Fugitive Slaves Part 10

[Footnote 207: Appendix D, No. 47.]

[Footnote 208: 31 Cong. 2 Sess., Senate Journal, 187; Congressional Globe, 580.]

[Footnote 209: Von Holst, III. 25.]

[Footnote 210: Appendix D, No. 51.]

[Footnote 211: Appendix D, No. 62.]

[Footnote 212: Appendix D, No. 49.]

[Footnote 213: Appendix D, No. 50.]

[Footnote 214: Sanborn, Life and Letters of John Brown, 420; Dougla.s.s, Life and Times of John Brown, 279, 282.]

[Footnote 215: Von Holst, John Brown, 104.]

CHAPTER IV.

_FUGITIVES AND THEIR FRIENDS._

-- 63. Methods of escape.

-- 64. Reasons for escape.

-- 65. Conditions of slave life.

-- 66. Escapes to the woods.

-- 67. Escapes to the North.

-- 68. Use of protection papers.

-- 69. Fugitives disguised as whites: Craft case.

-- 70. Underground Railroad.

-- 71. Rise and growth of the system.

-- 72. Methods pursued.

-- 73. Colored agents of the Underground Railroad.

-- 74. Prosecutions of agents.

-- 75. Formal organization.

-- 76. General effect of escapes.

=-- 63. Methods of escape.=--The great increase in the number of fugitives after 1850 was in part due to the uneasiness felt by Northern people under a law which made them co-workers with the South in a system of slave hunting, and in part to the greater ease of communication now afforded between the two sections. The knowledge that there was in the North a body of "abolitionists" eager to aid them from bondage to freedom was also spreading more widely each day among the slaves.

Public interest in the subject was more and more aroused, not only by the cases of cruelty and injustice which were forcibly brought to the attention of Northern communities, but also by the romantic and thrilling episodes of the escapes. To understand the att.i.tude of the North toward fugitives, it is necessary to examine some of the different methods used by the fugitives in their flight. Perhaps a better point of view than that of the outside observer will be gained by placing ourselves in the position of the slave, and examining his motives for flight, the difficulties which he encountered at home, the manner in which he overcame them, and, finally, the various paths of escape then open to him, and the agencies which befriended him and forwarded him on his way.

[Sidenote: Reasons for Escape.]

=-- 64. Reasons for escape.=--First, why did the slave seek to escape?

However unlike the attending circ.u.mstances, we find upon investigation that the negro's desire to run away may be traced to one of but three or four motives. Among the more intelligent slaves, who could comprehend the nature and injustice of their position, it often rose solely from the upspringing in their hearts of that love of freedom natural to all men.

It is probable that in the greater number of cases this was the motive at the root of the matter. A fugitive, on being questioned at an Underground Railroad station as to his reasons for escape, replied that he had had a kind master, plenty to eat and to wear, but that notwithstanding this for many years he had been dissatisfied. He was thirsting for freedom.[216]

Another said that his owner had always been considerate, and even indulgent to him. He left for no other reason than simply to gain his liberty.[217]

A second reason, and that which perhaps most frequently led them to take the decisive step in this often long premeditated act, was the cruel treatment received from their masters. An owner upon one of the Southern plantations said his slaves usually ran away after they had been whipped, or something had occurred to make them angry.[218]

A third and very effective cause was the fear of being sold South, where slave life, spent in toil under the merciless masters of the rice swamps and cotton fields, was seen on its darkest side. Such was the horror with which the slave regarded this change, that the threat of it was constantly used by owners as one of the surest means of reducing their rebellious slaves to submission. In the Virginia Slave Mother's Farewell to her Daughters who have been sold into Southern bondage, Whittier has well expressed their feelings.[219]

Many cases of this kind came to light through the examinations at the Underground Railroad stations. Three brothers once learned that the next day they were to be sent South with a slave trader then in the vicinity.

Filled with terror at the prospect, they preferred the danger of death in the swamps to the certainty of life in the unknown country. That night they made their escape, but it was only after weeks of wandering in swamps and mora.s.ses that they reached a haven.[220]

So long as a black family remained together upon one plantation, their love for one another operated as the strongest bond to prevent their departure; but when, as constantly happened, the sale and separation of the members scattered families far and wide, with no hope of reunion, the firmest and often the sole tie which bound them to the South was broken.

There was no longer anything to hold them back.[221]

=-- 65. Conditions of slave life.=--These are some of the motives which led the slave to plan an escape. It will now be well to glance at those surrounding conditions, incident to the time and country, which made successful flight particularly difficult. First, the slave was a negro; and in the South, where the presumption was that every black man must be a slave, the color of his skin gave not only a means of tracing him, but also made him liable at any moment to questioning and arrest.

In both city and country patrols were appointed, whose duty it was to keep strict watch over the negroes; and any slave found away from his plantation, unless in livery or provided with a pa.s.s, could be whipped and sent back to his master.[222] It was also lawful for any white man to seize and carry a stray slave to the nearest jail.[223] The next morning, if not claimed, he was advertised in a manner of which the following is an example:--

"Was taken up and committed to the jail of Halifax Co., on the 26th day of May, a dark colored boy who says his name is Jordan Artis; said boy says he was born free, and bound out to Mr. Beale, near Murfreesboro, Hartford Co., N. C., and is now twenty-one years of age. Owner is requested to come forward, prove property, pay charges, and take said boy away within time prescribed by law, otherwise he will be dealt with as the law directs.

"O. P. Sh.e.l.l, _Jailer_.

"Halifax Co., N. C., June 8, 1855."[224]

If not claimed within one year, such a prisoner could be sold by the jailer. Thus Olmsted remarks that "the security of the whites is not so much dependent upon patrols, as on the constant, habitual, and instinctive surveillance and authority of all white people over the blacks."[225]

=-- 66. Escapes to the woods.=--If an opportunity for escape should present itself, the first question for the slave was, "In what direction shall I turn?" Many slaves knew nothing of the Northern people, or had heard of Canada only as a cold, barren, uninviting country, where the negro must perish. To those who had neither the courage nor the knowledge requisite for a long journey, the woods and swamps near by offered the only refuge. There they built cabins, or lived in caves, and got food by hunting and fishing, and by raids upon the neighboring plantations.

In one of the papers of the day an underground den is noticed, the opening of which, though in sight of two or three houses, and near roads and fields, where pa.s.sing was constant, had been so concealed by a pile of straw, that for many months it had remained unnoticed. When discovered, on opening a trap-door, steps were seen leading down into a room about six feet square, comfortably ceiled with boards, and containing a fire-place. The den was well stocked with food by the occupants, who had been missing about a year.[226]

In most cases slaves were not so bold, and preferred concealment on an uninhabited island, or a bit of land surrounded by mora.s.ses. We often find advertis.e.m.e.nts of the time, mentioning such places as the probable refuge of runaways. The Savannah Georgian of 1839 offers a reward for two men who have been out for eighteen months, and are supposed to be encamped in a swamp near Pine Grove Plantation.

In the Great Dismal Swamp, which extends from near Norfolk, Virginia, into North Carolina, a large colony of these fugitive negroes was established, and so long was the custom continued that children were born, grew up, and lived their whole lives in its dark recesses. Besides their hunting and fishing, they sometimes obtained food and money, in return for work, from the poor whites and the negroes who had homes on the borders of the swamp. It was this practice of remaining out near home which, under easy masters, brought about the habitual runaways,--men who were constantly escaping, and after a little time returning, often of their own accord.[227] One of his masters said of William Browne, afterward a well known speaker upon slavery, that he hesitated some time before he invested seven hundred dollars in William, for he was "a noted runaway."[228] Again, in a Southern paper advertising a sale of slaves, one description is thus given: "Number 47, Daniel, a runaway, but has not run away during the last two years, aged 28 years."[229]

[Sidenote: Escapes to the North.]

=-- 67. Escapes to the North.=--Of those who, with heroic hearts and firm courage, determined to reach even Canada, many had seldom left the plantation on which they were born, and were so completely ignorant of geography and relative distances, that the best and quickest way northward could seldom be chosen. They knew nothing of the facilities for communication possessed by their masters through newspapers and telegraph, and would often fancy themselves safe when they had travelled but a short distance from home. In reality, the white people about were often fully informed against them, and arrests were almost sure to follow.[230]

The journeys of the fugitives were necessarily long, since unfrequented ways were generally chosen, and but part of the day could be used. There is a record of a man who had "taken a whole year in coming from Alabama to Cincinnati. He had travelled only in the night, hiding in the woods during the day. He had nothing to eat but what he could get from the fields, sometimes finding a chicken, green corn, or perhaps a small pig."[231]

Although the methods pursued were innumerable, and varied from those of the man whose only guide was the north star, to those of the party aided onward by the most elaborate arrangements of the Underground Railroad, the fugitive was obliged to follow one of two great routes, by water or by land. From the earliest times the ship had been a favorite refuge.

Once on board a craft bound to a Northern port, the fugitive was almost certain of reaching that destination, and, once arrived, could hope for protection from the Northern friends of whom vague rumors had penetrated the South. New laws, therefore, bore more and more heavily upon captains who should be found guilty of harboring a slave, and many cases were made public of cruel treatment experienced by slaves at the hands of captains who sent them directly back. Nevertheless, escapes on shipboard still occurred frequently through the years of slavery. A method commonly used by women in getting on board was to disarm suspicion by appearing to be carrying some freshly laundered clothes to the sailors.

=-- 68. Use of protection papers.=--Another method called for less physical effort on the part of the fugitive, but for greater coolness. It was simply to procure from some freeman his protection papers, and to show them whenever necessary to disarm suspicion. As the descriptions could seldom be made to agree, both giver and receiver were placed in situations of the greatest risk. It was thus, however, that Frederick Dougla.s.s travelled in the most open manner from Baltimore to New York, and escaped from a bondage to which he never afterward returned.[232]

[Sidenote: Fugitives disguised as Whites.]