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Beneath
the Underground:
Understanding Assisted Flight
& the Conspiracy Against
Slavery in Maryland,
1830 – 1860
Selected Case Studies |
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Fugitives |
Aiding and Abetting
Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Aiding
and Abetting
Not Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Enticement and
Persuasion
Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Enticement
and Persuasion
Not Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Peripheral
Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Peripheral
Not Identified As Black,
by County, by Gender |
Fugitives
(back to
top)
These are cases of enslaved
Marylanders who ran from bondage as individuals or part of a group. |
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Nat Burgess
Nat Burgess, a twenty-six year old enslaved
man belonging to Thomas Clagett, one of Prince George's County's largest
slave holders, fled in 1852.
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"Cassa"
On August 7, 1852, Cassa, a forty-four
year old "yellow woman," enslaved by Benjamin Pendleton of Hagerstown,
ran. She did so, it seems with her entire family -- 14 in all --
ranging from Peter (likely her husband), age 48, to several infants and
toddlers. Pendleton offered a reward of $100 per head for the safe
return of his property.
see
advertisment
"John"
John, a Kent Island slave, came to East
Baltimore with his owner in January 1849. Though it was assumed by
his owner that John knew no one in the city, he nonetheless flew
with ten days of his arrival there.
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advertisement
Margaret Morgan
In 1832, Margaret Morgan fled from her
Harford County owner to York Pennsylvania. She lived there until
being reclaimed by Edward Prigg, an agent of her owner. She and the
child she bore after arriving in Pennsylvania, were taken to Harford County.
Since Pennsylvania had abolished slavery and had enacted laws against kidnapping
and transporting blacks, even suspected slaves, the legality of Priggs
actions became the subject of litigation, ultimately decided in the U.S.
Supreme Court in Prigg
v. Pennsylvania, 41 U.S. 539 (1842)
Milly Tyler
Milly Tyler, an 18 year old enslaved by
R.H. Stuart of Prince George's County, fled in July 1851. Miss
Tyler's father and many other relatives were free blacks believed to be
living in Washington, DC. It was suspected she fled there.
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Aiding
and Abetting
Identified As Black, by County, by
Gender
(back to
top)
These are cases of persons
indicted and/or convicted (and in some cases, later pardoned) for various
actions viewed as enabling a slave to flee or avoid recapture once
on the run. Many of these cases were of unwitting participants in
a slave's flight, though a sizeable number reputed anti-slavery advocates. |
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Levi Brown
Levi Brown was arraigned in Frederick
Co. for aiding and abetting a slave belonging to S. R. Waters of Baltimore
City in running away on October 30, 1858. However, Brown turned state's
witness in order to help the state convict others connected to the crime.
Due to his testimony the Governor dropped all charges against him on December
3, 1858.
John Kemp
John Kemp was charged with enticing, persuading
and assisting slaves to run away. He fled to the District of Columbia
and was requisitioned along with 5 other free blacks on January 5, 1854
and then again by himself by Governor on May 6, 1864. There was no
record of him in the Penitentiary. He was most likely never caught by the
authorities.
Phoebe Myers
On December 5, 1855 Phoebe Myers, a free
African American woman in Queen Anne's County, was found guilty on seven
indictments of harboring the runaway slaves. A spinner by trade,
the brown complexioned, who stood five feet, six inches tall was illiterate.
A church-goer who had never been "bound out," she is believed to have been
the mother or guardian of a young girl, Ellenora, and likely a widow
or married to an enslaved man. She was convicted for her role in
the attempted escape of two slave families, the Johnsons and the Tildens.
The Johnsons, Lucy, William, and Maria were the human chattel property
of Richard Bennett Carmichael of the Corsica District, Queen Anne's County.
Also belonging to Carmichael and fleeing with the Johnsons were Robert,
Charles, and Hester Tilden, and Hester's infant child.
Phoebe Myers was sentenced to six years
and six months on the first charge and six years for each of the other
charges -- 42 yrs., 6 mos. (1855 - 1898) in all. However, appeals
were made to Maryland Governor Thomas Watkins Ligon on Phoebe Myers' behalf
by numerous influencial citizens, including Richard Bennett Carmichael,
owner of the runaway slaves [Biography - MSA SC 3525 1934], Clinton Cook,
a member of the State Senate, Philemon B. Hooper, former member of the
House of Delegates, Ezekiel Forman Chambers, former member of the Maryland
State Senate and the U.S. Senate, Thomas James Keating, future member of
the General
Assembly 1878, and John Mitchell Brown,
future Chief Judge of the Court of appeals 1893. In response to this
outpouring of support, on May 6, 1856 after little more than six-months
served, Phoebe Myers was pardoned.
See also MSA Biographical Series Entry
for "Phoebe
Myers"
Henry Norton
Henry Norton slave of Thomas Brown of
Prince George's Co. was charged along with John Kemp and 4 other free blacks
for enticing, persuading and assisting slaves to run away. He also fled
to the District of Columbia and was requisitioned along with the others
on January 5, 1864 and again by himself on May 6, 1864. There was
no record of him in the Penitentiary. He too was most likely never caught
by the authorities.
Benjamin Thomas
Benjamin Thomas was convicted and pardoned
for running away and assisting other slaves in running away on October
27, 1848. Thomas was a slave owned by William Henry Golt. Golt did
not want Thomas to be prosecuted; instead he wanted to sell him away out
of state. Therefore, he was recommended by judge P.B. Hopper for clemency
in order to be sold out of state.
Six Negroes
William Brown, Lethe Brown, John Kemp,
William Brown, William Lee and Henry Norton were all charged with enticing
slaves to escape and stealing mules. They all escaped to the District of
Columbia and were requisitioned by the Governor on January 5, 1864.William
Lee's owner was Charles E. Eversfield of Prince George's Co. and the second
William Brown's owner was John E. Bowie of Prince George's Co.
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Aiding
and Abetting
Not Identified As Black, by County,
by Gender
(back to
top)
These are cases of persons
indicted and/or convicted (and in some cases, later pardoned) for various
actions viewed as enabling a slave to flee or avoid recapture once
on the run. Many of these cases were of unwitting participants in
a slave's flight, though a sizeable number reputed anti-slavery advocates. |
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Ann Hatzell Matthews
Ann Hatzell Matthews, likely a shopkeeper
on Hill Street in Southwest Baltimore, was born Pennsylavania in 1805.
She, her husband and child kept a residence on the 100 block of Lee Street,
and may have arrived in Baltimore no earlier than the 1830s.
In Baltimore City Court during the September
Term, 1848, the State of Maryland vs Ann Matthews, she was convicted of
enticing "Margaret," the slave of Washington Rider, to run away.
Yet, shortly after her conviction, a movement to gain her pardon from Maryland
Governor Phillip Francis Thomas, spearheaded by noneother than the 12 members
of the jury that had just convicted her. Conceding that, in actuallity,
Rider's slave did not run away, and that Matthews was not an abolitionist,
"[n]or in any way hostile to the Institution of Slavery," the nonetheless
convicted Matthews, turning to the Governor for mercy after the fact.
"We know of no case which appeals more forcibly to the sympathies of every
feeling and humane heart," they argued. Another petition signed by
sixteen of Ann’s fellow citizens requested a pardon, “by every consideration
of humanity and of public justice.” Still another -- signed by fifty-nine
citizens -- also called for a pardon.
Almost simultaneously, a counter-movement
materialized to see her sentence served out. In October 1848, Washington
Rider, the slave Margaret's owner, wrote Governor Thomas, "this Ann Matthews
stands noted in her neighborhood as one of the very worst characters and
is a terror to her neighbors — her conviction has we feel assured given
satisfaction to those who know her best." Twenty-eight other citizens signed
Rider's petition. In addition, a letter from Levin W. Tall to the
Governor described Ann Matthews’ character as, “of the worst kind as she
is a perfect pest to the community at large.” In the end, Ann Hatzell
Matthews received a pardon. It was conditional, however, on her "keeping
the peace for 12 months and giving security thereto.”
The case of Ann Matthews is indicative
of two [phenomena] associated with reseaching people who intentionally
left few tracks. Ann Matthews was either a careful, calculating conductor
on the UGRR in Maryland, or an innoccent bystander swept up in the hysteria
caused by masters attempting to control and contain their slave property.
Which she was, we will likely never know with certainty.
See also MSA Biographical Series Entry
for "Ann
Matthews"
Sarah McMahon
Sarah McMahon was charged with harboring,
detaining and concealing Rose, the slave of Judge Peter W. Crain on December
28, 1857. Peter W. Crain was the original judge appointed to the case but
stepped down in view of his connection with the case. Judge Robert Ford
heard the case. She was pardoned on December 22, 1860. Judge Peter W. Crain
signed her pardon papers.
John Shaw
John Shaw was accused along with Zachariah
Shaw for persuading the slave Charles of James S. Davis Esquire to run
away. John was granted a pardon when he testified on the state's
behalf in a case against John Morgan. The grounds of the pardon were
that John Shaw would leave the state of Maryland within 6 months and never
return. His case went to trial October, 1855.
Zachariah Shaw
Zachariah Shaw was sentenced on March
8, 1855 for 6yrs and 2 months for inducing and persuading Charles, a slave
of James S. Davis Esquire to run away. Shaw was convicted in Frederick
Co. and pardoned on March 17, 1857 by Governor Thomas Watkins Ligon on
the grounds of a letter stating Shaw would leave the state if released.
Shaw was born in Virginia.
James E. Work
James E. Work was indicted for enticing,
persuading and assisting slaves to runaway in Talbot and Queen Anne's
counties. He was found guilty only for assisting slaves Dick and Nelly
Simmonds of owner Margaret Goldsborough and slave Henry Murray of Maria
Rodgers in running away. He was sentenced to confinement in the Penitentiary
until June 22, 1864. Work's brother-in-law requested a pardon on
the grounds that Work did not know the men he assisted were slaves.
He claims Work thought the men were free blacks. However, no pardon record
can be found.
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Enticement
and Persuasion
Identified As Black, by County, by
Gender
(back to
top)
The people addressed in
these cases were guilty of no action per se, only of allegedly putting
the idea in a slave's head that he or she should run. These cases are most
interesting because, like the "Peripheral" category, they speak to the
relative hysteria surrounding the protection of restless property. |
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James Harris
James Harris was convicted of aiding his
children and some other slaves to escape from servitude on August 13, 1863.
There were six slaves in total, the property of one Elias Wilson of Allegany
County. Harris hailed a stage coach that had slaves aboard outside
of Cumberland. He paid the way of the slaves at the next station,
and it was reported that he was in search of a room for the slaves to stay
in until the next evening when it was said that Harris would pay their
way to Uniontown, PA. On the basis of a petition to Governor A.W.
Bradford signed by the 11 Jurors who tried the case, 5 Members of the legislature
(all delegates), and 9 others. Harris was pardoned on December 20,
1864 by Governor A.W. Bradford.
Joseph Boley
Joseph Boley was a free Black man sentenced
in Anne Arundel county on November 10, 1863 to two 6 year terms in the
Maryland Penitentiary for enticing and persuading his wife, Elizabeth Boley,
as well as Mary Ann Boley, Nancy Ann Boley, Susannah Boley and Marlena
Boley, (all slaves of Joseph Benson), to runaway. In 1860, Joseph
Boley is actually listed in the census as a free man living with Joseph
Benson, the owner of the Boley family slaves (the very slaves whom Joseph
Boley later tried to help escape). In the Anne Arundel County Slave
Statistics of 1864, all of the Boley slaves listed under Joseph Benson
are listed as slaves “for life”. Joseph Boley was pardoned July 29, 1865
by A.W. Bradford.
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown was convicted on or around
April 22, 1864 in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court of enticing a slave
to run away. He was sentenced to be sold for the term of 3 years
within the state. He was consequently sold to the purchaser Edwin
W. Duvall, but ran away from him well before the 3 year term was completed.
Governor A.W. Bradford put a requisition out for him on January 24, 1865.
Henry Smith
Henry Smith, a free Negro, was charged
on the oath of slave owner Nicholas M. Bosley of Baltimore City, with the
crime of enticing and persuading his slaves Margaret Beal and Ellen Taylor
to run away. Smith reportedly fled the state of Maryland and took
refuge in Washington, D.C. Governor A.W. Bradford put a requisition
out for him on March 21, 1863, but there was never a record of him found
in the Maryland Penitentiary.
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Enticement
and Persuasion
Not Identified As Black, by County,
by Gender
(back to
top)
The people addressed in
these cases were guilty of no action per se, only of allegedly putting
the idea in a slave's head that he or she should run. These cases are most
interesting because, like the "Peripheral" category, they speak to the
relative hysteria surrounding the protection of restless property. |
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Thomas Skinner
Thomas Skinner was convicted of enticing
slaves to run away in Baltimore County on March 24, 1857. His case
was actually removed from Circuit Court of Baltimore City to the county.
He was a wagon driver who was 33 years old at his sentencing. He
was sentenced to be confined in the Maryland Penitentiary for ten years
and four months. He was recommended for clemency by his good conduct
during the period of his confinement as certified by the Warden of the
Maryland Penitentiary, and he was pardoned by Governor A.W. Bradford pardoned
Feb 18, 1865.
William Hill
On or around December 25, 1861, William
Hill persuaded George Hackett and John Wesley Hughes, ages 13 & 11,
the slaves of Polish G. Mills and Prichett Meredith, to run away using
a fabricated freedom record, found in the Court Papers. One of the
runaways, George Hackett, had a brother who learned how to write, from
William Hill. Hill was convicted in Dorchester County Circuit Court
on May 19, 1862 on 2 indictments, sentenced to serve in Maryland Penitentiary
until May 14, 1877. He was released on February 9, 1865 after being
pardoned on February 7, 1865 by A.W. Bradford.
Mary Ann Coates
Mary Ann Coates was convicted in Baltimore
County Circuit Court May 1862 of enticing slaves to run away. She
was age 58 when she was sentenced to serve 6 years in the Maryland Penitentiary.
The Governor requested the Board of the Maryland Penitentiary to furnish
a list of prisoners who deserve to have his consideration for a pardon,
and Mary Ann Coates was among those on the list in the letter that was
sent back to the Governor on Dec 29, 1863. Governor A.W. Bradford
pardoned Mary Ann Coates on May 30, 1865.
Hugh Hazlett
Irish born lawyer Hugh Hazlett helped
a group of slaves run away on or about July 24, 1858. The slave owners
were Jane Caton, Reuben E. Phillips, Mrs. Anne M. Dixon, and Samuel Hooper.
The Dorcester County Court decision was handed down on November 12, 1858,
convicting him 7 indictments in DOCC Nov Term 1858 for enticing, persuading,
assisting, and harboring slaves in a attempt to have them run away from
their masters. Hazlett was sentenced to MD Penitentiary for 44 years
6 months and 9 days, but pardoned on December 19, 1864 by Governor A.W.
Bradford.
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Peripheral
Identified As Black, by County, by
Gender
(back to
top)
These case do not actually
deal with flight or assisted flight, but more generally the climate of
the times. People in this category were guilty "disturbing the peace" in
essence, for their possession, circulation, and promotion of so-called
"incendiary" literature, or anti-slavery ideas. Such a climate on
the ideological level was crucial to validity of codes which saw the actions
of those in the other three categories viewed as criminal. |
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Peripheral
Not Identified As Black, by County,
by Gender
(back to
top)
These case do not actually
deal with flight or assisted flight, but more generally the climate of
the times. People in this category were guilty "disturbing the peace" in
essence, for their possession, circulation, and promotion of so-called
"incendiary" literature, or anti-slavery ideas. Such a climate on
the ideological level was crucial to validity of codes which saw the actions
of those in the other three categories viewed as criminal. |
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