Elizabeth Burkett (b. ? - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-8738
Fled from Slavery, Worcester County, Maryland 1860
Biography:
In 1860, Elizabeth Burkett successfully escaped from Kunkletown in
Worcester
County, Maryland, with her husband, Henry
Burkett. Elizabeth and Henry
fled with fellow slaves Thomas
Sipple, his wife Mary
Ann Sipple, John
Purnell,
and Hale
Burton, holding a total of thirty dollars and looking to cross the
Delaware Bay into freedom. The group purchased a small vessel for
six
dollars and began their journey up the coast on their way to
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. En route, they encountered a group of white men who
attempted to overtake the slaves' boat. The fugitives, however,
defended
their vessel and continued on, despite injury to the passengers.
The group landed on a small island off the coast of Cape May, New
Jersey,
where the captain of an oyster boat offered to take them to
Philadelphia for
the remainder of their money. With the captain's help, Elizabeth
and the
rest of the group arrived in Philadelphia, where they were forwarded to
John W.
Jones, an agent of the Underground Railroad in Elmira.
A letter
from John W. Jones to author and Underground Railroad historian William
Still
dated June 6, 1860, details the arrival of the fugitives from Worcester
County.
Return to Elizabeth Burkett's Introductory Page
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