Cassa (b. circa 1806 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-1545
Fled from slavery, Washington County, Maryland, 1852
Biography:
Though by no means the norm, numerous
examples exist of large kinship and friendship units striking out together
and at once for freedom by simply walking away from plantations.
Some of these have been documented successes, such as the group of greater
than thirty that fled Cambridge, Dorchester County, in 1857. The
success (or failure) of another such group of persons -- a family -- fleeing
slavery in Washington County, Maryland, has not been verified, however.
Yet, as with the others, their story demonstrates the central quandry with
which many freedom seeking blacks struggled: the impact of flight action
on the family. Cassa and Peter (b. circa 1802), both middle-aged,
fair-skinned blacks (described as "yellow man," and "yellow woman," respectively),
fled the Pendleton farm near Hagerstown, just south of the Mason-Dixon
Line, in Western Maryland's Washington County. Judging by the persons
who accompanied them, they moved as a family unit, of at least two, perhaps,
three generations. Forty-four year old Cassa and Peter (forty-eight) were
likely spouses. Charlotte Anne, twenty-one (the only person identified specifically
as Cassa's child) represented the oldest of the young people who accompanied
the two. Of the remaining, at least four (Elbert, nineteen; Henna, seventeen;
Amanda, fifteen; and Isaac, thirteen) were likely Cassa's and Peter's other children.
An additional five may have also been their children (Leonard, nine; Milly,
eight; Catherine, six; Henry, four; and Albert, three), since Cassa would have only
been forty at the point of the youngest's birth. If all five of the
children between the ages of three and nine were not Cassa's, they could have
easily been the children of the aforementioned Charlotte Anne (making Cassa
and Peter their grandparents, possibly), and would have thus been the sibilings
of two infant boys included in the group (another Leonard, perhaps named
for his uncle, and Benjamin). Familial connection, put another way,
would explain why seven of the fourteen fugitives were under the age of ten; their
loved ones could not leave them behind, no matter the risk.
Return to Cassa's Introductory Page
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