2688 words.
STORY 8 – THE ENSLAVED PERSON’s BYWORD WAS . . (FREEDOM – “GETTING CLEAR”)
TRT: 23:23 (BEGINS WITHIN THE MUCH LONGER VIDEO SHOWN BELOW)
Video link: https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=23m23s
FLICKR 61 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686988512854
With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.
BEGIN CHAPTER 8 OR STORY (OUT OF 25) – The Enslaved Person’s Byword by Jim Surkamp.
Owning other human beings for Grandma Jane was distressing.
The Enslaved person’s byword
You COULD escape north and NEVER wanted to be sold south.
Escaping from the enslavers was quite doable in Jefferson County before the Civil War.
You just had to get across at night the Shenandoah River with the help of Goins, a free African American ferry boat man taking people over to the famed Shannondale Springs resort, known as a hotbed of abolitionist leanings.
You started near to the resort at the freed African-American community called Bushy Ridge, then on to Chambersburg Pa. or on to Chatham Ontario – hiding by day and traveling especially on the moonless nights
In fact, in the months after the John Brown Raid in October, 1859, over six hundred enslaved persons DID escape from mostly the southeastern part of the County, according to the U.S Census Slave Schedules reported the following August in 1860. No other County in the area reported any such escapes in that year’s Census form. Even two of John Brown’s raiders, one Osborn Anderson wrote about taking successfully a similar route to Chambersburg.
The raid, one could surmise, panicked the enslavers here and many began hiring off their human property south or selling them South. Breaking up a family at auction, was an intense fear, something Jane Charlotte Washington would not do.
While these Mount Vernon Washingtons never repudiated slavery outright, much to the imagined dismay of their great and far-sighted ancestor, Jane Charlotte Washington and her two sisters regularly freed some people, tried to educate as many as possible and used all their influence and considerable resources to protect and keep families in tact.
References:
Anderson, Osborne. (1861). “A Voice from Harper’s Ferry: A Narrative of Events at Harper’s Ferry; with Incidents Prior and Subsequent to its Capture by Captain Brown and His Men.” Boston MA: self-published. https://archive.org/details/voicefromharpers01ande
Ellen Brooks – Annie Marmion (1959). Under Fire An Experience in the Civil War. edited and compiled by William Vincent Marmion Jr.
“The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom” by Wilbur H. Siebert, The Macmillan Company, 1898. https://archive.org/details/cihm_13617/page/n7/mode/2up
Surkamp, Jim (2011). “POST: Free, Black Families in Jefferson County, Va. Towns” civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017.
Surkamp, Jim (2011) “POST: 602 Enslaved Counted in 1860 as “Escaped.” (698 words). civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017.
Thompson, Michael D. (1984). ”Calendar and Index to Recorded Survey Plats in Jefferson County, West Virginia (Virginia) Courthouse, 1801-1901.” Charles town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society. p. 166.
United States. Bureau of the Census; United States. National Archives and Records Service. (1967). Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] – Volume Reel 1392 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules Slave – Henrico, James City, Jefferson, Kanawha, King George, King and Queen, and King William Counties. Publisher Washington D.C.: Gov’t Printing Office. Jefferson county, Virginia. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014. p. 299 http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n298/mode/1up
Image Credits: (includes images from the video in sequence as they appear in the video)
1. Chapter 8: FINAL
2. The Enslaved Person’s Byword FINAL
3. Harmonica by Dave Hellyer FINAL
CREDIT: Drafting the Letter by Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html
5. Owning other human beings
CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html
6. for Grandma Jane
CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.html
detail John Gadsby Chapman’s “Mrs. J.A.W.”
National Masonic Memorial
7.
CREDIT:
Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.htm
8.
CREDIT: Edward Lamson Henry – circa 1871 https://19thcenturyusapaint.blogspot.com/2012/06/edward-lamson-henry-ctd.htm
9.
10.
11. In a field working
CREDIT: detail Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon Junius Brutus Stearns – 1851 https://archive.org/details/junius-brutus-stearns-george-washington-as-farmer-at-mount-vernon
12. Nicholas Roper
CREDIT: Nicholas O. Roper – courtesy Shelley Murphy
13. William Dotson
CREDIT: William Dotson – James Taylor and the Taylor Family
14.
14.1 Ellen Brooks
CREDIT: Ellen Brooks – Marmion, Annie P. (1959). “Under Fire: An Experience in the Civil War.” edited and compiled by William Vincent Marmion, Jr.
15.
CREDIT: Monique Crippen-Hopkins
16.
CREDIT: Mary Goins – courtesy Dr. Shelley Murphy
17.
CREDIT: Sukey Richardson – Middleway Conservancy Association wvgeohistory.org
18. TITLE The enslaved person’s byword was
19. FREEDOM
CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves
20.
CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves
21.
CREDIT: A Ride for Freedom – The Fugitive Slaves Eastman Johnson – circa 1862 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ride_for_Liberty_%E2%80%93_The_Fugitive_Slaves
22.
22.1
CREDIT: Apple Maps
22.2
CREDIT: Map of Jefferson County, Virginia; Summary: Shows Jefferson County before the formation of West Virginia in 1863. Contributor Name: Brown, S. Howell.
Created / Published: [S.l., s.n.,] 1852. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005625308/
Shannondale Springs by Dr. William F. Theriault jeffersonhlc.org
http://jeffersoncountyhlc.org/index.php/history-of-shannondale-springs-by-william-d-theriault-ph-d/
22.3
CREDIT: C. Burton, Charles. “Shannondale Springs, Virginia.”Engraved and printed by Fenner, Sears & Co. in London, September 1, 1831; drawing C. Burton, New York. National Register of Historic Places Nomination form wvculture.org p. 14 https://web.archive.org/web/20181024140108/http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/98000289.pdf
22.4
CREDIT: Shannondale Springs by Dr. William F. Theriault jeffersonhlc.org
http://jeffersoncountyhlc.org/index.php/history-of-shannondale-springs-by-william-d-theriault-ph-d/
Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV.
photo of Shannondale Springs ferry boatman circa 1894
civilwarscholars.com 9 June 2011 Web. 20 December 2016.
22.5
Map 1860
Compiled from “The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom” by Wilbur H. Siebert, The Macmillan Company, 1898.[1]
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. 20 December 2016.
23.
23.1
Reference: Bushy Ridge Plats No.25, 380, 395
Thompson, Michael D. (1984). ”Calendar and Index to Recorded Survey Plats in Jefferson County, West Virginia (Virginia) Courthouse, 1801-1901.” Charles town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society. p. 166.
CREDIT: Apple Maps
23.2
CREDIT: Dismal Swamp by Thomas Moran wikipedia.org https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slave_Hunt,_Dismal_Swamp,_Virginia_by_Thomas_Moran.JPG
24.
24.1 In fact, in the months after the John Brown Raid in October, 1859,
24.2 Bushy Ridge was a stop on the Underground Railroad that led North to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and was similar to the route taken by one of John Brown’s raiders, Osborn Anderson, who lived to write about his escape.
CREDIT: Osborn Perry Anderson
wikipedia.org 27 July 2001 Web. 1 October 2016.
24.3 No adjacent Virginia counties reported such great numbers in escapees as the number reported to the to the U.S. Census-taker in Jefferson County as of the summer of 1860.
NOTE: Should read: “Nearly 600 enslaved persons”
CREDIT:
1860 Census – “Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] (Volume Reel 1355 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules – James City and Jefferson Counties).” Beginning page Jefferson County.
United States. Bureau of the Census; United States. National Archives and Records Service. (1967). Population schedules of the eighth census of the United States, 1860, Virginia [microform] – Volume Reel 1392 – 1860 Virginia Federal Population Census Schedules Slave – Henrico, James City, Jefferson, Kanawha, King George, King and Queen, and King William Counties. Publisher Washington D.C.: Gov’t Printing Office. Jefferson county, Virginia. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014. p. 14.
http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n310/mode/1up
p. 15. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n312/mode/1up
Cookus Page 16 Slave Schedule title column 6 fugitive
p. 16. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n313/mode/1up
p. 19. http://www.archive.org/stream/populationschedu1392unix#page/n316/mode/1up
Free, Black Families in Jefferson County, Va. Towns
civilwarscholars.com 21 June 2011 Web 10 June 2017
25. No other County in the area reported escapes in such very high numbers in that year’s Census form.
CREDIT: Shenandoah Valley William Louis Sonntag, Sr. – 1859-1860 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shenandoah_Valley_William_Louis_Sonntag.jpeg
26.
26.1
CREDIT: detail Leisure and Labor
Frank Blackwell Mayer – 1858 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frank_Blackwell_Mayer_-Leisure_and_Labor–2014.136.111-_Corcoran_Gallery_of_Art.jpg
27. Voices – Alice Bort, Laura First, Ardyth Gilbertson FINAL
28.
28.1
CREDIT: “Slave Auction at Richmond, Virginia”
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) Source: Illustrated London News. Date:
September 27, 1856 http://www.virginiamemory.com/online-exhibitions/exhibits/show/to-be-sold/item/406
28.2
CREDIT: Slaves Waiting for Sale by Eyre Crowe, an English painter who arrived in Richmond, March 1853,
blog.encyclopediavirginia.org 30 March 2008 Web. 20 January 2017.
28.3
CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.
29.
CREDIT: Montage: The Washington Family, Apple Maps, mountvernon.org
29.1
CREDIT: Jean-Antoine Houdon · Bust of George Washington
mountvernon.org 11 November 1996 Web. 1 October 2016.
30. Jane Charlotte Washington and her two sisters, Christian Blackburn and Anna Maria Blackburn Washington, regularly bought the freedom for some people, tried to educate as many as possible and used their influence to keep families in tact.
CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.
30.1
CREDIT: A Visit from the Old Mistress Winslow Homer – 1876
the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.
30.2
CREDIT: Crayon, Porte. (Strother, David H.) “Our Negro Schools” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, New York, NY: Harper and Bros. Volume 49 Issue 292 (September, 1874). pp. 457-468.
hathitrust.org p. 458 – Charley https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210014814410&view=1up&seq=472&q1=Charley
30.3
CREDITS: John Gadsby Chapman – “Mrs. J.A.W.” – National Masonic Memorial; 1860 Census; Blakeley home – wikipedia.org
31.
CREDIT: Woman with a Cane William Aiken Walker – Date unknown https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Aiken_Walker_-_A_woman_with_cane.jpg
33.
CREDIT: Title: Life of George Washington–The farmer / painted by Stearns ; lith. by Régnier, imp. Lemercier, Paris.
loc.gov 16 June 1997 Web. 20 September 2016.
IMPORTANT: CLICK HERE (followed by CHAPTER OR STORY 9) https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/important/
CHAPTER OR STORY 9 CLICK HERE https://civilwarscholars.com/uncategorized/chapter-9-george-johnson-gets-clear-by-jim-surkamp/