Caleb Day (b. circa 1842 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-3397
Accomplice to slave flight, Charles County, Maryland, 1863
Biography:
In late 1863, Caleb Day, a free black, was traveling the Potomac River aboard a stolen boat harboring several escaped slaves when he was captured by Charles County residents. Along with Day were two accomplices: John Jones, born as John Reese, and Jacob Coats, born as Richard Coats. Day and Jones, a free mulatto, worked as firemen at the time of their capture, and Coats was a slave who had escaped from George W. Carpenter of Charles County. The escaped slaves were the property of Peter Wheeler, Thomas L. Speak, James F. Milsterd of Charles County, and at least one other owner. The slaves were likely on their way to Washington, D.C. to join the military and gain freedom. Day, Jones, and Coats were indicted and convicted in Charles County Circuit Court on December 14, 1863. As Day pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to serve six years and six months in the Maryland Penitentiary, while Jones and Coats were sentenced to serve eleven years and six months each.
The three had been captured near Coats’ residence before he had escaped from Carpenter. Jones’ wife, Dola Ann Jones, later testified to the Freedman's Bureau that before turning them in to authorities, George W. Carpenter had "whipped them so severely with a stave having auger holes bored in it that they suffered greatly for two months."1 The State’s Attorney for Charles County wrote, "I don't think there was any connection between these parties and the slaves abducted by them"2, even though the slaves were from the same section of the county.
After the three men had spent over a year in prison, and after slavery had been abolished, a good deal of support was garnered in favor of the pardon of Day, Jones, and Coats. Therefore, on May 10, 1865, the State's Attorney for Charles County offered to find out more about the character of Day and Coats, as their characters were not examined during their trial. The governor, in turn, asked for a list of people still being held in the Penitentiary who had been convicted of assisting slaves to escape after slavery was abolished. The Maryland Penitentiary board furnished a list of prisoners, including Joseph Bowers (convicted in Washington County), Mary Ann Coates (Baltimore County), Negro Aaron (Prince George's County), Joseph Boley (Anne Arundel County), Parker Johnson (Montgomery County), Day, Coates, and Jones. The Freedman's Bureau declared the holding of Day, Jones, and Coats to be unjust imprisonment on August 16, 1865. On September 1, 1865, John Eaton, Jr., Col. and Asst. Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, wrote a letter requesting the release of any person still detained in prison for violation of the fugitive slave law.
Day himself wrote a letter to Maryland Governor Augustus W. Bradford on October 8, 1865, feeling that he had no one else to turn to. In his letter, Day wrote that Bradford was "probably aware that at that time the soldiers in the service of the United States were scattered throughout the State of Maryland, everywhere enticing slaves to leave their masters. The General Government was thus setting the example: her soldiers were teaching the Blacks that they had a right to be free. Is it then surprising that I was found in company with a few of my own color on their way to Washington-the Canada of the United States?"3 Day reasoned that "slavery itself is a crime: now, I would ask, what does it avoid to keep me here incarcerated?…I have an aged mother at home who needs my support. For these reasons I pray that your excellency will take into consideration my case, and exercise the clemency invested in your office."4 Day's mother, Betty Day, was fifty-five years old.
A number of respectable citizens also urged the Governor to grant clemency to Day. Eventually, all of the hard work paid off, as the Governor pardoned Day on the grounds that "the crime of which he was convicted [was] one that cannot again be committed in this state, and so far therefore as the prevention of similar crimes is an object of human punishment such object cannot longer exist."5 The pardon hearing was on November 8, 1865, and the final decision was made on November 10, 1865. On the same day, Jones, Coats, and Aaron Shorter, who was also incarcerated for his crimes involving runaway slaves, were released. Day was released from prison on November 11, 1865, over four and a half years before his sentence was set to expire on June 16, 1870.
1 Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the District
of Columbia, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands,
1865-1869
National Archives Microfilm Publication M1055 Roll 21
"Miscellaneous Reports and Lists"
http://freedmensbureau.com/washingtondc/outrages2.htm
2 SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Papers) MSA S1031, Calib Day,
1865, MSA S 1031-23, MdHR 5401-61.
3 SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Papers) MSA S1031, Calib Day,
1865, MSA S 1031-23, MdHR 5401-61.
4 SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Papers) MSA S1031, Calib Day,
1865, MSA S 1031-23, MdHR 5401-61.
5 SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Record) MSA S1108, Caleb Day,
p. 1, November 10, 1865, MSA S 1108-3, MdHR 7932.
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