Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

George Hackett (b. 1842 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51387 
Fled from Slavery, Dorchester County, 1861

Biography:

    George Hackett was about nineteen years old when he decided to flee from slavery on the Eastern Shore. He labored on the Bucktown farm of Polish Mills, who never owned more than four African-Americans throughout his life. George and his brother William had been acquired from William M. Robinson in 1848, for a combined price of $602. Mills was "to have and to hold the said Negroes Wm & George as slaves for life."1 The white farmer claimed $8,000 worth of real estate in 1850.2 However, he only had two male slaves recorded in his 1850 slave schedule, ages 10 and 12, who are most likely George and his brother.3 "Negro George" was then listed in Mills' tax assessment in 1852, when the 11 year old was valued at $75.4     

    In 1860, Mills was in possession of four slaves, two of which roughly match the ages of the Hackett brothers.5 Over the years, these bondsmen probably worked alongside free blacks as well as enslaved laborers who had been hired out to Mills. Living inside the Bucktown district, George and William must have also heard about or witnessed the flight of numerous freedom seekers, who utilized underground networks that were well established by the late 1850's. By 1861, Hackett decided that it was time to pursue that possibility himself. On Christmas Day, George and another local slave named John Wesley Hughes set out for Cambridge, where the steamship Kent was docked. The vessel was headed for Baltimore, whose large free black population could hide a fugitive and facilitate efforts to go further north. However, the pair did not make it across the Chesapeake Bay before the ship's clerk suspected that their passes were forged.6

    George was forced to return to Dorchester County, where whites were eager to find out who had helped the young men in their escape. Local officials ultimately determined that a free black man, William Hill, was responsible for assisting Hackett and Hughes. The main witness to the alleged plot was Maria Camper, a free black woman who lived on Mills' property. Court documents relate her contention that George's brother had learned to write from Hill. Both of the freedom seekers' passes were affixed with the signature of local justice of the peace, Josiah Carroll. He was also a witness in the trial, presumably testifying that he had not written the passes. On May 19, 1862, Hill was convicted in the Dorchester County Circuit Court on two counts of aiding a runaway slave. He was sentenced to a total of  fifteen years at the Maryland State Penitentiary in Baltimore, each count yielding nearly the maximum charge of eight years.7 However, he did not have to serve that whole term. Hill was pardoned on February 7, 1865 by Governor Augustus W. Bradford, since "enticing slaves to escape" was no longer a crime after the abolition of slavery in Maryland.8

    George Hackett was also able to escape from his confinement in slavery even sooner, due to the same legal changes. As of  November 1, 1864, all bonded African-Americans in Maryland were freed by the new state constitution. However, Union military leaders had decided to take advantage of the crumbling institution over a year earlier. Starting in late 1863, the army had begun to recruit free and enslaved African-Americans, especially on the Eastern Shore. 20 year old George Hackett was enlisted on September 26, 1863 in the 7th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops, under Colonel William Birney. Polish Mills, as with most other slaveholders, received a $100 bounty for his former laborer's service.9 After drilling through the winter at Camp Benedict in Charles County, the 7th were shuttled down to South Carolina. They soon entered several engagements there and in Florida, before heading to Virginia in late 1864. Hackett's detachment participated in the capture of Petersburg in April 1865, setting the stage for Confederate surrender later that month. George was then sent to Indianola, Texas, where the regiment had garrison duty. The soldiers returned to Maryland soon after, ultimately disbanding at Fort Federal Hill in Baltimore, on November 15, 1866.10 

    In the 1870 Census, there is a George Hackett living in Baltimore City's 15th Ward, the exact neighborhood where the 7th regiment had been discharged.11 This area adjacent to the southern portion of the city's harbor had become home to a colony of African-American migrants after the war's end. Several of these were also former slaves or free blacks from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, including James Ennolds and John Armstrong.12 George Hackett may have been one of the many who recognized that Baltimore afforded greater economic opportunity than the rural plantation system from which they came. 

Footnotes -

1. Dorchester County Circuit Court, Chattel Records, 1847-1852, June 11, 1848.

2. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census, Dorchester County, District 1, p. 152.

3. Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census, Slave Schedule, Dorchester County, District 1, p. 15.

4. DORCHESTER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (Assessment Record), 1852-1865, District 7, p. 148.

5. Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census, Slave Schedule, Dorchester County, District 7, p. 7.

6. DORCHESTER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Court Papers) 1861-1863, Criminal Judgements, April Term 1862, "William Hill, free Negro" Presentments No. 2 and No. 8.

7. Ibid.
   DORCHESTER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Minutes) 1858-1865, Presentments, State of Maryland vs. William Hill (free Negro)

8. SECRETARY OF STATE (Pardon Record) MSA S1108, William Hill (Negro), p 432, Dates: 1845-1865

9. COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY (Bounty Rolls) 1864-1880, 7th Regiment USCT.

10. History and Roster of Maryland Volunteers, War of 1861-6, Volume 2, "Seventh Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops"

11. Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census, Baltimore, Maryland, Ward 15, p. 181.

12. Beneath the Underground: The Flight to Freedom - "USCT Pension Records."

Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.

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