Adam Smith (b. circa 1827 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-1288
Fled from slavery, Prince George's County, Maryland, 1857
Biography:
Adam Smith was a slave on the farm of Isaac Scaggs living near Beltsville in Prince George's County, Maryland. Adam described Scaggs as "a real country ruffian, member of no church and a great drinker and gambler. . .." He owned eight adult and nine young slaves, including Adam's wife Maria Smith and their children Dall, Lem, Bill "Shug," and Ben. On March 4, 1854, Isaac Birch committed twenty-seven year old Adam to the D.C. slave jail as a runaway slave, and ten days later, he was released to Isaac Scaggs.1 Neither the fear of getting caught nor the slave jail tempered Adam's determination to ecape from slavery. He ran away three years later, on August 22, 1857, and he did not return. "Adam left because he 'didn't like the treatment'- twice he had been placed on the auction block."2 Adam would never be placed on another auction block. With William Still's assistance, he escaped to Philadelphia along with two other slaves. About a week after Adam's disappearance, Isaac Scaggs placed another ad for runaway slaves claiming that Adam had enticed Maria Smith and her children to run away. There is strong reason to believe that Adam's mother, living in Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., aided his escape. Adam found refuge in Philadelphia and then returned later to take his family with him to freedom.
1. (DC
Department of Corrections Collection), Adam Smith, 1854, MSA SC 3170, M
9597.
2. William
Still. Underground Rail Road: A Record of Facts, Authentic
Narratives, Letters, Etc. Philadelphia, PA: Porter and
Coales Publishers, 1872, page 414.
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