John Wesley Hughes (b. circa 1838 - d. )
MSA SC 5496-51386
Fled from slavery, Dorchester County, 1861
Biography:
John Wesley Hughes was owned in Dorchester County by Pritchett Meredith, who held 300 acres of land and about $5,000 worth of real estate in 1850.1 Meredith cultivated the land with the labor of enslaved African-Americans, whose numbers ranged from fourteen to sixteen in the middle of the 19th century.2 It is unclear how long Hughes lived in that household, as no chattel or land records detail his acquisition. He was most likely born in the immediate area. Meredith's tax assessment listed a 14 year old John in 1852, valued at $250.3 In the 1850's, Dorchester County had become an epicenter of slave flight, largely due to Harriet Tubman's expeditions to her native community. Two of Meredith's enslaved men, Denard Hughes and Tom Elliott, had already fled by March 1857.4 John may have been a relation of Denard, and had at least known these men and heard rumors about their courageous escape to the north.
Perhaps encouraged by the success of other local freedom seekers, Hughes was nearly able to execute his own bold escape in 1861. John boarded the steamship Kent on Christmas Day, en route to Baltimore. Another Dorchester County slave named George Hackett likely joined Hughes in this attempt. Unfortunately, the vessel's clerk closely inspected the travel passes of both men, and determined that they were forged. Hughes had almost made it safely to Baltimore, but was sent back to Cambridge the same day. Due in part to Meredith's testimony, a local free mulatto named William Hill was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his purported role in the scheme.5 There is no evidence to suggest that John Wesley was legally punished, as many enslaved people were sold out of state for similar infractions.
There was a John Hughes listed in Pritchett Meredith's official slave statistics, compiled from 1867-1868. There the "slave for life" was described as a healthy 22 year old, though he was probably several years older than that. He was apparently not able to enlist in the United States Colored Troops to serve in the Civil War, despite the fact that two of Meredith's other enslaved men did.6
1. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census, Dorchester County, MD, District 1, p. 144.
DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record), 1852-1865, District 7, p. 146.
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