Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (46 page)

fugitive slaves:

     in abolitionist movement, 23–26

     apprehension and rendition of, 9, 18

     armed, 204, 208–9

     average age of, 195

     in colonial period, 30–32

     communication network for, 205

     dangers for, 49, 71, 107, 161–64, 168–70, 172, 180, 209

     daring and dramatic escapes of, 49, 102–5, 107, 116–17, 167–68

     debate over direct funding for, 186–89

     escape methods employed by, 206–10

     estimated numbers of, 4–5, 10, 66, 83, 90, 99, 123, 147, 150, 155, 158, 166, 178, 179, 194, 211, 212–13, 215, 221–22, 225, 238, 262

     evolving sympathy for, 146

     freedom principle not applicable to, 144

     freedom purchased for, 61, 111, 117, 122, 127, 129, 132–35, 145, 149, 167, 169

     gender of, 195, 208

     group escapes of, 23, 98, 116–17, 123, 134, 156, 164–65, 194, 200, 205–6

     identification of, 69–72, 136

     imposters posing as, 106, 174

     individual and independent assistence to, 1–2, 18–20, 26, 56, 84, 102, 158, 160–62, 173, 222, 230

     international, 107–8

     legal obligation to return, 69

     legal representation for, 2, 67–71, 90, 107–18, 133, 137–38, 140, 220

     long periods of concealment for, 209, 210

     monetary compensation for aiding, 154, 158, 172, 176, 179, 206

     motivation for, 5, 22, 197–99, 200

     narratives and accounts of, 24, 26, 83–84, 102–104, 135, 152, 163,
see also
Record of Fugitives

     obstacles and hardships of, 3, 5–6, 84, 102, 103, 193, 197, 204, 207, 208, 209

     occupations of, 195–96

     organized assistance for, 64–65, 77

     political and legal bias agaisnt, 137–38

     profile of, 5, 194–97

     proliferation of, 116–17, 123, 212–15, 221–24

     record of,
see
Record of Fugitives

     return journey to South by, 190–91, 203–4

     rewards for return of, 3, 16, 155, 164, 192, 193, 199, 207

     rights denied to, 24

     risks of assisting, 21, 73, 105, 125, 153–56, 191–92, 206

     site map of origins of,
201

     slaves’ own initiative as, 13, 18

     unsuccessful escape attempts by, 105, 116–17

     violence in rescues of, 145–46

     within the slave states, 14

     
see also
specific individuals

Fugitive Slave Act (1793), 39, 42, 51, 52, 108, 109, 117

     corrupt legal enforcement of, 52, 60–61, 67–70, 72

Fugitive Slave Act (1850), 9, 10, 18, 24, 25–26, 39, 98, 106, 146, 147, 149, 164, 214

     during Civil War, 222

     and crisis of black community, 119–50

     debate over, 119–24

     enforced in New York City, 213, 219–20

     freedom principle and, 139–40

     implementation of, 126

     legacy of, 224–25

     passage of, 125, 166

     political debate over, 216–20

     provisions of, 125

     repeal of, 224

     severity of, 124–25

     underground railroad reinvigorated and radicalized by, 145–50

     as unenforceable, 130

fugitive slave clause, 37–38, 57, 98, 109, 117, 219, 221

fundraising, for underground railroad, 9, 183–85

Gara, Larry, 13–14

Gardiner, Alexander, 126–27

Garnet, Henry Highland, 24, 42, 168, 186

Garrett, Rachel, 159

Garrett, Thomas, 155–59, 161, 177, 191–93, 207, 225

Garrison, William Lloyd, 58, 62, 85, 92, 93, 95, 97, 155, 229

     as abolitionist, 24, 56, 90, 149

     in conflict with new abolitionist movement, 74–75, 80–82, 92–93, 96, 99, 100, 181, 186

Garrisonians, 80–82, 85, 88, 89, 90, 92, 95–102, 105, 112, 114, 124, 146, 182, 186–88

Garrison Literary and Benevolent Society, 61–62

Gault, Dick, 205

Gault, Johny, 205

Gault, Phillis, 199, 205

Gay, Ebenezer, 92

Gay, Elizabeth Neall, 92–93, 101, 174, 188

Gay, Martin, 92

Gay, Sydney Howard:

     AASS headed by, 171, 172–76

     abolitionist stance of, 8, 92–98, 130, 131, 182, 229

     accounts of fugitives recorded by,
see
Record of Fugitives

     as agent of underground railroad, 9–10, 90, 98–108, 115–16, 142, 143, 156, 158, 162, 164, 175, 177, 179, 181, 189, 191–92, 204, 205, 207, 209, 210, 229, 230, 238, 262

     clandestine activity of, 171

     during and after Civil War, 228–30

     financial burden of, 174–75, 187

     friction between Still and, 175–76

     heritage of, 92

     marriage of, 92–93, 101

     meticulous record-keeping by, 193–94, 210

     N.Y. State Vigilance Committee’s rivalry with, 183–85, 187

     in rift with Douglass, 182

     as
Standard
editor, 96–97, 159, 174–75, 210, 222, 228

     at
Tribune
, 210

     on Tubman’s exploits, 191–94, 203

     use of legal system by, 108–9, 112–14

     writing career of, 228–29

Gentlemen’s Vigilance Committee of New York, 168

George III, king of England, 34

Georgia, 21, 34, 119, 122, 132, 220

     fugitives originating in, 78, 112, 147, 148, 195

Georgia Platform, 125

Germans, 136

“ghettos,” rise in New York City of, 47

Gibbons, Abigail Hopper, 57–58, 93–94, 99, 100, 101, 172, 174, 188, 229–30

     during and after Civil War, 227–28

Gibbons, James S., 57–58, 73, 76, 81, 93, 94, 95, 97, 101, 172, 228, 229–30

Gibbons, Marianna, 12

Gibbs, Jacob R., 87–88, 128, 139, 165, 175–76, 182

Gibson, Abraham, 136

Giles, Charlotte, 207

Gill, Rebecca, 142

Glasgow, 186, 197

Glasgow Female Anti-Slavery Society, 186

Glasgow New Association for the Abolition of Slavery, 186

Gordon, Nathaniel, 67

Goslee, Abraham, 69–70

gradual emancipation, 36, 38, 40, 43–44, 54, 99

Graff, Allen, 213

Great Britain, 16, 140

     abolitionist support in, 20, 24, 25, 50, 56, 57, 85, 90, 92, 101, 136, 137, 148, 166, 168, 180, 184–87, 189, 191, 202

     as destination for fugitives, 56, 105, 148

     slavery in New York City under, 28–32

     slaves offered freedom by, 33–36, 37–38

     in slave trade, 28

Great Dismal Swamp, 16

Great Negro Plot (1741), 29

Greeley, Horace, 110, 131, 210, 228

Green, James S., 220

Green, William, 72–73

Grigby, Barnaby and Mary Elizabeth, 203–4

Grimké, Sarah, 56

Hagerstown, Md., 207

Haiti, 107

Hall, Charles, 199

Hall, Charles M., 130

Hall, Jacob, 199, 200

Halliday, Simeon (character), 155

Hamilton, Alexander, 41

Hamilton, Canada, 207

Hamlet, James, 126–30, 132–33, 135, 136, 145

Harned, William, 89, 115–16

Harris, Charlotte, 164–65

Harris, James and Elizabeth, 200

Harrisburg, Pa., 123, 158–60, 207, 208

Hartford, Conn., 73

Harvard, 92, 149

Havre de Grace, Md., 56

Haxall, Richard, 61

Haxall and Company, 196

Hayden, Lewis, 105, 120, 147, 148

Hayes, Rutherford B., 148

Haywood, John, 198

Haywood, Rufus, 60

Henning, Thomas, 182

Hennison, Albert, 202

Henry Box Brown’s Mirror of Slavery
, 104

Hewitt, Mrs., 142

Higgins, James W., 63

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 187, 205

Hill, John Henry, 165

Hill, Samuel, 198

Hill, Simon, 207–8

Hilliard, Frances, 202

Hingham, Mass., 91–92

Hodges, Graham, 7

Holliday, Charles, 206–7

Hollingsworth, Jacob, 207

Honduras, 50

Hopkins, Henry, 191–92

Hopper, Isaac T., 57–58, 73, 76, 88–90, 93–94, 99–100, 113, 229

Hopper, Josiah, 113

hotels, in New York City, 45–46

House of Representatives, U.S., 123, 223

     Fugitive Slave Bill in, 121

Howe, Samuel Gridley, 105

Howe, Timothy O., 217

Hoy, Josiah, 213

Hudson River, 2, 34, 73, 177

Hughes, Thomas, 73

Hughlett, William, 192

Hungarian revolution (1848), 166

Hunn, John, 156

Hunt, Washington, 166

identification, 69–72

Illinois, 217, 220, 222, 223

immigration, 8, 136

indentured servants, 31

Independence Day, tensions over, 48

Independent
, 211

Indiana, 92, 98, 217

Indian nations:

     as destination for fugitives, 16, 30

     treaties with, 25

integration efforts, 226

intermarriage, 59–60

Iowa, 225

Ireland:

     abolitionist support in, 180

     home rule for, 226

Irish, 85, 133, 136, 200

Iverson, Alfred, 220

Jackson, Andrew (slave), 158

Jackson, Ben, 191–92

Jackson, Francis, 104, 113–14, 177, 178, 189

Jackson (steamer employee), 173

Jacobs, Harriet, 7, 102–3, 135

Jacobs, John S., 102–3, 135

Jake (William Dixon; fugitive slave), 2, 70–71

Jane (slave), 139

Jay, John, 41, 43, 56, 58, 107

Jay, John, II, 107, 112–15, 131, 133, 137–38, 140–42, 178

Jay, William, 56–57, 58, 60, 66, 107, 178

Jeffers, Mary, 210

Jersey City, N.J., 175

Jim (fugitive slave), 214

Jocelyn, Simeon S., 89

Joe (fugitive slave), 105

Johns, Ann, 202–3

Johns, Daniel (Joseph Cornish), 202–3

Johnson, Daniel, 142–44

Johnson, Frederick,
see
Douglass, Frederick

Johnson, Henry, 158

Johnson, Isaiah, 142–44

Johnson, Jane, 142–44

Johnson, Joseph, 106

Johnson, Oliver, 96, 100, 159, 211–12, 222–23

Johnson, Richard M., 141

Johnson, Rowland, 161, 174

Johnson, William Henry, 21

Johnston, William, 63–66, 75, 83, 85

Joiner, Maria, 209

Jones, George, 73–74

Jones, James, 197

Jones, John T., 207

Jones, Rebecca, 200–2

Jones, Thomas, 199, 207

Jordan, William, 209

Journal of Commerce
, 127, 178, 219

juries:

     blacks prohibited on, 47

     in Canada, 137

jury trial:

     denied to fugitives, 24, 29, 51, 71, 72

     fugitives’ right to, 51–52, 78, 111, 121, 149, 216, 220

Justice Department, U.S., 148

Juvenile Miscellany
, 95

Kansas, black emigration to, 227

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), 149, 216

Kelley, Abby, 81, 92

Kennett Square, Pa., 159, 161

Kentucky, 119, 220

     decline of slavery in, 122

     fugitives originating in, 16, 21, 25, 105, 120, 195, 199, 214

     secession issue in, 218

Keziah
, 153

kidnapping:

     of black children, 2, 50, 61, 212

     decline of, 78

     evolving public opinion opposed to, 78

     of free blacks, 2, 42, 50–52, 74, 90, 108–9, 125

     New York City law against, 50

     protection from, 61–62

     in rendition of fugitives, 38, 52, 58, 60–61, 64–66, 68–70, 109, 159, 214

     threats of violence against, 145–49

     of Trainer, 139

Kidnapping Club, 52, 69

Kimberton, Pa., 161

King, Boston, 35, 36

King, John A., 178

Kingsland, Ambrose, 131–32

Kirk, George, 112–14

Kossuth, Lajos, 166

Ladies’ Fair, 174

Ladies’ Literary Society, 65

Ladies’ New York City Anti-Slavery Society, 94

Ladies’ societies, 168, 174, 180, 183–84, 187

Lake George, N.Y., 227

Lamon, Ward Hill, 222

Lancaster, Pa., 101

Lane, Anthony, 9

Larrison, William Henry, 200

Latham, Major, 200

Latimer, George, 111

Latimer, Rebecca, 111

Latimer law, 111

lawyers:

     antislavery, 68–70, 111, 112, 131, 137–39, 211, 220

     denied to fugitives, 39, 69, 169

     
see also
specific individuals

League Island, 153

Lee, John, 114–15

Lee, Luther, 88

Lee, Thomas, 115

legal system:

     bias against fugitives in, 137–38

     colonial, 29

     corrupt practices in, 52, 60–61, 67–70, 72, 78–79, 133, 134, 143, 169, 214, 215

     costs in, 71

     freedom principle and, 38, 139–40, 212

     fugitive representation in, 2, 67–71, 90, 107–18, 133, 137–39, 141, 143–44, 216

     Fugitive Slave Law (1850) in, 126–27, 131–34

     individual conscience vs., 26, 156

     of North vs. South, 105

     in penalizing fugitive assistence, 21–22, 30–31, 153

     proceedings against kidnappers in, 78

     rendition in, 24, 36–38, 60–61, 72, 108–10, 169, 213

     state vs. federal jurisdiction in, 24–26, 38–39, 109–10, 113, 120, 125, 217, 224

     Vigilance Committee victories in, 138–41, 143–44

     
see also
specific laws and cases

Leesburg, Va., 158, 196

Lembrança
, 107

Lemmon, Jonathan, 140, 141, 142

Lemmon, Juliette, 140, 142

Lemmon
decision, 141–42, 144, 219

     rival fund-raising campaigns in, 141

Lenox, Mass., 183

Leonard, William, Jr., 230

Leonard, William H., 107, 172, 175, 176, 212, 213, 230

“Letter to the American Slave,” 124