriving “Sam” of the just reward of his labor, which, ac-cording to St. James, is pronounced a “fraud.” The doctor did not keep “Sam” so closely confined to dentistry and book-keeping that he had no time to attend occasionally to outside duties. It appears that he was quite active and successful as an Underground Rail Road agent, and rendered important aid in various directions. Indeed, Sam had good reason to suspect that the slave-holders were watching him, and that if he remained, he would most likely find himself in “hot water up to his eyes.” Wisdom, dictated that he should “pull up stakes” and depart while the way was open. He knew the captains who were then in the habit of taking similar passengers, but he had some fears that they might not be able to pursue the business much longer. In contemplating the change which he was about to make, “Sam” felt it necessary to keep his movements strictly private. Not even was he at liberty to break his mind to his wife and child, fearing that it would do them no good, and might prove his utter failure. His wife’s name was Edna and his daughter was called Elizabeth; both were slaves and owned by E. P. Tabb, Esq., a hardware merchant of Norfolk.
No mention is made on the books, of ill-treatment, in connection with his wife’s servitude; it may therefore be inferred, that her situation was not remarkably hard. It must not be supposed that “Sam” was not truly attached to his wife. He gave abundant proof of true matrimonial devotion, notwithstanding the secrecy of his arrangements for flight. Being naturally hopeful, he concluded that he could better succeed in securing his wife after obtaining freedom himself, than in undertaking the beforehand.
The captain had two or three other Underground Rail Road male passengers to bring with him, besides “Sam,” for whom, arrangements had been previously made-no more could be brought that trip. At the appointed time, the passengers were at the disposal of the captain of the schooner which was to bring them oat of Slavery into freedom. Fully aware of the dangerous consequences should he be detected, the captain, faithful to his promise, secreted them in the usual manner, and set sail northward. Instead of landing his passengers in Philadelphia, as was his intention, for some reason or other (the schooner may have been disabled), he landed them on the New Jersey coast, not a great distance from Cape Island. He directed them how to reach Philadelphia. Sam knew of friends in the city, and straightway used his ready pen to make known the distress of himself and partners in tribulation. In making their way in the direction of their des-tined haven, they reached Salem, New Jersey, where they were discovered to be strangers and fugitives, and were directed to Abigail Goodwin, a Quaker lady, an abolitionist, long noted for her devotion to the cause of freedom, and one of the most liberal and faithful friends of the Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia.
This friend’s opportunities of witnessing fresh arrivals had been rare, and perhaps she had never before come in contact with a “chattel” so smart as “Sam.” Consequently she was much embarrassed when she heard his story, especially when he talked of his experience as a “Dentist.” She was inclined to suspect that he was a “shrewd impostor” that needed “watching” instead of aiding. But her humanity forbade a hasty decision on this point. She was soon persuaded to render him some assistance, notwithstanding her apprehensions. While tarrying a day or two in Salem, “Sam’s” letter was received in Philadelphia. Friend Goodwin was written to in the meantime, by a member of the Committee, directly with a view of making inquires concerning the stray fugitives, and at the same time to inform her as to how they happened to be coming in the direction found by her. While the mind of the friend was much relieved by the letter she received, she was still in some doubt, as will be seen by the appended extract from a letter on the subject:
LETTER FROM A. GOODWIN.
SALEM, 3 mo., 25, ‘55.
DRAR FRIEND:-Thine of the 22d came to hand yesterday noon.
R. ******* * * I do not believe that any of them are the ones thee wrote about, who wanted Dr. Lundy to come for them, and promised they would pay his expense’s. They had no money, the minister said, but were pretty well off for clothes. I gave him all I had and more, but it seemed very little for four travelers-only a dollar for each-but they will meet with friends and helpers on the way. He said they expected to go away to-morrow. I am afraid, it’s so cold, and one of them had a sore foot, they will not get away-it’s dangerous staying here. There has been a slave-hunter here lately, I was told yesterday, in search of a woman; he tracked her to our Alms-house-she had lately been confined and was not able to go-he will come back for her and his infant-and will not wait long I expect. I want much to get her away first-and if one had a C. C. Torney here no doubt it would be done; but she will be well guarded. How much I wish the poor thing could be secreted in some safe place till she is able to travel Northward; but where that could be it’s not easy to see. I presume the Carolina freed people have arrived ere now. I hope they will meet many friends, and be well provided for. Mary Davis will be then paid- her cousins have sent her twenty-four dollars, as it was not wanted for the purchase money –it was to be kept for them when they arrive. I am glad thee did keep the ten for the fugitives.
Samuel Nixon is now here, just come-a smart young man-they will be after him soon. I advise him to hurry on to Canada; he will leave here to-morrow, but don’t say that he will go straight to the city. I would send this by him if he did. I am afraid he will loiter about and be taken-do make them go on fast-he has left. I could not hear much he said-some who did don’t like him at all-think him an impostor-a great brag–said he was a dentist ten years. He was asked where he came from, but would not tell till he looked at the letter that lay on the table and that he had just brought back. I don’t feel much confidence in him-don’t believe he is the one thee alluded to. He was asked his name-he looked at the letter to find it out. Says nobody can make a better set of teeth than he can. He said they will go on to-morrow in the stage-he took down the number and street of the Anti-slavery office-you will be on your guard against imposition-he kept the letter thee sent from Norfolk. I had then no doubt of him, and had no objection to it. I now rather regret it. I would send it to thee if I had it, but perhaps it is of no importance.
He wanted the names taken down of nine more who expected to get off soon and might come here. He told us to send them to him, but did not seem to know where he was going to. He was well dressed in fine broad-cloth coat and overcoat, and has a very active tongue in his head. But I have said enough-don’t want to prejudice thee against him, bat only be on thy guard, and do not let him deceive thee, as I fear he has some of us here. With kind regards, A. GOODWIN.
In due time Samuel and his companions reached Philadelphia, where a cordial welcome awaited them. The confusion and difficulties into which they had fallen, by having to travel an indirect route, were folly explained, and to the hearty merriment of the Committee and strangers, the dilemma of their good Quaker friend Goodwin at Salem was alluded to. After a sojourn of a day or two in Philadelphia, Samuel and his companions left for New Bedford. Canada was named to them as the safest place for all Refugees; but it was in vain to attempt to convince “Sam” that Canada or any other place on this Continent, was quite equal to New Bedford. His heart was there, and there he was resolved to go-and there he did go too, bearing with him his ispatch mind, determined, if possible, to work his way up to an honorable position at his old trade, Dentistry, and that too for his own benefit. Aided by the Committee, the journey was made safely to the desired haven, where many old friends from Norfolk were found. Here our hero was known by the name of Dr. Thomas Bayne-he was no longer “Sam.” In a short time the Dr. commenced his profession in an humble way, while, at the same time, he deeply interested himself in his own improvement, as well as the improvement of others, especially those who had escaped from Sla-very as he himself had. Then, too, as colored men were voters and, there-fore, eligible to office in New Bedford, the Doctor’s naturally ambitious and intelligent turn of mind led him to take an interest in politics, and be-fore he was a citizen of New Bedford four years, he was duly elected a member of the City Council. He was also an outspoken advocate of the cause of temperance, and was likewise a ready speaker at Anti-slavery meetings held by his race. Some idea of his abilities, and the interest he took in the Underground Rail Road, education, etc., may be gathered from the appended letters:
NEW BEDFORD, June 23d, 1855.
W. STILL:-Sir-I write you this to inform you that I has received my things and that you need not say any thing to Bagnul about them-I see by the Paper that the under ground Rail Road is in operation. Since 2 weeks a go when Saless Party was betrayed by that Capt whom we in mass are so anxious to Learn his name-There was others started last Saturday night-They are all my old friends and we are waiting their arrival, we hope you will look out for them they may come by way of Salem, N. J. if they be not overtaken. They are from Norfolk-Times are very hard in Canada 2 of our old friends has left Canada and come to Bedford for a living. Every thing are so high and wages so low They cannot make a living (owing to the War) others are Expected shortly-let me hear from Sales and his Party. Get the Name of the Capt. That betrayed him let me know if Mrs. Goodwin of Salem are at the same place yet-John Austin are with us C. Lightfoot is well and remembers you and family. My business increases more since I has got an office. Send me a Norfolk Paper or any other to read when convenient.
Let me hear from those People as soon as possible. They consist of woman and child 2 or 3 men belonging to Marsh Bottimore, L. Slosser and Herman & Co-and Turner-all of Norfolk, Va. Truly yours, THOS BAYNE.
Direct to Box No. 516, New Bedford, Mass. Don’t direct my letters to my office. Di-rect them to my Box 516. My office is 66 1/2 William St. The same street the Post office is near the city market.
The Doctor, feeling his educational deficiency in the enlightened city of New Bedford, did just what every uncultivated man should, devoted himself assiduously to study, and even applied himself to abstruse and hard subjects, medicine, etc., as the following letters will show;
NEW BEDFORD, Jan., 1860. No. 22, Cheapside, opposite City Hall.
MY DEAR FRIEND:-Yours of the 3d inst, reached me safely in the midst of my mis-fortune. I suppose you have learned that my office and other buildings burned down during the recent fire. My loss is $550, insured $350.
I would have written you before, but I have been to R. I. for some time and soon after I returned before I examined the books, the fire took place, and this accounts for my de- lay. In regard to the books I am under many obligations to you and all others for so great a piece of kindness, and shall ever feel indebted to you for the same. I shall esteem them very highly for two reasons, first, The way in which they come, that is through and by your Vigilance as a colored man helping a colored man to get such knowledge as will give the lie to our enemies. Secondly-their contents being just the thing I needed at this time. My indebtedness to you and all concerned for me in this direction is inexpressible. There are some books the Doctor says I must have, such as the Medical Dictionary, Physician’s Dictionary, and a work on Anatomy. These I will have to get, but any work that may be of use to a student of anatomy or medicine will be thankfully received. You shall hear from me again soon. Truly Yours, THOS. BAYNE.
NEW BEDFORD, March 18th, 1861. MR. WM. STILL:
--Dear Sir-Dr. Powell called to see me and informed me that you had a a medical lexicon (Dictionary) for me. If you have such a book for me, it will be very thankfully received, and any other book that pertains to the medical or dental profession. I am quite limited in means as yet and in want of books to prosecute my studies. The books I need most at present is such as treat on midwifery, anatomy, &c. But any book or books in either of the above mentioned cases will be of use to me. You can send them by Express, or by any friend that may chance to come this way, but by Express will be the safest way to send them. Times are quite dull. This leaves me well and hope it may find you and family the same. My regards to your wife and all others.
Yours, &c., THOMAS BAYNE, 22 Cheapside, opposite City Hall.
Thus the doctor continued to labor and improve his mind until the war removed the hideous institution of Slavery from the nation; but as soon as the way opened for his return to his old home, New Bedford no longer had sufficient attractions to retain him. With all her faults he conceived that “Old Virginia” offered decided inducements for his return. Accordingly he went directly to Norfolk, whence he escaped. Of course every thing was in the utmost confusion and disorder when he returned, save where the military held sway. So as soon as the time drew near for reorganizing, elections, &c., the doctor was found to be an aspirant for a seat in Congress, and in “running” for it, was found to be a very difficult candidate to beat. Indeed in the first reports of the election his name was amongst the elected; but subsequent counts proved him to be among the defeated by only a very slight majority.
At the time of the doctor’s escape, in 1855, he was thirty-one years of age, a man of medium size, and about as purely colored, as could readily be found, with a full share of self-esteem and pluck.
UGRR SIGNS & SYMBOLS
Citation
Letter from Joseph C. Bustill to William Still, March 24, 1856, reprinted in William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 43.
Background
Joseph Bustill’s letter to William Still, reprinted below, illustrates the connections between Underground Railroad operations in towns and cities such as Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Bustill refers here to a Fugitive Aid Society in Harrisburg that probably resembled in structure and mission the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, which Still headed. Bustill’s question about “signs or symbols” also raises an interesting point. Despite the name “Underground Railroad,” there was no apparent preference, at least internally, for using railroad terminology. Recollected accounts often refer to “depots” and “conductors” but contemporary letters such as Bustill’s below suggest a more informal and scattershot approach to code words.
Transcript
HARRISBURG, March 24, ‘56.
FRIEND STILL-I suppose ere this you have seen those five large and three small packages I sent by way of Reading, consisting of three men and women and children. They arrived here this morning at 8 1/2 o’clock and left twenty minutes past three. You will please send me any information likely to prove interesting in relation to them.
Lately we have formed a Society here, called the Fugitive Aid Society. This is our first case, and I hope it will prove entirely successful.
When you write, please inform me what signs or symbols you make use of in your ispatches, and any other information in relation to operations of the Underground Rail Road.
Our reason for sending by the Reading Road, was to gain time; it is expected the owners will be in town this afternoon, and by this Road we gained five hours’ time, which is a matter of much importance, and we may have occasion to use it sometimes in future. In great haste, Yours with great respect, Jos. C. BUSTILL.
SENDING “HAMS” TO PHILADELPHIA
Citation
Letter from Joseph C. Bustill to William Still, May 31, 1856, reprinted in William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 218.
Background
Here Joseph Bustill refers to four adult runaways and two children escaping on the Underground Railroad from Harrisburg to Philadelphia (probably by the actual 2pm train).
Transcript
HARRISBURG, May 31st, 1856.
WM. STILL, N. 5th St.:-I have sent via at two o’clock four large and two small hams.
Jos. C. BUSTILL.
SOUTHERNERS ON “STEALING NEGROS”
Citation
“Underground Railroad,” Charleston (SC) Mercury, August 25, 1856, p. 2.
Background
This 1856 article from the Charleston (SC) Mercury vividly illustrates the standard southern view about the Underground Railroad. Antebellum southerners who believed in slavery considered such activities to be “stealing negros,” and as this report about poor conditions in Canada West (where many fugitives found freedom) clearly shows, they relished any evidence of blacks suffering outside “their comfortable homes” in the South.
Transcript
Underground Railroad
Among the nefarious schemes of those who have for years been plotting treason against our common country, one of the most disreputable is that of stealing negros – or what amounts to nearly the same thing, enticing them to run away from their masters by deception and falsehood.
A few years ago, we had occasion to visit Canada West during the winter. One morning, in passing up the principal street in Toronto, we saw a negro lad, of sixteen or seventeen years of age, standing bareheaded, barefoot – in short, without any other clothing than a shirt and pantaloons. It was cold enough to freeze a Laplander. It had been thawing a few hours previous, but was then freezing the “slosh” into the consistency of cast iron. There this miserable specimen of humanity stood, with bare head for several hours, beneath the peltings of snow and hail, almost at the very door of the office of the Globe, a malignant Abolition journal, - there he stood A FREE MAN, on British soil, and the British philanthropists took no more notice of him than if he had been a dog. The writer passed up and down the opposite side of the street in attending to business, a number of times during the forenoon, and no one took the slightest notice of this “God-made brother,” bareheaded in the storm. Having occasion to cross over near to the place where he stood, stopped and asked him why he stayed there? He answered, as well as his chattering teeth would permit, that his mammy and himself were runaway slaves – they had no home, no place to stay, and no one to provide them a mouthful of food. This is specimen of British Philanthropy, No I. Please read on.
A few days after this occurred, the writer was called upon at the hotel in Hamilton, where he was stopping, by a negro man who desired to speak with him. He said – I hear you are from the States. I am a runaway slave; my name is Morton; I formerly lived in Georgia, but have been living for sometime in Michigan. I came to Canada to avoid the Fugitive Slave law, but I am treated here like a brute, - I can neither get wholesome food nor employment – and I want to get back again to Detroit. I had rather go back with the risk of going to Georgia, than to stay here and starve. Will you aid me in procuring the means to do so? The reply was in the affirmative, a donation was handed him, a subscription paper drawn up, stating the object for which the money was wanted, and that is the last we saw of Mr. Morton. This is evidence of British philanthropy No. For this, is it, that misguided philanthropists entice the negros away from their comfortable homes, where every want is provided for! They promise them freedom – but it is freedom to freeze, steal, or starve.
ESCAPE ROUTES ON THE UGRR
Citation
Letter from Thomas Garrett to William Still, September 6, 1857, reprinted in William Still, The Underground Railroad (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 639-640.
Background
What is perhaps most revealing about this operational letter from Thomas Garrett of Delaware to William Still in Philadelphia is how clearly it challenges current expectations about “routes” on the Underground Railroad. Garrett refers to four runaways who came on a steamboat piloted by an operative named Captain Alfred Fountain. The runaways then passed through Delaware (still a slave state in 1857) on an actual railroad line under the guidance of a free black conductor named Severn Johnson. This is not how modern popular imagination typically conceives Underground Railroad escapes, and yet here is a contemporary historical document that should at least encourage teachers and students to question some of these modern assumptions.
Transcript
WILMINGTON, 9th mo. 6th, 1857.
RESPECTED FRIEND, WM. STILL: - This evening I send to thy care four of God’s poor. Severn Johnson, a true man, will go with them to-night by rail road to thy house. I have given Johnson five dollars, which will pay all expenses, and leave each twenty-five cents. We are indebted to Captain F-t-n for those. May success attend them in their efforts to maintain themselves. Please send word by Johnson whether or no, those seven arrived safe I wrote thee of ten days since. My wife and self were at Longwood to-day, had a pleasant ride and good meeting. We are, as ever, thy friend,
THOS. GARRETT.
PROPAGAND WAR ESCALATES
Citation
R. J. Haldeman, “The Underground Railroad,” (Harrisburg, PA) Patriot Union, November 23, 1859.
Background
By the late 1850s, pro-slavery newspapers or Democratic newspapers determined to undermine the anti-slavery Republican Party, began reporting on they termed the miseries of life for blacks in freedom. This article offers one good example of this type of critique.
Transcript
The underground railroad is a peculiar institution, through which a certain class of philanthropists make a practical application of their love for the colored race. This road transports only one kind of freight. Its operations are confined entirely to live stock. Baggage is not taken in large quantities, and only obtains a free pass upon condition that it is stolen from the owner. The agents of the road abound.—Some of them operate in this community.—like burglars, incendiaries, and other malefactors, they are most active at night. The light of day exercises an unwholesome influence upon their business. But they are not entirely ashamed of it. When the road does a particularly heavy business their exultation passes the bounds of silent gratification, and they make open and public boats of their success in removing the property of other people. Some of them profess to acquiesce in the law which provides for the return of fugitive slaves to their masters; and call themselves good, law-abiding citizens, while they engage in its secret violation, and utter words of encouragement whenever they hear that the underground railway has enjoyed a particularly prosperous season.
This underground railway is most injurious to the poor passengers. It may have no startling accident, no upsets or smash-ups like the surface railroads, but it is a terrible mangler (sic) of happiness. Its route commences at the station of Contentment, runs through the region of mock philanthropy, and terminates in Misery. Sambo is a gay, careless darkey upon a Virginia plantation. He has always had plenty to eat, plenty to wear, is no overworked, and never knew what want was. But somebody persuades him that freedom is a very fine thing, and if he could only taste it he would be the happiest being in existence: so Sambo takes passage on the underground railway, is warmly received along the route by the agents, his hand pressed by friendship, and his eyes directed to the north star—northward, still north ward he is pressed until he finds a resting place in the dominions of her Britannie Majesty, or if he is unable to go so far, tarries somewhere within the States, where Abolition philanthropy disseminates an atmosphere of liberty. Then Sambo is safe, and thinks he will taste the full blessings of freedom. His humane friends having finished the labor of snatching him from the jaws of slavery, drop him suddenly. The moment he becomes a free man their affection evaporates. Their love is for the slave, and not for the stalwart freeman. Poor Sambo finds no friends to care for his wants, no master to think for him, and he has never learned to think for himself. He becomes a lazy, idle, worthless vagabond, avoided by the very men who transported him to freedom, and, sensible of his inferiority, grows reckless, drones out a useless, pilfering existence, or reposes his sturdy limbs in the cell of a prison.
In the meantime, the master, feeling that his slaves are insecure where they are constantly liable to an expedition northward, sends them off to the extreme South, out of the reach of the underground railway gents, where they spend the remainder of their days in the more severe labor of the cotton and rice plantations. What a noble work the underground railway has performed: To the master it has brought vexation and insecurity—to the slaves’ misery at the North or hard labor at the South. But the conductors of the road are satisfied if they can only promote disquiet, and indulge in the luxury of violating the law which contemplates the return of runaways to their masters.
The road is said to be doing a thriving business, according to the accounts of those who have took in it. Some who cannot restrain expressions of satisfaction when the business of the road is prosperous, are at the same time exceedingly profused in professions of attachment to the Union and love for the Constitution: and are quite indignant that southern men should ever complain of these unneighborly practices or intimate that they cannot endure them forever.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, FREDERICK DOUGLASS AND THE
NEW UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
Citation
Frederick Douglass to Abraham Lincoln, Rochester, NY, August 29, 1864, reprinted in Philip S. Foner, ed., The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass (4 vols., New York: International Publishers, 1952), 3: 405-6.
Background
In August 1864, President Abraham Lincoln told Frederick Douglass during a meeting at the White House that if he was defeated for reelection then there would be a need for organizing mass escapes from slavery –or, in other words, reconstituting a new and improved Underground Railroad. He asked Douglass to offer a plan for doing so, probably to remind the black orator about the stakes of the impending election, since Douglass was at that time uncertain about whether or not to support Lincoln. Douglass responded with the letter below, which offered a plan for freeing slaves, but also quickly decided that he would devote himself to securing Lincoln’s victory at the polls.
Transcript
Rochester, New York, August 29, 1864
Hon. Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States
Sir:
Since the interview with wh[ich] your Excellency was pleased to honor me a few days ago, I have freely conversed with several trustworthy and Patriotic Colored men concerning your Suggestion that Something should be speedily done to inform the Slaves in the Rebel States of the true state of affairs in relation to them and to warn them as to what will be their probable condition should peace be concluded while they remain within Rebel lines and more especially to urge upon them the necessity of making their escape. All with whom I have thus far spoken on the subject, concur in the wisdom and benevolence of the Idea, and some of them think it is practicable. That every Slave who Escapes from the Rebel States is a loss to the Rebellion and a gain to the Loyal Cause, I need not stop to argue the proposition is self evident. I will therefore briefly submit at once to your Excellency –the ways and means by which many such persons may be wrested from the enemy and brought within our lines:
1st. Let a general ag’t be appointed by your Excellency charged with the duty of giving effect to your Idea as indicated above. Let him have the means and power to employ twenty or twenty-five good men, having the cause at heart, to act as his agents.
2nd. Let these agents which shall be selected by him, have permission to visit such points at the front as are most accessible to large bodies of Slaves in the Rebel States….
3rdly. In order that these agents not be arrested or imed[ed] in their work, let them be properly ordered to report to the Generals Commanding the several Departments they may visit….
4th. Let provision be made that the Slaves or Freedmen thus brought within our lines shall receive substinence until such of them as are fit shall enter the service of the country or otherwise be employed ….
This is but an imperfect outline of the plan, but I think it is enough to give your Excellency an idea of how the desirable work shall be executed.
Your Obedient Servant,
Fredk Douglass
HARPERS FERRY (1859)
NORTHERN “IMPERTINENCES”
Citation
“Northern Impertinences with Regard to the Late Affair at Harpers Ferry,” Richmond (VA) Dispatch, October 24, 1859.
Background
This article from a leading newspaper in Richmond captures the horror of southern reaction, not so much to actual raid at Harpers Ferry, but to the extent of northern support for John Brown.
Transcript
Northern Impertinences with Regard to the Late Affair at Harpers Ferry
It was not to be expected that the affair at Harpers Ferry could pass away without an abundance of eloquence on the part of certain journals at the North, in the true Pharisee style, assuming, continually, their own superior virtue and the folly of all slaveholders in the mass. Henry Ward Beecher, in his Independent, deals largely in the article of admonition. The whole South is advised to take warning from this event. He deprecates the present outbreak, only because it was badly conceived. “Unless,” says he “his (Brown’s) movement was part of a widely spread insurrection, now frustrated by a premature outbreak, it was, in every point of view, the height of madness; and even if it stood related to such a scheme, it would seem to have been both criminal and wicked.”-“It would seem to have been” and not “it was.” The pious Beecher has had his doubts whether murder and treason could be criminal. “But,” he continues, “what a system is that which provokes such horrors and gives such occasions for bloody insurrection?” “Blood will have blood, and the crimes of the Southern slaveholders will yet work out a fearful retribution upon their own heads.” Philosopher Greeley makes light of the whole affair, though he is rather disposed to make a hero of Old Brown. With that passion for classical allusion so characteristic, and so distinctive of his attainments, he tells that “already the bulletins of this war exceed in length and ponderousness, those of the war of the Greeks with Xerxes,” from which we gather that there are bulletins of that war in existence, and that the philosopher has seen them; a highly interesting fact, which ought not to have been kept so long from the learned world. Thurlow Weed thinks the South has been served right; for, says he, “if a man will build the house over a volcano, it is not those who warn him of his danger that are to blame for the eruption.” All the zeal of the anti-slavery party, in their exertions to prevent the spread of slavery into the new Territories, proceeds entirely from their desire to avoid such scenes as this. That we are understand, was the true motive which impelled many Northern men into Kansas, and armed them with Sharpe’s rifles against the lives of their countrymen. They were afraid that Kansas might become, at some future day, the theatre of bloody insurrections, and they determined to prevent it by organizing a system to prevent murders that it might render all future violence impossible. In other words, they murdered the slaveholders themselves, to prevent them from being murdered by their slaves. Delightful logic this, and eminently characteristic!
It is not difficult to answer all this impertinence by simply referring to the history of the slave States. We state, then, without the fear of resonation, that no set of communities upon the whole face of the globe ever was so entirely free from domestic insurrection, or from every other kind of disturbing influence that had its origin among the laboring classes, as the slave States of this Union. We say we appeal to the history of every nation, community, city, kingdom, State and Commonwealth upon the face of the earth in attestation to the truth. How many times within the present century has England, in particular districts, been convulsed by insurrection, beginning among the working classes and sometimes threatening the very existence of the Government? Is not Ireland always in a state of chronic rebellion, owing to the inequalities existing in the social conditions of the people? Look at France and tell us what she has done within the last seventy years.-Look at the Northern States of the Union their agrarian principles, their bread or blood riots, and the utter abandonment of, and hostility to, all law by which their cities are distinguished. In Virginia we have had but two insurrections in two hundred years, and of these only one was bloody. In the other Southern States, insurrection has been quite as unusual as it has been here.
This very attempt at Harpers Ferry betrays an utter ignorance on the part of the fanatics of the conditions alike of the slave State and of the slave population. They evidently expected the whole slave population to join them, as soon as they could be apprised of the outbreak. Now, no man who has ever lived any time in the South, and who is, besides, possessed of a moderately good understanding could ever be so grossly deceived with regard to its condition. Many of the prints we have alluded to, make themselves merry at the large force assembled to repel this rebellion. To us it is a subject of congratulation to know that an overwhelming force can at any time be assembled within a few hours upon any point within the territory of Virginia. It was so in the Southhampton insurrection. That was put down by old Mr. Blount, confined at the time to his easy chair by the gout, his son, a boy of fifteen, one or two servants and about half a dozen shot-guns and ducking guns, loaded with buck-shot. But it was gratifying to see with what facility a large body of troops was assembled to fight the insurrectionists, since it afforded the best possible guarantee for the future.
“TERRIBLE INSURRECTION”
Citation
“Excitement in Virginia” Harrisburg (PA) Patriot Union, November 2, 1859.
Background
Many northern Democratic newspapers also vilified those who supported John Brown. This open letter to the black community in Harrisburg from an anti-Republican newspaper in the state capital offers one illustration of this viewpoint.
Transcript
To the Colored People of Harrisburg.
You form a large portion of our population; you are supposed to sympathise (sic) with the resent attempt at insurrection in Harper’s Ferry. It is, therefore, proper that you should be told what this all means, and what you should always do under such circumstances. We speak to you on the subject because there are among you honest and intelligent men, who deserve to have these things explained to them. If left alone, you would not encourage such wicked efforts to excite the black race against the white race, and the white race against the black race, as a short time ago resulted in the death of over a score of persons of both colors, but the Republican party has been so long preaching to you, and Abolitionists have been so long goading you on, that you have commenced to think it your duty to interfere with slavery in the southern States.
But so soon as a deed is done, you see how these very men turn against you; how Republican newspapers denounced John Brown for attempting to put their preaching’s into practice. The reason of this is here: You are of a different race from the great bulk of the people of America; your race is enslaved for the most part in this country, and the comparative few who are in the northern States have no part in the Government. You have rights which we will all defend: but as belonging to another race, there are laws against you in every northern State. Those laws are made for the purpose of keeping the races separate. If you improve yourselves, gain wealth and knowledge, we will be very much pleased: and we have provided laws according to which you may have every comfort and happiness which the whites have, and may improve your minds in every way. When you have shown yourselves to the whites, we think it just that you should have the political rights which the whites have. Before that you should not have them. And those who pretend to be your friends are not showing you the way to better your condition: for they are talking to you about negroes in the South, with whom you have nothing to do, when you should be attending strictly to yourselves and y our own homes. By not minding your own business, or permitting the Abolitionists to pretend to be doing your business in the South, a great injury results to you.
It is this. All this preaching of the Abolitionists must terminate in a terrible insurrection in the South, where many black men and many white men and women and children must be killed. That will excite the white race against the black race. You have seen how this Harper’s Ferry affair has made all the white people angry, and you must have observed that not one white man in Harrisburg says it was right. Well, then if it had been a serious affair, and if it had lasted months, while white women and white girls were being butchered in the South, what do you think would have happened here? This white race would have become more and more bitter, until they would have taken away some of the rights which you now have.
Brown Republicans may talk very much, but they are white: and when the horrible result of their writing and speaking should be scene they would all sympathise (sic) with their white brethren. All the whites here would be against you, and no man can tell what they would do in their fury. You see, then, that the Abolitionists are giving you bad advice, which may injure you very much.
“I SEE A BOOK KISSED…”
Citation
John Brown, Speech Prior to Sentencing, November 2, 1859, available online at
Background
The eloquence of John Brown’s speech to the court prior to his sentencing is one of the reasons why he became such a polarizing national figure. The power of his words and behavior during his trial and execution stirred national sentiment, as much, if not more, than the deeds of his raid in October.
Transcript
The Court gave his decision on the motion for an arrest of judgment, overruling the objections made. In the objection that treason cannot be committed against a State, he ruled that wherever allegiance is due, treason may be committed. Most of the States have passed laws against treason. The objections as to the form of the verdict rendered, the Court also regarded as insufficient.
The Clerk then asked Mr. Brown whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced upon him.
Mr. Brown immediately rose, and in a clear, distinct voice, said:
“I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, of a design on my part to free slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri, and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moving them through the country, and finally leaving them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended to do. I never did intend murder or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite the slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. I have another objection, and that is that it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved–for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case–had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right, and every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment. This Court acknowledges, too, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed, which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I any I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood farther with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say let it be done. Let me say one word further. I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, and what was not. I never had any design against the liberty of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason or excite slaves to rebel or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind. Let me say also in regard to the statements made by some of those who were connected with me, I fear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me, but the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. Not one but Joined me of his own accord, and the greater part at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with till the day they came to me, and that was for the purpose I have stated. Now, I am done.”
While Mr. Brown was speaking, perfect quiet prevailed, and when he had finished the Judge proceeded to pronounce sentence upon him. After a few primary remarks, he said, that no reasonable doubt could exist of the guilt of the prisoner, and sentenced him to be hung in public, on Friday, the 2d of December next.
Mr. Brown received his sentence with composure.
The only demonstration made was by the clapping of the hands of one man in the crowd, who is not a resident of Jefferson County. This was promptly suppressed, and much regret is expressed by the citizens at its occurrence.
BROWN’S SANITY
Citation
“The Madness of Brown” (New Orleans, LA) Times Picayune, November 10, 1859.
Background
The question of Brown’s sanity became a topic of national conversation almost immediately. Here a southern newspaper addresses the questions, assuring its readers that Brown was entirely “sensible.”
Transcript
The Madness of Brown
The most transparent humbug ever attempted to be played off upon any community, is the ridiculous pretense that Brown is a madman. Perhaps he will take the cue from his abolitionist friends, and get up an exhibition of lunacy for the entertainment of the “bystanders.” His late conversations, however, seem to indicate a good deal less of insanity than some of his questioners exhibited in their interrogatories. A more sensible, self possessed, and long headed rascal never fell into the arms of the law. It is vain for his confederate villains in the non-slaveholding States to talk of Harpers Ferry disturbances as the work of a “madman,” “a crazy fellow,” &c. Every one knows that Brown has been their chief agent in Kansas for years, chosen on account of his sagacity and nerve; that he had the confidence of their moneyed men, so that fifteen thousand dollars were placed in his hands for the prosecution of his infamous schemes. New England abolitionists are not very fond of parting with their money for any purpose, and we should never suspect them of putting them into the hands of a lunatic. The renting of a farm for two years near Harpers Ferry, and the system and secrecy with which during all that length of time he conducted the preparations for an outbreak, are not very striking evidence of madness. Such a pretext is so palpably false, that it is impossible not to suspect the Free-Soilers who urge it, of being themselves accessories, if not, in fact, at least in intention and sympathy. We have no doubt that “lame and impotent” as was the “conclusion,” there was a widespread conspiracy, having its ramifications in almost every non-slaveholding State, and that of this conspiracy, Brown was the chosen leader, having the entire confidence and respect of all its members. Our only regret is, that his confederates, in the free-States, including Gerrit Smith, Giddings, and other politicians, did not accompany him to Harpers Ferry, that they might all swing together from the same scaffold.
“CRIMES OF THIS GUILTY LAND”
Citation
David S. Reynolds, John Brown: Abolitionist (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 395.
Background
John Brown presented the following note to one of his guards prior to his execution on December 2, 1859.
Transcript
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without much bloodshed it might be done.
STONEWALL JACKSON ON BROWN EXECUTION
Citation
Thomas J. Jackson Mary Anna Jackson, December 2, 1859, Virginia Military Institute Archives, available online at
Background
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was an eyewitness to the execution of John Brown. This letter to his wife describes his impressions.
Transcript
December 2d.
John Brown was hung today at about 11 1/2 A.M. He behaved with unflinching firmness. The arrangements were well made under the direction of Col. Smith. Brown’s wife visited him last evening. The body is to be delivered to her. The gibbet was south east of the town in a large field. Brown rode on the head of his coffin, from his prison to the place of execution. The coffin
was of black walnut, enclosed in a poplar box of the same shape as the coffin.
He was dressed in carpet slippers of predominating red, white socks, blacks pants, black frock coat, black vest & black slouch hat. Nothing around his neck beside his shirt collar. The open wagon in which he rode was strongly guarded on all sides. Capt. Williams, formerly one of the assistants of the Institute, marched immediately in front of the wagon. The jailer and high sheriff and several others rode in the wagon with the prisoner.
Brown had his arms tied behind him, & ascended the scaffold with apparent cheerfulness. After reaching the top of the platform, he shook hands with several who were standing around him. The sheriff placed the rope around his neck, then threw a white cap over his head & asked him if he wished a signal when all should be ready---to which he replied that it made no difference, provided he was not kept waiting too long.
In this condition he stood on the trap door, which was supported on one side by hinges, and on the other (south side) by a rope, for about 10 minutes, when Col. S. told the Sheriff “all is ready,” which apparently was not comprehended by the Sheriff, and the Col. Had to repeat the order, when the rope was cut by a single blow, and Brown fell through about 25 inches, so as to bring his knees on a level with the position occupied by his feet before the rope was cut. With the fall his arms below the elbow flew up, hands clenched, & his arms gradually fell by spasmodic motions---there was very little motion of his person for several minutes, after which the wind blew his lifeless body to & fro.
His face, upon the scaffold, was turned a little east of south, and in front of him were the cadets commanded by Major Gilham. My command was still in front of the cadets, all facing south. One howitzer I assigned to Mr. Truheart on the left of the cadets, and with the other I remained on the right. Other troops occupied different positions around the scaffold, and altogether it was an imposing but very solemn scene.
I was much impressed with the thought that before me stood a man, in the full vigor of health, who must in a few minutes be in eternity. I sent up a petition that he might be saved. Awful was the thought that he might in a few minutes receive the sentence “Depart ye wicked into everlasting fire.” I hope that he was prepared to die, but I am very doubtful–he wouldn’t have a minister with him.
His body was taken back to the jail, and at 6 p.m. was sent to his wife at Harper’s Ferry. When it reached Harper’s Ferry the coffin was opened and his wife saw the body---the coffin was again opened at the depot, before leaving for Baltimore, lest there should be an imposition.
LESSON PLAN: DIANE BOWLING
Diane Bowling
Trinity Catholic School
Lesson: Underground Railroad and Measuring (Math Measuring Standards, Social Studies Famous People, Heroes and History.
Grade 1
Objective: The students will measure and retell a story through a song about a famous man in our history.
Materials/Resources: colored tape, tape measure, and story of Henry “Box” Brown’s adventure
Procedures for Teaching: Tell the story of Henry “Box” Brown from William Still’s Underground Railroad (1872) pp. 82-86
Each child should have a partner.
Using a tape measure and working on the floor, the children will measure two feet wide and three feet long and connect the sides to create a rectangle. This was the size of Henry’s box. With colored tape, they will mark the floor with tape to outline the shape.
They will sit in the box, while we discuss what Henry might have done while he was in the box, what he ate, drank, etc. Discuss answers to “what would you have done while you were in the box”?
We will sing the song and gesture building (hammer and nails), jumping, nailing (hammer) and arm gestures of happiness for hooray!
******************************************************
Song – to the tune of ‘London Bridges Falling Down’
Henry Brown built a box, built a box, built a box.
Henry Brown built a box and jumped right in.
His friend James nailed on the lid, on the lid, on the lid.
His friend James nailed on the lid and sent him away.
The box arrived and Henry was free, Henry was free, Henry was free.
The box arrived and Henry was free – Hooray-Henry “Box” Brown!
Assessment: The participation in the singing activity and the accuracy of the measurements of the rectangle.
Follow Up Activity – Homework-have children draw and color Henry in a box and retell the story to their family.
Other Options: Rectangular Prism lesson, A character development discussion of bravery and trust would be appropriate, as well.
LESSON PLAN: CARRIE JACKSON
UNREST AT CHRISTIANA: RIOT or CIVIL INSURRECTION?
Trial Simulation
U.S. History; 9-12th Grades
Carrie Jackson
Eagle High School
Eagle, ID
[pic]
Course: U.S. History 1-2 Type of Activity: Trial Simulation
Grade Level: Sophomore Activity Duration: Three Days
Lesson: Unrest at Christiana: Riot or Civil Insurrection?
Idaho State Standards:
Goal 1.1: Build an understanding of the cultural and social development of the United States.
6-12.USH1.1.1.2: Describe the experiences of culturally, ethnically and racially different groups existing
as part of American society prior to the Civil War.
6-12.USH1.1.1.4: Discuss the causes and effects of various conflicts in American history such as the
American Revolution, Civil War and Reconstruction.
Goal 1.5: Trace the role of exploration and expansion in the development of the United States.
6-12.USH1.1.5.5: Explain the United States’ territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861 and identify
internal and external conflicts.
Goal 4.1: Build an understanding of the foundational principles of the American political system.
6-12.USH1.4.1.3: Evaluate issues in which fundamental values and principles are in conflict, such as
between liberty and equality, individual interests and the common good, and majority
rule and minority protections.
Goal 4.4: Build an understanding of the evolution of democracy.
6-12.USH1.4.4.1: Describe the role of gender, race, ethnicity, religion and national origin on the
development of individual/political rights.
Prerequisites:
➢ Students will understand the components of the 1850 Compromise.
➢ Students will be familiar with the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850 and be able to compare and contrast them.
➢ Students will have an understanding of the Underground Railroad.
Objectives:
➢ Students will use effective communications skills in role-playing the various characters of the trial simulation.
➢ Students will exercise critical thinking strategies in formulating questions and/or responses while attempting to manipulate the simulation toward a desired outcome.
➢ Students will use prior knowledge to evaluate: the role of the accused, from the perspective of race and religion; the local government; the national government; as well as the individual and political rights of these groups, not to exclude the slave owner perspective.
➢ Students, using the court simulation and selected original documents, will evaluate the effectiveness of the government to enforce the laws.
➢ Students, using prior knowledge, the court simulation and selected documents, will analyze the “Christiana Riot” identifying the causes and effects with an emphasis on the event’s impact on secessionist attitudes.
➢ Students will articulate their interpretation in a well-written editorial.
Teacher Instructions: This role-playing simulation recreates the trial of Castner Hanway for treason against the United States as a result of the murder of Edward Gorsuch. Gorsuch had attempted to legally reclaim two runaway slaves at Christiana, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 1851, under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. Students re-enact the trial and a student jury renders its own verdict.
Classroom arrangement: It should reflect a courtroom, i.e.:
Witness
Witness
Judges Jury
Court Clerk
Materials: 2 - Black graduation gowns for judges’ robes
1 - gavel
Preparation: Assign the following roles to students two days prior to the simulation.
1 Clerk of the Court 3 Witnesses for the Prosecution
2 Judges 3 Witnesses for the Defense
2 Prosecuting Attorneys 2 Northern Journalists
2 Defense Attorneys 2 Southern Journalists
1 Defendant: Castner Hanway
12 Jurors:
Robert Elliott, Farmer, Ickesburg, Perry County
James Wilson, Gentleman, Farifield Post Office, Adams Country
Thomas Connelly, Carpenter, Beaver Meadow, Carbon County
Peter Martin, Surveyor, Ephrata Post Office, Lancaster County
Robert Smith, Gentleman, Gettysburg, Adams County
William Saddler, Farmer, York Sulphur Springs, Post Office, Adams County
James M. Hopkins, Farmer, Bucks Post Office, Dunmore Township, Lancaster County
John Junkin, Farmer, Landisburg, Perry County
Solomon Newman, Smith Milford, Pike County
Jonathan Wainwright, Merchant, Philadelphia
Ephraim Fenton, Farmer, Upper Dublin Post Office, Montgomery County
James Cowden, Merchant, Columbia, Lancaster County
** Remaining students will represent the public gallery.
Duplicate and distribute the Fact Sheet to all students two days before the trial. Review the basic background of the case with the students to generate enthusiasm for the upcoming trial. Be sure to stick to the basics so as not to give away any facts of the real case or its outcome.
Give copies of pages 8-10, Trial Rules & Procedures, to the two judges, the Clerk of the Court, the defense attorneys and the prosecuting attorneys two days prior to the trial. Take time to discuss courtroom procedures with these individuals. Time should be allotted so that the judges, defense attorneys and prosecuting attorneys can confer with each other to map out their strategies, and in the case of the attorneys, prep their witnesses.
The defendant and all witnesses should be given the character overviews and role guidelines two days prior to the trial so the attorneys can prepare them. Jurors and Newspaper reporters can receive their guidelines the day before the trial since they do not have a need for preparation. An activity will be needed for jurors, news reporters and the remaining students to engage in while attorneys, judges, the court clerk and witnesses prepare.
The simulation Fact Sheet is designed so that the Jury members have only the information published in the local Pennsylvania newspapers as background information so as not to be unduly influenced.
As an option, you may want to encourage the participants to dress and act according to the period of history.
Conducting the Trial: There are three major parts to the trial: opening statements to the court by the prosecuting and defense attorneys, direct and cross-examination of the witnesses, and a closing statement by each group of attorneys. The teacher’s role is to be an observer as much as possible; however, you may need to clarify courtroom procedures or provide advice to the court when it rules on difficult objections. Otherwise, refer to pages 9-10 for step-by step procedures. As the trial will carry into a second day, a review of the previous day’s proceedings may be necessary.
A place for the jury to meet in private and make their decision should be arranged. The best decisions are made without the influence of the teacher, so be sure to allow the Clerk of the Court to manage the Jury deliberations.
Since time may become an issue, the jury instructions call for only a 2/3 majority to render a verdict. However, you have the option of requiring a unanimous verdict as it would be in real life – this may increase the time for deliberations or for the possibility of a hung jury, be prepared for these eventualities.
Take the time while the jury is deliberating to review for those remaining in the classroom the procedure used by the jury to reach its verdict. You may also allow students to comment on how they think the jury will vote and why.
Teaching Options: Once the jury’s verdict has been rendered to the court and before any further comment is made on the case, have the newspaper reporters share their editorials with the entire class. You may want to flip a coin to see which region goes first. Allow time for student comments and questions in a debriefing session at which time you will share the actual outcome of the trial with the students.
Questions for discussion:
➢ After the verdict is given, have the jurors tell how they voted and explain what influenced them.
➢ What witnesses were the most believable and why?
➢ What witnesses were the least believable and why?
➢ If you did not allow time for a unanimous vote of the jury, would doing so have made a difference in the outcome?
➢ In the real trial, Judge Grier’s instructions to the jury clearly stated that there was no basis for the charge of treason; this was purposefully omitted from the simulation. Would it have made a difference in the verdict, had the Judge Grier’s instructions remained historically accurate?
➢ In the real trial, Hanway was found not guilty of treason. What effect do you think this had on the regional tensions between North and South.
➢ The freedmen and women and fugitives slaves had resorted to violence at William Parker’s home in Christiana. Was the violence justified? Why or why not?
➢ Is violence ever justified as a means to an end?
➢ How would the various social, religious, racial and politic groups affected by the trial respond to its outcome?
The final activity in the simulation is for each student to write an editorial either on their perceptions of the trial, as a rebuttal to the newspaper editorials or in response to one of the following prompts.
➢ Was the government’s pursuit of a case of treason justified? Why or why not?
➢ What were the consequences for those who knowingly acted against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act?
➢ Was the federal government capable of effectively enforcing the law? Why or why not?
➢ Was the rule of law able to protect Southern personal liberties? Why or why not?
Historical Accuracy: The information on the witness, judge and attorney sheets was taken from actual trial testimony or news reports whenever possible. Where information was incomplete, I have attempted to provide educated guesses to make the trial testimony flow smoothly.
Resources:
“Freedom Began Here.” Edward Steers, Jr. North & South Magazine, Issue 34, April 1998.
“The Freedman’s Story.” William Parker. The Atlantic Monthly, reprinted for the Christiana Historical Society, Inc., 2000.
Treason at Christiana: September 11, 1851. L.D. “Bud” Rettew. Self-published, no date or copyright.
United States v. Hanway (DOCID+@lit(llst003)):
LESSON PLAN: TODD MEALY
Name: Length of Lesson (Days): 5
School: Grade: 11 – 12
Course: Early United States History
Unit: Slavery & the Civil War
Overview: In this lesson, students will become familiar with the Underground Railroad (UGRR). They will demonstrate an understanding of the origins of the UGRR, by focusing on the origin of the term and becoming familiar with many abolitionists and slave testimonies. After a day of discussion, students work in small groups, using the resource booklet handed out at the NEH Landmarks workshop, to research several events of the fugitive slave crisis by focusing mainly on the Christiana Riot and Trial.
Suggested Time Allowance: 1 Week
Standards:
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
• Demonstrate their understanding of the Christiana Riot and Trial.
• Define the Underground Railroad.
• Research several stories of the UGRR, including the biographies of William Still, Henry “Box” Brown, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and William Parker. Students will also be able to describe the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee and Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
• Complete a DBQ Assessment.
Resources / Materials:
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Multi-media projector
• Notebooks
• Articles
• DBQ
• Poster Board
• Video: “Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters”
Activities / Procedures:
1. Do Now: Students are to get started immediately using the Internet by going to the National Geography website at and take the digital journey of the UGRR. When they finished, students must come up with three questions from their online experience which will be used in a general discussion.
2. Lecture/Discussion: using a PowerPoint presentation, teacher will lead a discussion on the Underground Railroad. Discussion must focus on UGRR origin up to the fugitive slave crisis in the 1850s. Use the fugitive slave crisis as transition to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the Christiana riot.
3. Group Work – Using a copy of the FSA of 1850, students will create a poster board which describes its stipulations and relationship to the larger Compromise of 1850. They must share their information with the class.
4. Individual Work – Using the Resource Book, students must read William Parker’s Account of the Christiana resistance. Discuss as a class.
5. DBQ in IB Exam Format: (this takes 1 entire class period), Pass out the documents to students the night before but do not give them the questions. Students are to look over the documents for homework. They are allowed to comment on each document. When they arrive for class they will be given paper and the 5 DBQ questions. They have the entire class period to answer them. (25 Point Assessment).
6. View Video: “Slave Catchers, Slave Resisters”
7. Exam: Pass out Exam Review Sheet, which includes multiple essay prompts and several identification terms. Students have two evenings to prepare for the exam. The Exam will consist of 1 essay question and 5 identification short answers. (ID short answers should include definition, cause and effect, and significance)
Evaluation / Assessment:
➢ Poster Board of 1850 FSA – 15 Points
➢ IB DBQ – 25 Points
➢ Essay Exam – 100 Points
Extension Activities:
➢ Have students make their own DBQ’s. (See attached Instructions)
Name:
IB 20th Century Topics
Slavery & the Civil War
Essay Question: “The Underground Railroad was a secret network of abolitionists that assisted runaway slaves.” To what extent do you agree with that statement?
Identification: Choose only 5 of the following terms. Identify the ones you’ve selected by definition and explaining its significance.
1. Frederick Douglass
2. Henry “Box” Brown
3. Philadelphia Vigilance Committee
4. Underground Railroad
5. William Parker
6. Edward Gorsuch
7. Fugitive Slave Act 1850
8. Fugitive Slave Crisis
9. The Liberator
Name: Period:
Early United States History
Goal: Students will learn the foundations of effective historical research and problem solving skills through the construction of a Document Based Question.
General Guidelines:
• Students will work with 1 or 2 other students (maximum group size: 3).
• The topic for the DBQ must derive from the topic “Slavery & the Civil War”
• The topic must be approved by _________________________.
Specific Requirements:
• Topic: Write the rationale for the topic explaining why it is important enough to warrant a DBQ.
• Documents: Provide 5-8 sources which create the basis for various interpretations about the topic. Sources must be appropriately documented.
o At least 2 primary sources between 1-2 paragraphs in length. Examples include: letters, government documents, declarations, speeches.
o At least 1 visual source. Examples include: political cartoons, maps, charts, photographs.
o At least 1 secondary source: approximately 1-2 paragraphs in length. Usually selected from history book, magazine or other publication.
• Questions: Write 5 questions which require comprehension, knowledge, analysis and application of the documents. Designate the mark (point) value of each question, totally 20 marks. See Bloom’s taxonomy for assistance in writing appropriate questions.
o Question 1a and 1b: demonstrates comprehension of two documents [2 marks each]
o Question 2: compares two documents (similarity or different views presented by three documents: “Using Documents C, D, and E, compare and contrast …” [4 marks]
o Question 3: Evaluation of sources. Begin the question: “With reference to the origin and purpose, assess the value and limitations for historians studying …” the topic for two of the sources. [5 marks]
o Question 4: requires use of all the sources and outside knowledge to respond to an overarching question [6 marks]
• Markscheme: Write the guidelines for the expected response to each of the questions. Provide direction regarding partial credit where appropriate. In other words, outline correct responses.
• Reflections: Each individual must reflect upon what he/she learned from the process of creating a DBQ.
• Appearance: The DBQ needs to be neat, clean and professional looking. It should look like an IB document.
• Bibliography: All sources must be accurately and appropriately recorded in a Works Cited.
• Bonus: Trial Run: Recruit at least one person to take the DBQ. Examine the response. What are the strengths of the DBQ? What should be done to improve the DBQ? What revisions should be made?
DBQ: TODD MEALY
DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION
Prescribed Subject: Landmarks of the Underground Railroad, 1831- 1865
These questions relate to the Christiana Riot in 1851.
1. (a) How, according to Source A, were Gorsuch’s escaped slaves discovered? [2 points]
(b) What message is portrayed by Source E? [3 points]
2. Compare and contrast the views about the Christiana Riot as expressed in Sources B and E [6 points]
3. With reference to their origin and purpose, assess the value and limitations of Source C
and Source D for historians studying the Christiana Riot and Trial of 1851. [6 points]
4. Using these sources and your own knowledge, assess the events taken by antislavery activists between 1850 and 1852. [8 points]
Prescribed Subject: Landmarks of the Underground Railroad, 1831 – 1865
SOURCE A: William Padgett to Edward Gorsuch, Lancaster County, PA, 28 August 1851.
I have the required information of four men that is within two miles of each other. Now, the best is for you to come as a hunter, disguised about two days ahead of your son and let him come by way of Philadelphia and get the deputy marshal, John Nagle I think is his name. Tell him the situation and he can get force of the right kind. It will take about twelve so that they can divide and take them all within half an hour. Now, if you can come on the 2nd or 3rd of September come on & I will meet you at the gap when you get there. Inquire for Benjamin Clay’s tavern. Let your son and the marshal get out [at?] Kinyer’s [sic] hotel. Now, if you cannot come at the time spoken of, write very soon and let me know when you can. I wish you to come as soon as you possibly can.
Very respectfully thy friend
William M.P.
SOURCE B: Elizabeth Pownall, to “My Dear Aunt,” Christiana, PA, 1851. Christiana Resistance Collection, Moores Memorial Library, Christiana, PA
My Dear Aunt
I hardly know how to begin to write to thee we have passed through so much since I last sent my note to thee over the mountains I expect thee has read in the papers of the sorrowful tragedy that has happened at Parkers it took place 5th day morn before day I never experienced such feelings we were almost frantic I feared [illegible] for mother thinking it was enough to kill her and after the fighting was over Levi went over but soon returned bringing us word of the death of the old man and that his son was badly if not mortally wounded and proposed bringing him to our house which we consented to We dispatched a person for the Dr. and had him brought over in a carriage his life was despaired of until yesterday the Dr. think now he may recover with careful nursing. It has caused much distress in this neighborhood as there are many of our white neighbors arrested and sent to jail on account of their thoughtlessly running to the scene of battle fortunately not one of our family left the house but remained at home. The county is one scene of confusion. The Marshals and police are here from Lancaster and Philadelphia and 50 Marines with the United States troops are stationed in Christiana I expect there was a hundred police with commissions and officers around our house that day making [illegible] our house seems more like a public one than anything else we can count and ten carriages [illegible] in front of our house at a time [illegible] horseback company—last evening our house was completely filled partly with Southerners There never has been such an excitement in our county they being one of the first families of Maryland We do feel deeply interested in the young gentleman who is here he seems as mild and gentle as out Levi we all feel much attached to him Oh [illegible] I wish Levi(?) was here indeed we feel so sad in can hardly keep up it almost seems wrong for the sun to shine on such misery as there is in this neighborhood Ella and I went out on the balcony last night it was one of the most beautiful moonlight nights I ever hazed on we felt better we trusted one who cause the moon to shine so peacefully would in his time cause light to shine on our path.
thy sincerely attached,
Lizzi
SOURCE C: Frederick Douglass’ Paper (Rochester, NY), March 4, 1852
PHILADELPHIA VIGILANCE COMMITTEE, 1852
(Details activities of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee in the aftermath of the Christiana Riot)
"The Committee have expended the following amount:
Paid to several Council, $200
For board, clothing, Medical Attendance, and passage to Canada of
Geo. Williams, Jacob Moore, and their families, $125
Expended for the 25 prisoners during their four months of confinement, $150
Paid to Dr. A. Cain, $30, Joseph Benn, $20, Josiah Clarkson, $10 (to be distributed among the prisoners' families)
For board & incidental expenses of witnesses during the trials, $95
_____
$630
_____
Amount of Receipts, $689.41
Expenses, $630
Balance in hand, $59.41
There are several families not yet cared for. The committee return thanks to dealers in clothing on Second street, for the contributions so much needed, amounting to some one hundred and twenty-five pieces of clothing.
NATH'L. W. DEPEE, Secretary.
February 10, 1852
SOURCE D: Slaughter, Thomas P, Bloody Dawn: The Christiana Riot and Racial Violence in the Antebellum North (Oxford University Press, 1994) p. 44).
Back in Lancaster, Padgett had a less savory reputation among those unsympathetic to the stalking of fugitive slaves. Local people later remembered him as a "miserable creature," who used his clock repairman's trade as a cloak for his labors as an informer. Once inside a customer's house, Padgett seized the opportunity to hunt out his unsuspecting victims. "During the fall months," a resident later recalled, "he pretended to be gathering sumac tops for the dyeing of morocco. By these means he became aware of every cow path and by-road, and could keep a close watch wherever he suspected a victim might be concealed and thus make an accurate report." Padgett reputedly had a talent for ingratiating himself with local blacks for the purpose of locating fugitives
SOURCE E: Credit: The Library Company of Philadelphia. This engraving of the Christiana Riot appeared in William Still’s book, The Underground Railroad, in 1872.
[pic]
READING GUIDE: JAMES PERCOCO
Historical/Critical Thinking Extension Questions:
1. On September 11, 1909 the 50th Anniversary of the riot, a memorial obelisk was
raised in Christiana. One side of the monument is inscribed with the dates of the
riot and trial. Another side has the names of the 38 defendants. The third side
reads, “Edward Gorsuch: He Died for Law.” While on the fourth side the
inscription reads, “Castner Hanway Suffered for Freedom.” Why do you think
this memorial is so ambiguous? Do you agree with any of it? Explain.
2. Why do you think that historians are now paying more attention to the story of the Christiana Riot of 1851? What does this tell you about the nature of history?
3. Conduct some brief internet research about John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry
in 1859? How is it different from the Christiana Riot? How is it similar?
4. Why do you think that the Christiana Riot of 1859 has been lost to the dustbin of history?
5. Do you agree with Steer’s thesis that the first shot of the Civil War was fired in Christiana, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1851? Explain your answer.
6. . Read Chapter 15, “Do We Call This the Land of the Free” in Fergus Bordewich’s book, Bound for Caanan. In what way is his account similar to that of Edward Steers? In what way is his account different? What do you think accounts for this?
NOTE: See Edward Steers, Jr., “Freedom Began Here” North & South, April 1998
VIDEO GUIDE: JAMES PERCOCO
Video Guide
John Browns Raid: To Do Battle in the Land
Please answer the following questions based on watching this video.
Pre-viewing Activity:
Consider the photograph here of John Brown. Look at
it and study it.
What words would you use to describe John Brown?
How did you reach your conclusion on passing judgment on Brown?
1. Why did John Brown attack Harper’s Ferry, Virginia? List several reasons.
2. Why did John Brown’s Raid fail? List several reasons.
3. Discuss John Brown’s background. How did he become an abolitionist? What was his motivation? What role did religion play in Brown’s convictions?
4. What is ironic about the opening of the raid on Harper’s Ferry? This is in reference to an event.
5. How did the raid come to an end? Who led the military assault on the arsenal firehouse?
6. What happened to John Brown?
7. Complete this statement alleged to be the last words of John Brown. “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will not be purged away with but by….”
8. Author Herman Melville called John Brown the “meteor of the Civil War.” Explain Melville’s statement.
9. After Brown was executed, what did Northern abolitionist s call him? List some terms or adjectives.
10. What did Southerners and supporters of slavery call John Brown? Why did he represent their worst nightmare?
11. During the film a debate between visitors to the park argue about John Brown and his motivations. Based on watching this film, how do you view John Brown? Explain your answer.
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES
CHRISTIANA
Dickinson Gorsuch III (1826-1882), son of Edward Gorsuch, the Maryland slave owner who was killed at Christiana, Pennsylvania in 1851. Dickinson Gorsuch traveled with his father and a small slave-catching party and was seriously wounded during the confrontation. Nursed back to health by the Pownall family, local Christiana residents, Dickinson Gorsuch went on to inherit his father’s property. His remaining slaves, however, joined the Union Army during the Civil War. Gorsuch died at the age of 56, the same age his father had been when he was killed at Christiana.
Edward Gorsuch (1795-1851), a Baltimore County (Md.) farmer and slave-owner, who died on September 11, 1851 while trying to recapture four escaped slaves in Christiana, Pennsylvania. Although Gorsuch prided himself on what he believed was his kind treatment of his slaves, four of his younger male slaves fled the farm in 1849, fearing punishment for some stolen wheat. Over the course of two years, Gorsuch unsuccessfully attempted to recapture them. In 1851, he finally succeeded in tracking the fugitives down, confronting them with a posse of slave catchers at the home of William Parker in Christiana. An altercation ensued in which Edward Gorsuch, at the age of 56, was killed.
Robert Cooper Grier (1794-1870) was a Supreme Court Justice who presided over the treason trial that arose from the Christiana Resistance. Grier was born in Cumberland County, Pa. Like many from his area, he studied at Dickinson College. After an interval spent teaching, Grier pursued law. In 1848, Grier settled in Philadelphia where he spent the rest of his life. In 1846, President James Polk nominated Grier to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Justice Grier was one of two judges (along with John Kane) who presided over the treason trial of the supposed instigators of the Christiana Riot. In 1857, Grier also supported Roger Brooke Taney’s majority decision in the Dred Scott Case. Grier was a staunch Union supporter during the Civil War who retired from the court in early 1870 after suffering from a series of strokes.
Castner Hanway (1821-1893) resided in Delaware and then Maryland prior to Christiana where he was a miller by trade and an inadvertent participant in the Christiana resistance. The morning of the riot, Hanway was alerted of the escalating altercation by neighbor Elijah Lewis. He rode to the scene and refused to assist the slave catchers in capturing the slaves. After the riot, Hanway was charged with treason for his refusal to assist the federal marshals. Although Hanway was charged simultaneously with many other riot participants, because Hanway was a white who had arrived on horseback, he became the focal point of the prosecution, accused of being the riot’s ringleader. The federal jury, however, acquitted Hanway. He later became a Quaker.
William Parker (circa 1822-????) was an escaped slave who led the resistance against the Gorsuch party in the Christiana standoff. Parker was born into slavery in Maryland. According to Parker’s recollection, he fled his Maryland plantation after resisting an attempt by his master to beat him. Parker recalled that he wounded his master and then knew he had to run away. Parker eventually settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where he became the charismatic center of a black defensive association, formed as a way to resist various threats posed to the free black community by kidnappers. When news of the impending arrival of Gorsuch and the federal marshals reached Lancaster, Parker harbored the fugitives at his home. After Gorsuch was killed, Parker again fled to preserve his freedom and his life. Parker traveled northward with help from Frederick Douglas himself and eventually began a new life in Canada. He returned to Pennsylvania occasionally after the Civil War but the location and date of his death are still uncertain.
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
William Baylis was a Delaware schooner captain who assisted fugitive slaves by removing them from the Virginia coastline to freedom for a fee. Baylis and the Keziah, his schooner, were active until his capture in 1858. For his “offenses,” Baylis was sentenced to 40 years in prison but served only 6 years of the sentence whereupon Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, pardoned Baylis. The schooner captain ended his days as a grocer in Delaware.
Jacob Bigelow, a lawyer, stepped in to resurrect Washington’s Underground when its tireless leader, William Chaplin, was arrested. Bigelow, like many members of the underground, participated in the day to day toil of the underground even as he organized the work and movements of others. Once, he smuggled a young slave girl to freedom by dressing her as a boy. He corresponded with the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee under the name “William Penn.” The bulk of his correspondence provides evidence that Bigelow had regular contact with covertly operating underground conductors, and that a more expansive underground network than historians have previously allowed, may have existed.
Henry “Box” Brown (1815-unknown), enjoyed one of the most memorable escapes to freedom. He had himself shipped in a box from Richmond to Philadelphia in 1849. Brown decided to run away after his family was sold. He befriended Samuel Smith, a merchant. Brown made up his mind to escape, and with assistance from a friend, constructed a box with dimensions 3 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. Brown secretly contacted the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery office, and then shipped himself, in the box, to the office. He arrived alive, and now, free, having endured a trek of 350 miles with 3 air holes and minimal provisions. His creative escape earned him the name, Henry “Box” Brown. J. Miller McKim and William Still of the Anti-Slavery office were among those present at Brown’s “resurrection.”
In 1814 Levi Coffin (1798-1877), a Quaker and North Carolina native, his father Vestal and brother Addison, helped to found the North Carolina Manumission Society. In 1818, the Society merged with the American Colonization Society. Rejecting the notion that slaves should be removed to Africa to obtain freedom, the Coffins separated themselves from the Society to take more decisive action. The Coffins began by helping only kidnapped slaves escape to freedom but progressed to assisting any fugitive slave. Their efforts acted at the genesis of the Underground Railroad in North Carolina. But by 1825, anti-Quaker sentiment had grown so predominant that the Coffins removed to Richmond, Indiana. There they established an underground that operated ceaselessly for decades.
In December 1848, William (circa 1825-1900) and Ellen Craft (1826-circa 1895) slaves from Macon, Georgia, escaped to Philadelphia and freedom. Ellen, who was light enough to pass as white, disguised herself as an ill planter and William played the role of her servant. The architects of their own escape, they traveled boldly in public, by way of train and steamship. Once in Philadelphia, the Crafts became popular abolitionist speakers.
Moncure Conway (1832-1907) was born in Virginia, but received his education in the North at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa where he honed his talent as a writer. Although born in the South, Conway eventually became an abolitionist. Conway graduated from Harvard’s Divinity School and shortly thereafter, removed from Washington to Ohio. The Civil War commenced and Conway, considered one of the leading abolitionists of the day, was sent to Great Britain to plead the cause of the Union. Conway lived out the remainder of his life in England and then Europe, writing prolifically and eventually, his writings endeared him once more to the United States. He died in Paris.
Martin Delany (1812-1885), was an accomplished and controversial man. He studied for a time at Harvard Medical School before he was expelled for being black. Thereafter, he became an advocate for voluntary colonization. His advocacy led him to write extensively and eventually try his hand as a newspaper editor. He participated in the Underground Railroad in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1865, Delany also became the first black officer commissioned in the Civil War.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), once called Frederick Bailey, a slave in Maryland, escaped north and became the most famous African American figure of his day. Bailey escaped using borrowed freedman’s papers, arriving in New York via a train that passed through Wilmington Delaware and Philadelphia. He was assisted by David Ruggles of the New York Vigilance Committee. Ruggles also helped bring Bailey’s wife, Anna Murray, from Maryland. It was William Lloyd Garrison’s groundbreaking paper, the Liberator, which drew Douglass into the abolitionist movement. In 1843, Douglass was recruited for the New England Anti-Slavery Society’s speaking tour. The circuit made Douglass famous but it was also dangerous—Douglass was attacked and grievously injured at least once. In addition, Douglass served as an agent for the Underground Railroad. Douglass then founded his own abolitionist paper, the North Star, for which he wrote diligently. After the war, he served first as a federal marshal in Washington D.C. under President Hayes, and then as the ambassador to Haiti.
Thomas Garrett (1783-1871), a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, commenced his work helping fugitives in the 1820s. Garrett unabashedly gave life to his abolitionist ideals. He used his wife’s family fortune (she was from a banking family) to fund the freedom of more than fourteen hundred fugitives, whom he typically delivered into the hands of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. Garrett was a persistent, reliable resource for the Underground Railroad—Harriet Tubman herself frequently appeared at his door for assistance. In 1848, Garrett was convicted of illegally assisting six slaves. He was fined fifteen hundred dollars. The setback was minor at best, however, and by the mid-1850s, he had redoubled his efforts.
William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1979), a native of Boston, was the founder of the Liberator, the leading and most radical anti-slavery newspaper in America from 1831-1865 which did a great deal to reshape the anti-slavery movement and made Garrison the nation’s leading public emancipationist. The establishment of the Liberator in 1831 was a turning point for the movement. Following the paper’s foundation the abolitionist movement gained an uncompromising edge as well as a sense of immediacy the movement had not yet seen. Despite this urgency, however, Garrison was also known for his commitment to nonviolent resistance. In 1832 he founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society and in 1833 he organized and led the nation’s first national abolitionist conference in Philadelphia which led to the formation of the American Anti-Slavery Society. The Philadelphia conference published the famous “Declaration of Sentiments,” a document written in one night by Garrison himself which solidified the core values of the movement for the remaining years leading up to the Civil War.
Daniel Gibbons, was the brother-in-law of William Wright, the man credited with organizing the Underground Railroad in Lancaster County. Gibbons resided in close proximity to Wright, in the small town of Bird-in-Hand and this close proximity and the family connection made Gibbons’ home a convenient second stop in Wright’s burgeoning network. Wright received fugitives, and Gibbons distributed fugitives—finding them homes nearby, or if they were hotly pursued, passing them further along in the underground network. Gibbons frequently passed fugitives on to Jeremiah Moore, a resident of Christiana, Pa. Gibbons also famously assigned fugitive slaves their new, “freedom” names prior to allowing them to depart his home. Gibbons and Wright are a prime example of how entire families occasionally participated in the underground effort to aid escaped slaves.
William Goodridge, was a free black man who worked for the Underground Railroad in York, Pennsylvania. He was a successful merchant and businessman whose home was adjacent to a real railroad line in York City. Goodrich usually sent fugitives straight through to his contacts in Columbia.
Laura Haviland (1808-1898), a Michigan native and Quaker, helped conduct many fugitives from Cincinnati to Michigan. On the pretense of picking berries, Haviland also ventured into Kentucky to extricate slaves. In 1838, she founded the Raisin Institute—the school was both interracial and gender blind. During the Civil War, Havilland aided wounded soldiers.
Born a slave in Lexington, Kentucky, Lewis Hayden (circa 1815-1889) was lifted from slavery by two abolitionists; he went on to extend the same assistance to countless other fugitives. Restless with slavery, Hayden and his family were assisted to freedom by abolitionist Calvin Fairbank, and his associate Delia Webster; both Fairbank and Webster later served time in prison for their assistance. Hayden went on to found the Boston Vigilance Committee and simultaneously run a successful clothing business. Hayden’s three-story home provided immediate refuge for fugitives newly arrived in Boston. Hayden was instrumental in the rescue of Shadrach Minkins. Eventually brought to trial for his involvement in Minkins’ escape, Hayden was acquitted despite the fact that numerous witnesses had identified him as accompanying Minkins.
Josiah Henson (circa 1789-1883) was a Maryland slave whose remarkable metamorphosis from obedient slave to fiery abolitionist is one of the great stories of the underground railroad and abolitionist movement. Henson’s relationship with his master, Isaac Riley, was a unique one. Riley treated Henson well, and Henson performed his duties as a slave not only competently, but competitively. At the age of 18, Henson converted to Methodism. Eventually, Riley made Henson an overseer—a reasonably unusual position for a black man to fill—and even placed Henson at the head of an expedition to remove a sizable number of his slaves to Kentucky, so that they would be beyond the reach of creditors. Henson lived happily in a managerial position in Kentucky until Riley’s creditors caught up with him and he ordered the slaves sold. Henson attempted to manumit himself and his family but Riley cheated him by driving the manumission fee higher than Henson could ever hope to pay. Henson and his family fled, eventually crossing into Canada to be free. Later in life, Henson would return to Kentucky to assist fugitive slaves and eventually establish the Dawn colony in Canada. Henson hoped the colony would provide a permanent African American community residence that fostered work ethic and morals. What he got was a temporary community, which helped fugitive slaves transition from slavery to freedom.
Francis Julius LeMoyne (1798-1879) was a Washington County, Pa, doctor who opened his home to fugitives. He was a leading anti-slavery political figure in Pennsylvania and a founder of the state’s Liberty Party. A pillar of the community, LeMoyne also founded Washington Female Seminary, a free library and what is today, LeMoyne-Owen College, initially founded to educate blacks.
Grace Ann Lewis (Graceanna Lewis) (1821-1912) opened her Chester County, Pa home to the Underground Railroad. She and her sisters were part of an abolitionist network that brought them into contact with the likes of William Still and Isaac Mendenhall (yet another Pa Underground Railroad stationmaster and abolitionist). She briefly harbored William Parker and his friend Abraham Johnson and Alexander Pinckney as they fled the backlash to the resistance in Christiana, Lancaster County, Pa.
In 1834, Jermain Loguen (circa 1813-1868) a Tennessee slave ( otherwise known as Jarm Logue) boldly rode out of Tennessee and slavery, and continued to ride until he reached Canada and freedom. He adopted a freeman’s name, and went on to fund his own education at Oneida Institute. Loguen ultimately surfaced as one of the most impassioned antislavery preachers and visible underground agents, of the day. Loguen worked as an underground agent in Syracuse, New York, where he defiantly handed out business cards, upon which was emblazoned “Underground Railroad Agent.” Loguen and his wife received fugitives ceaselessly, at all hours of the night and day and even while their daughter lay fatally ill. Understanding that the qualifications for successful autonomy were education and vocation, Loguen agitated for jobs for blacks. With the end of the Civil War, Loguen remobilized and traveled, establishing a school and a church wherever he could for emancipated slaves.
James Miller McKim (1810-1874) heading the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. McKim was born in Carlisle, Pa, graduated from Dickinson College and became a Presbyterian minister before finding his life’s calling in the abolition movement in 1833. In spite of the unpopularity of abolitionism in Carlisle, McKim founded the Carlisle Anti-Slavery Society and in 1840, McKim became the secretary to the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society and editor of the Pennsylvania Freeman, the Society’s newsletter. McKim remained active in reform and integration efforts after the war.
Shadrach Minkins (circa 1814-1875) was a fugitive black from Virginia who was arrested in Boston. Black abolitionist Lewis Hayden was at the center of the successful scheme to rescue Minkins, and spirit him away to freedom. A crowd of African Americans converged upon the courthouse where Minkins was being held, laid hold of Minkins and carried him off. Minkins was handed over to Hayden who transported Minkins to Concord, where the fugitive was put on the path to Canada. Four days later, Shadrach, as he was known, became a new resident of Montreal and only months later, the proprietor of a new, Montreal restaurant.
Solomon Northrup (1808-1863) was a fugitive slave who went on to write one of the most widely-recognized fugitive slave narratives of the time period. Interestingly enough, Northrup was born a freeman. The title of Northrup’s narrative largely indicates the plot of his story: “Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northrup, A Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, From A Cotton Plantation Near The Red River In Louisiana.”
In 1837, Robert Purvis (1810-1898), a Southern-born, wealthy abolitionist of mixed race background, helped organize the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. There is some debate over whether it was Purvis, or James McCrummel who served as the primary impetus behind the Committee’s organization and establishment, but it was Purvis who soon became the committee’s dominant figure. Purvis also founded a library for blacks, who were barred from Philadelphia’s numerous whites-only libraries.
John Rankin (1793-1886) became the foundation of the Underground Railroad in Ripley, Ohio but like many abolitionists, was a minister first. And like other abolitionists before him, his first congregation recoiled from his anti-slavery doctrine and drove him off. Rankin and his large family then removed to Ripley they lived comfortably as public abolitionists who enlisted several hundred Ohio residents to the resistance against slavery.
By age 23, David Ruggles (1810-1849), a free black man, was working for the Emancipator, an anti-slavery paper. He was traveling, selling subscriptions and seizing the opportunity to lecture. Ruggles’ speeches were famously impassioned and a stirring experience for his audiences. Nevertheless, unmitigated loathing for the abolitionist cause and racism ruled New York, the state Ruggles called home. And so, the formation of the New York Vigilance Committee in 1835 was more a defensive maneuver than anything else. Ruggles served as the Committee’s first secretary. He led the Vigilance Committee to provide practical assistance, such as food and shelter, to fugitive slaves. Ruggles became a notoriously aggressive abolitionist, who would force his way into the homes of New Yorkers to inform their slaves that they were free. Ruggles postulated that for blacks to be moral, they must also be educated. He did his part by first opening a bookshop, and when the bookshop was burned to the ground, a reading room. Interestingly enough, Ruggles did not believe in the mingling of the races. He advocated voluntary racial partition. Ruggles’ health first slowed, and then put a stop to Ruggles’ leadership efforts. By 1838, he was nearly blind and by 1839, the emotional toll of his work and his physical frailness drove Ruggles into retirement.
Mary Ann Shadd (1823-1893) grew up in West Chester, Pa. Her father was a conductor in the Underground Railroad so she was exposed very early to abolitionist sentiment and resistance. Shadd began her career as a teacher, but found her calling as a journalist. In 1853, Shadd became the first black woman to run a North American newspaper when she launched the Provincial Freeman. Shadd used the newspaper to discuss how blacks would be free. She vehemently opposed segregation and turned her scathing critiques on exclusively black settlements and their proprietors. Eventually, public backlash against Shadd’s hotheaded writing style and the fact that she was a woman forced her to allow her brother to supplant her as the publisher of the Provincial Freeman. During the Civil War, Shadd joined ranks with those such as Frederick Douglass and Jermain Loguen, enticing blacks to actively support the Union’s cause. Shadd lived to become the first woman to attend law school at Howard University.
Stephen Smith was a black lumber merchant in Columbia, Pa who assisted the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee in helping fugitive slaves escape. Smith and his cohort William Whipper owned a box car with a false end in which fugitives could hide safely even as the train carried them to freedom. Smith and Whipper also frequently employed their teamsters to drive fugitives, via turnpike, to freedom in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
Peter Still (c. 1810-1868) was the brother of Underground Railroad legend William Still. Peter and William were separated as boys and were remarkably reunited when Peter arrived as freeman in the Pennsylvania Ant-Slavery office where Still worked as a clerk. In Peter’s recollection, he recalls that although he was in the hands of abolitionists, his freedom was so newly minted that he trusted no one. In anticipation of betrayal, he sat close to the door and tensed himself for a quick escape if anyone should try to send him back to slavery.
William Still (1821-1902) was a free black native of New Jersey who went on to become the chairman of the Pennsylvania Vigilance Committee. Still was arguably the most important figure in the nation’s Underground Railroad coalition –with a far-flung network of correspondents and participants. He began as a clerk in the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Office before taking over the vigilance operation in 1852. He kept meticulous records. He later published these records as part of a memoir in 1872 that still stands as the most important documentary resource on the history of the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Still founded a coal company and helped provide supplies for black soldiers in the Union Army. The coal company remained successful after the war, and Still used his newfound status as a respected businessman to become a major community leader in Philadelphia.
Harriet Tubman born into slavery on the eastern shore of Maryland as Araminta “Minty” Ross, is now perhaps the most famous individual hero of the Underground Railroad. She was toughened by slavery from an early age, suffering from a blow to her head by a slavemaster which caused her to suffer from seizures the rest of her life. Tubman had escaped to Pennsylvania in 1849, but she returned in 1850 to help some of her relatives who were up for auction. Harriet also returned to Maryland in 1851 to bring her husband, John Tubman, to Pennsylvania only to find he had taken another wife and did not to wish to return with her. This incident perhaps toughened Tubman as nothing else; rather than grieve the loss, she instead dedicated herself to helping others escape. She never remarried. John Brown referred to her as General Tubman. She also worked closely with figures such as Thomas Garrett of Delaware and William Still of Philadelphia.
William Whipper was a conductor and merchant in Columbia, Pa who partnered with Stephen Smith to speed the escape of fugitives by concealing them in hidden freight car compartments. Certainly, the railcar expedited fugitive flight, which used to go mostly by foot. Whipper was also an important national figure in the abolitionist movement.
William Wright was a Pennsylvania Quaker who is considered the impetus behind the organization of the Underground Railroad in Lancaster County. His home in Lancaster County, Columbia served as a temporary sanctuary for freed and fugitive slaves.
HARPERS FERRY
John Brown (1800-1859) was the architect and leader of the raid on Harpers Ferry Virginia (now West Virginia), on October 16th, 1859. Brown had long nourished a dream to create a “Subterranean Passway” using the Appalachian mountain range to help guide slaves to freedom. Brown believed in both immediate and unconditional emancipation, and the equality of African Americans. At Harper’s Ferry, Brown intended to seize the arsenal himself with a small band of followers, and assumed that slaves would flock to the location to buttress what Brown hoped would become a history-altering slave revolt. They would then travel north to freedom; this journey, he aspired, would be the cornerstone of his Subterranean Passway. However, Brown’s planned uprising at Harpers Ferry failed. The hordes of slaves Brown expected never came. Brown lost two sons in the process. Nevertheless, Brown’s composure during his trial and execution polarized the nation and contributed to the rising section tension that marred the election of 1860.
John A. Copeland was a black graduate of Oberlin College and one of the members of posse who conducted the ill-fated raid at Harper’s Ferry. Upon realizing that the raid was doomed, Copeland and two others fled across the Shenandoah. Of the three, only Copeland was not gunned down. Copeland lived to surrender and was hanged alongside Shields Green, a former fugitive slave.
Shields Green (c. 1826-1859) was an escaped slave who had been living with Frederick Douglass in New York and accompanied Douglass to his final meeting with Brown in Chambersburg, PA, in mid-august, 1859. When asked whether he wanted to remain with Douglass, or join Brown’s men, Green declares “I b’leve I’ll go wid de old man.” Green was originally one of six raiders assigned to venture into the Virginia countryside and help liberate slaves. When he rejoined Brown at the engine house, Green was one of the only remaining uninjured men as the Marines storm the engine house. Green was taken into custody and tried, though, he was cleared of the treason charge because according to the 1857 Dred Scott decision blacks were not citizens and therefore not capable of treason. Nevertheless, he was convicted on other counts, and hung on December 16, 1859 (Reynolds, 299, 326, 328, 375).
Heyward Shepherd was a free back man who worked as a baggage porter on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. He was the first casualty at Harpers Ferry, shot by one of Brown’s raiders. On a monument erected to Shepard at Harpers Ferry, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans praise him for “exemplifying the character and faithfulness of thousands of negroes.” After having been kept out of public view for years, the controversial monument was re-installed near John Brown’s Fort in the 1990s, along with an accompanying Park Service marker that explains some of the debate over whether or not the monument deserves to be displayed.
John H. Kagi (1835-1859) Perhaps the most erudite of Brown’s men, Kagi had been a schoolteacher in Virginia where he obtained firsthand knowledge of slavery and nursed a passionate hatred of the institution. A cold mannered man who had fought in Kansas, Kagi’s commitment to Brown’s cause and years of education (he held a degree in law) led to him being named second in command at Harpers Ferry. A trusted lieutenant, Kagi helped arrange the transport of supplies to the Kennedy Farm and accompanied Brown to his last meeting with Frederick Douglas in mid-August. Kagi showed the same calm, unwavering poise that Brown did, declaring when confronted by a friend about the distinct possibility of being killed “Yes I know it…but the result will be worth the sacrifice.” Assigned with Aaron D. Stevens to help hold Hall’s Rifle Works (near the armory), Kagi was killed when he tried to escape across the Shenandoah after a militia company had forced him from the Rifle Works (Reynolds, page 305).
Francis Merriam was another of Brown’s raiders at Harpers Ferry. Merriam was the “one-eyed and mentally challenged” descendent of an elite Boston abolitionist family. Merriam was assigned to help guard the Kennedy farmhouse (where Brown and his raiders lived prior to the raid) and help supply to weapons to the schoolhouse (where Brown intended to distribute munitions to the arriving slaves). After the raid failed, Merriam was one of several raiders who was able to escape to the north, though not without difficulty. Merriam caught a train at Scotland and proceeded all the way to Boston. Here, a fearful Frank Sanborn (a member of the “Secret Six,” or those who funded Brown’s raid) turned him over to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who secured his escape to Canada.
Dangerfield Newby (1815-1859) was a mixed race ex-slave who had joined John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry because he harbored dreams of freeing his wife, Harriet, and the couple’s seven children. On October 17, Newby shot and killed Thomas Boerly, who had been on his way to work. Later in the day, Newby would be the first of Brown’s men to be killed when he was shot as he retreated from his guard on the Potomac bridge. In his pocket he had carried a letter from his wife which read “I want to see you so much that is the one bright hope I have before me” (Reynolds, 297, 320)
Judge Andrew Parker was a Virginia judge who presided over the trial of John Brown and sentenced him to hang on December 2, 1859. A distinguished man of pleasant countenance, Parker was acutely aware of the political implications the trial presented and he did all he could to speed up the official court proceedings, including denying Brown’s request to postpone the trial so that he might recover from his injuries. Ultimately, this tactic would work in Brown’s favor, as many in the North criticized what they saw as a half-hearted effort at a fair trial.
Aaron D. Stevens (1831-1860) was another one of Brown’s white raiders who also had experience in Kansas. During the raid, Stevens and Kagi were assigned to hold control of Hall’s Rifle Works. They repeatedly sent urgent messages to Brown “that they all must leave immediately or be trapped.” After joining Brown in the engine house that served as his last stand, Stevens was severely wounded when he and Watson Brown attempted to negotiate a truce. Later, Stevens’ icy calm in the face of taunting from townsmen led Captain Thomas Sinn to remark “If this man could stand on his feet and there was a room full of such as you, he could clean you out in a second.” Stevens actually survived the raid and was executed on March 10, 1860 (Reynolds, 315, 325).
Gov. Henry A. Wise (1806-1876) was the governor of Virginia during John Brown’s raid. An austere man with presidential ambitions, Wise wanted John Brown tried by a Virginia court. Though Wise detested Brown’s actions, he also could not help but admire Browns character, calling him “a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude simple ingenuousness.” Ironically, it would be some of Wise’s speeches that would help convince many Northerners that Brown was not a madman, but a man whose character, if not his actions, should be admired. (Christian Observer, “Character of John Brown”, November 10, 1859)
Bibliography
Banks, Russell. Cloudsplitter. New York: HarperCollins, 1998.
Bearse, Austin. Reminiscences of Fugitive Slave Days in Boston. Boston: Warren Richardson,
1880.
Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.
Blacket, R.J.M. "'Freedom, or the Martyr's Grave': Black Pittsburgh's Aid to the Fugitive Slave,"
in Joe William Trotter, Jr. and Eric Ledell Smith, eds., African Americans in Pennsylvania: Shifting Historical Perspectives. University Park: Penn State University Press, 1997.
Blight, David W., ed. Passages to Freedom: The Underground Railroad in History and Memory. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 2004.
Blockson, Charles L. Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania. Jacksonville, NC: Flame
International, 1981.
Blockson, Charles L. The Underground Railroad: Dramatic Firsthand Accounts of Daring
Escapes to Freedom. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Bordewich, Fergus. Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of
America. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins, 2005.
Borome, Joseph A. "The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia," Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography 42 (1968): 320-52.
Boteler, Alexander Robinson, and Frank B. Sanborn. Recollections of the John Brown raid.
1883.
Botkin, B.A., ed. Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery. Athens: University of
Georgia Press, 1989.
Boyer, Richard Owen. The legend of John Brown: a biography and a history. New York:
Knopf, 1973.
Bradford, Sarah H. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Auburn, NY: Moses Printer, 1869.
Brown, John. Sixty years' gleanings from life's harvest: A genuine autobiography. New York,
D. Appleton & Co., 1859.
Brown, William Wells. Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave. Boston: Bela
Marsh Co., 1848.
[Burns, Anthony]. Boston Slave Riot and the Trial of Anthony Burns. Boston: Fetridge and Co.,
1854.
Byrne, John Edward. The News from Harper's Ferry: The Press as Lens and Prism for John
Brown's Raid. Washington, DC: George Washington University, 1987.
Campbell, Stanley W. The Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850-1860.
Orig. ed. 1968; New York: W.W. Norton, 1972.
Catterall, Helen T. Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery and the Negro. Washington
DC: Carnegie Institution, 1926-29.
Clarke, James Freeman. Anti-Slavery Days. New York: R. Worthington, 1884.
Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. New York: Back Bay/Little Brown,
2004.
Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, the Reputed President of the Underground Railroad.
Cincinnati, OH: Robert Clark & Co., 1880.
Cohen, William. James Miller McKim: Pennsylvania Abolitionist Ph.D. diss., New York
University, 1968.
Collison, Gary. Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1997.
Conway, Moncure Daniel. Autobiography. New York: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1904.
Crooks, George R. Life and Letters of the Reverend John McClintock. New York: Nelson &
Phillips, 1876.
Dana, Richard Henry, Jr. "How We Met John Brown." Atlantic Monthly 28 (July 1871): 5-14.
Drayton, Daniel. Personal Memoir. Boston: Bela Marsh Co., 1855.
Drescher, Seymour. "Servile Insurrection and John Brown's Body in Europe." Journal of
American History 1993 80 (2): 499-524.
DuBois, W.E.B. John Brown. Philadelphia: G.W. Jacobs and Co., 1909.
Eby, Cecil D., ed. "The Last Hours of the John Brown Raid: The Narrative of David H.
Strother." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 73, no. 2 (1965): 169-177.
Edelstein, Tilden G. "John Brown and His Friends," in The Abolitionists: Immediation and the
Question of Means, edited by Hugh Hawkins, pp. 11-19. Boston: D.C. Health Co., 1964.
Edelstein, Tilden G. Strange Enthusiasm: A Life of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. New York:
Atheneum, 1970.
Eggert, Gerald G. "The Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law on Harrisburg: A Case Study,"
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 109 (1985): available via ProQuest.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Remarks on the Character of George Luther Stearns at Medford"
(eulogy), April 14, 1867. American Antiquarian Society. Worcester, Mass.
Fields, Barbara J. Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth
Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
Fine, Gary Alan. "John Brown's Body: Elites, Heroic Embodiment, and the Legitimation of
Political Violence." Social Problems 46(2) 1999: 225-249.
Finkelman, Paul. "Prigg v. Pennsylvania and the Northern State Courts: Anti-Slavery Uses of a
Pro-Slavery Decision," Civil War History 25 (1979): available via ProQuest.
Finkelman, Paul. "The Protection of Black Rights in Seward's New York." Civil War History 34
(Sept. 1988): 211-34.
Finkelman, Paul, ed. His soul goes marching on : responses to John Brown and the Harpers
Ferry raid. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995.
Foner, Phillip. Frederick Douglass: A Biography. New York: Citadel Press, 1964.
Forbes, Sarah Hughes. The Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes. 2 vols. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1899.
Franklin, John Hope and Loren Schweninger. Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Friedman, Lawrence J. "The Gerrit Smith Circle: Abolitionism in the Burned-Over District."
Civil War History 26 (March 1980): 18-38.
Furnas, J. C. The road to Harpers Ferry. New York: W. Sloane Associates, 1959.
Gara, Larry. "William Still and the Underground Railroad," Pennsylvania History 28 (1961): 33-
44.
Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. Orig. Pub. 1961;
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996 ed.
Griest, Ellwood. John and Mary; or, The Fugitive Slaves, a Tale of South-Eastern Pennsylvania.
Lancaster: Inquirer Printer and Publishing Company, 1873.
Harding, Vincent. There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America. New York:
Random House, 1981.
Harrold, Stanley. "Freeing the Weems Family: A New Look at the Underground
Railroad," Civil War History 42 (Dec. 1996), 289-306.
Hensel, W.U. The Christiana Riot and The Treason Trials of 1851. Lancaster: The New Era
Printing Company, 1911.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. The Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson,
1846-1909. Edited by Mary Thatcher Higginson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921.
Hinks, Peter. To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum
Slave Resistance. University Park: Penn State University Press, 1997.
Hinton, Richard J. John Brown and his men; with some account of the roads traveled to reach
Harper's Ferry. New York etc., Funk & Wagnall's company, 1894.
Horton, James Oliver and Lois E. Horton. In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest
Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Howe, Julia Ward. Samuel Gridley Howe, a Memoir. Boston: Howe Memorial Committee,
1886.
Howe, Samuel Gridley. Slavery at Washington: A Narrative of the Heroic Adventures of
Drayton, an American Trader. London: Ward and Co., 1848.
Howe, Samuel Gridley. The Letters and Journals of Samuel Gridley Howe. Edited by Laura E.
Richards. 2 vols. Boston: Dana, Estes and Co., 1906.
Howe, Samuel Gridley. "The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West," Report to the American
Freedman's Inquiry Commission. Boston: Dana, Estes and Co., 1906.
Katz, Jonathan. Resistance at Christiana: The Fugitive Slave Rebellion, Christiana,
Pennsylvania, September 11, 1851. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1974.
Keller, Allan. Thunder at Harper's Ferry. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 1958.
Kneebone, John T. "A Breakdown on the Underground Railroad: Captain B. and the Capture of
the Keziah, 1858," Virginia Cavalcade 48 (April 1999); available via ProQuest.
Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery: 1619-1877. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.
Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. 1st ed. New York: Ballantine, 2004.
Loguen, Jermain Wesley. The Reverend J.W. Loguen, as a Slave and as a Freeman. 1859.
Reprint. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1968.
May, Samuel M. The Fugitive Slave Law and Its Victims. New York: American Antislavery
Society, 1861.
McFeely, William S. Frederick Douglass. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.
Moore, Rayburn S. "John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry: An Eyewitness Account by Charles
White." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 67, no. 4 (1959): 387-395.
Nash, Gary B. Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720-
1840. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988. .
National Park Service. Division of Publications (authors Larry Gara, C. Peter Ripley, Brenda E.
Stevenson). Underground Railroad. Official National Park Handbook 156, Washington, DC: GPO, 1998.
National Register. History and Education and National Park Service. Exploring A Common
Past: Researching and Interpreting the Underground Railroad. Washington, DC: GPO, 1998.
Oates, Stephen B. To Purge This Land With Blood: A Biography of John Brown. New York:
Harper & Row, 1970.
Parker, Theodore. The Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker. Edited by John Weiss. 2
vols. Boston: Bergman Publishers, 1864.
Parker, William. “The Freedman’s Story: In Two Parts,” The Atlantic Monthly (February 1866),
available at “Documenting the American South,” University of North Carolina,
Peterson, Merrill D. John Brown: The Legend Revisited. Charlottesville, VA: University
of Virginia Press, 2002).
Pickard, Kate E.R. Kidnapped and Ransomed: The Narrative of Peter and Vina Still After Forty
Years of Slavery. 1856 facsimile edition, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1970.
Redpath, James, ed. Echoes of Harper's Ferry. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Redpath, James. The public life of Capt. John Brown, ... with an autobiography of his childhood
and youth. Boston, Thayer and Eldridge, 1860.
Renehan, Edward. Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown.
Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Reynolds, David S. John Brown: Abolitionist. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Ripley, C. Peter et. al., ed. The Black Abolitionist Papers. 5 vols., Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1985-93.
Rosenberg, Norman L. "Personal Liberty Laws and Sectional Crisis: 1850-1861." Civil War
History 17 (March 1971): 25-44.
Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin. Recollections of Seventy Years. 2 vols. Boston: Richard G. Badger,
The Gorham Press, 1909.
Siebert, Wilbur H. The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom. New York: Russell &
Russell, 1898.
Slaughter, Thomas P. Bloody Dawn: The Christiana Riot and Racial Violence in the Antebellum
North. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Slotten, Martha C. "The McClintock Slave Riot of 1847." Cumberland County History 17
(Summer 2000): 14-35
Smedley, R.C., M.D. History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania. 1883.
Smith, Billy G. and Richard Wojtowicz, eds. Blacks Who Stole Themselves: Advertisements for
Runaways in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1790. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.
Stauffer, John. The Black Hearts of Men: Radical Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Stevens, Charles Emery. Anthony Burns: A History. Boston: John P. Jewett and Co., 1856.
Stewart, James Brewer. "Peaceful Hopes and Violent Experiences: the Evolution of Reforming
and Radical Abolitionism, 1831-1837." Civil War History 17 (Dec. 1971): 293-309.
Still, William. The Underground Railroad. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872.
U.S. Senate. Mason Committee. Report on the Invasion of Harpers Ferry. 36th Cong., 1st sess.,
1860, I. Rept. 278.
Wayne, Michael. "The Black Population of Canada West on the Eve of the American Civil War:
A Reassessment Based on the MS Census of 1861," Social History 56 (November 1995): 465-81.
White, Edward. "Eyewitness at Harpers Ferry." American Heritage 26, no. 2 (1975): 56-59, 94-
97.
Winch, Julie. "Philadelphia and the Other Underground Railroad," Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography 111 (January 1987): 3-25.
Wooster, Ralph A. Politicians, Planters, and Plain Folks: Courthouse and Statehouse in the
Upper South, 1850-1860. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1975.
[pic]
[pic]
[pic][pic]
-----------------------
Gallery of remaining students and newspaper reporters
[pic]
Defense Team
Prosecution Team
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related searches
- define the word passion
- define the term marketing
- define the term philosophy
- define the level of significance
- define the word awesome
- define the concept of learning
- define the concept of culture
- define the level of significance quizlet
- define the role of government
- define the concept of values
- define the concept of development
- define the central dogma of molecular biology