GDG- Underground Railroad Locations

[Marc Ferguson]

David,
I was familiar with the court case involving Dorsey -- it's recounted in a 
letter by Robert Purvis to R.C. Smedley and published in his 1883 book 
_History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties 
of Pennsylvania_. To embellish on the story, Dorsey lived in the Western 
Massachusetts town of Charlemont, with or near Joshua Leavitt's father and 
brother, until moving to Florence in about 1844. He built a house there 
which he then sold, moving to another house nearby, around 1852. Two years 
later Dorsey's original house was sold to the fugitive slave Thomas H. 
Jones. David Ruggles himself moved to Florence in the early 1840s, and 
operated a "water cure" until his death around 1849. One of Basil's 
brothers, Thomas Dorsey, escaped with Basil but was caught and returned to 
slavery. Friends later purchased his freedom, and he went on to become a 
very prominent caterer in Philadelphia. W.E.B. DuBois wrote about Thomas 
Dorsey. Basil's first wife, with whom he had 3 children, died while they 
were in Charlement. He remarried and had 11 children with his second wife. I 
believe that he named his first son Robert Purvis Dorsey. While living in 
Florence, Basil would certainly have known Sojourner Truth, who also lived 
nearby in her own home. He steadfastly refused to purchase his freedom, 
standing on the principle that no one had a claim on him, but later agreed 
to let friends, who were concerned that since he traveled about Western Mass 
on business he might be vulnerable at some point to being caught by 
slavehunters, raise money for this purpose, and his freedom was eventually 
purchased. He worked as a teamster and died in 1872. He was probably 
illiterate, and there are no known writings of his, nor are there any known 
photographs. Someday I hope to find the time to go through materials at the 
local historical society and libraries, which are rich in unexamined 
materials, to see if any photos exist.

Marc

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Smith, David" <smith_david_g at bah.com>
To: <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 3:11 PM
Subject: RE: GDG- Underground Railroad Locations


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Marc--

What a great post!  I will point out that while you are correct, the
UGRR is mythologized and overromanticized, along the dangerous border,
the UGRR was perhaps more like the UGRR of legend than anywhere else.
African Americans played the leading role in both escape and in helping
fugitives to escape, but if you look at the census records for south
central Pennsylvania, there are a lot of townships where there are no
African Americans as all.   White families could play a key role in
helping fugitives escape, or as a backup in case original plans fell
through (which happened in 1846, when an African American named Cole
failed to get ten fugitives to the Ege iron furnace by daylight, and he
had to turn aside and leave them with a local farmer (who was promptly
prosecuted for his troubles).

I'd nuance a little the statement that the UGRR was a constantly
changing set of relationships.  For the relatively few who were in it,
many stayed in it for decades.  What changed in many cases was their
location - so Levi Coffin, who had played an important role around
Delaware and Philadelphia, went on to play an important role around
Cincinatti.  In my next e-mail I will talk about some important people
believed to be involved in the Adams County area UGRR.

I had known about Basil Dorsey, but not about the Massachusetts part of
his experience. You may be interested to know, if I am recalling
correctly, that Dorsey was the subject of a notable trial in Bucks
County.  He was cleared when his lawyer, David Paul Brown, successfully
challenged the slaveholder and his lawyer in court.  Brown challenged
the statement that the state of Maryland permitted slavery; when the
slaveholder's lawyer entered into evidence a copy of the code of
Maryland, Brown successfully challenged it because it was not a
certified copy.  According to Brown, no court would accept uncertified
documentation, and a man's freedom should not depend on such flimsy
documentation! The judge agreed and Dorsey was successfully whisked out
of the state before the slaveholder could appeal.  Thanks for completing
the story.

David

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 21:43:28 -0400
From: "Marc Ferguson" <marcferguson at charter.net>
Subject: Re: GDG- Underground Railroad Locations

"My take on this is that the underground RR was not a railroad with
stops. It was a network of people who, occasionally or often, helped
move slaves from the south to safe havens in the North."

I agree with this statement. Considering the novelty and significance of
the railroads during the antebellum period, it is not surprising that
this metaphor caught on. But it was, after all, only a metaphor. The
actual "UGRR" was really a constantly changing network of relationships.
After the war the idea of the Underground Railroad was much
romanticized. Many people made claims for their participation, or
especially for their parents'
involvement in this activity. Many of these claims must be taken with at
least a grain of salt. Most slaves who fled did so on their own, and
what aid they received was generally given by other blacks. While there
are undoubtedly cases of "secret rooms," this is a wildly exaggerated
element of the "railroad." Once fugitive slaves were able to cross the
border from a slave state into a free state, their protection was
primarily due to the solidarity of the communities, mostly black, that
harbored them, as well as the refusal of the larger white community to
aid slave-hunters. There was a fugitive slave named Basil Dorsey who
settled in a community, Florence, Massachusetts, close to where I live
who apparently passed through Gettysburg on his flight from slavery in
Frederick County, Maryland. An account of Dorsey's life in the Hampshire
Gazette from April 2, 1867
reports: "On the 14th of May 1836, before anti-slavery became very
popular, even in Massachusetts, Dorsey, in company with two other
slaves, turned his back upon his master and set out for the land of
freedom. They traveled in the night and reached Gettysburg to safety.
>From thence they went to Harrisburg and then to Reading." Unfortunately
this account doesn't give any details as to whether anyone in Gettysburg
aided them. My guess is that there were free blacks in the area who
sheltered them, which was often the pattern. Dorsey was later assisted
by the famous abolitionist Robert Purvis, went on to New York where he
was apparently assisted by David Ruggles, and then on to Western
Massachusetts. Notably, Dorsey affixed his name as one of ten "fugitives
from Southern Slavery" to a public notice in the _Northampton Courier_
of 10/22/1850, calling for a public meeting to "express their opinions
and adopt such measures as they deem proper to prevent Massachusetts
from being made slave hunting ground."

Marc Ferguson
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