Come to Freedom, The Disastrous Mission to Free Slaves in Missouri

Part 2: Come to Freedom

There was a constant flow of slaves
through Illinois and Quincy in 1841. Many of the workmen on steamboats plying
the river were enslaved. Immigrants from the old slave states in the East,
traveled to Missouri, by virtue of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 the only
slave state north of the latitude line 36 degrees, 30 minutes. Thousands of migrants, many with slaves in
tow, traveled the National Road from Washington, D.C. to Illinois then up to
Quincy. No one ever tallied what percentage brought slaves with them. It was
illegal to reside in Illinois or the other states carved from the Northwest
Territory and own slaves, but you could travel with your slaves unmolested. You
could even pay innkeepers to lock your slaves up for the night. You could pay
the sheriff to discipline your slave for you. This was true throughout the
United States. The fancy resorts of Saratoga, New York bustled with southern
families and their slaves as plantation owners’ families sought to escape the
oppressive heat of the south. In 1841, there was little fear of having ones’
slaves molested by abolitionists and enticed to run off in “free” states.

Among the small cadre of abolitionists
in Quincy, George Thompson, Alanson Work, and James Burr had determined to put
their anti-slavery beliefs into effect and actually go into Missouri to try to
liberate slaves. Burr and one of the other two – they never confessed who it
was – had already made one foray into the state which had been a failure. On
July 11, 1841, the three men rowed across the river again. They banked the boat
near the Fabius River. Thompson stayed with the craft while Burr and Work went
inland. Burr went back to the Woolfolk farm. Mr. Woolfolk was not at home, so
the men took the opportunity to speak with the slave woman who kept the house.
They told her they were there to take her to freedom the next day if she wanted
to go. They told her to be at a willow thicket near the river the next night to
begin her trip to Canada.

The two abolitionists then went
into the fields and spoke with a group of slaves hauling lumber without
supervision. The slaves were named Paris, Allen, Prince, John, and the same
Anthony with whom Burr had spoken to on his earlier trip. The slaves were puzzled
when the white men approached and spoke to them. Slaves were not used to being
addressed as equals. There were very strong cultural conventions that people
followed. Slaves did not look white people in the eye when speaking with them.
Slaves had to be deferential to white people. These Illinois men did not follow
the unwritten rules. Work and Burr made
the same pitch they had made to the woman at the house: if you want to be free,
we will get you on the road to Canada. No doubt, the three naïve abolitionists
were surprised the slaves did not seem to jump at the chance.

The problem was simple. The slaves
had never heard of Canada and had no idea slavery did not exist there. They
were confused by the three abolitionists. Burr and Work talked to the slaves
and quoted the Bible to them as no white people had ever done before. This only
confused the group more. Slaves were accustomed to hearing only those Bible
verses that supported slavery. How many sermons had they heard from white
preachers on Paul’s admonishment in Philemon that slaves should obey their
masters?

Unable
to convince the slaves on the spot to run away, Work and Burr told them they
would meet them the next night at a nearby willow thicket and would talk to
them more. They agreed to explain to the slaves the details of the trek to
Canada and their chance for freedom. If the slaves wanted to go the next night,
they would row them across the Mississippi and start them on their way. Then Work
and Burr went back to the river and Thompson rowed them back to Quincy. They
were buoyed, no doubt by the thought that the next night with a little more
explanation, they could bring a batch of slaves to the Mission Institute. It
was not to be.

After
the abolitionists left, the slaves talked among themselves. No white man had
ever shown an interest in their well-being. This talk of freedom seemed
fantastic. They were unable to take Work and Burr at face value. Instead they
arrived at the only conclusion that made sense to them. They knew that they had
value. A frequent threat to keep slaves in line was to threaten to sell them
downriver. Slave owners told exaggerated stories of conditions on plantations
in Louisiana to coerce them into obedience.

The slaves decided that the
abolitionists were slave thieves who would sell them to a place worse than
their lot in Missouri. They selected Anthony as their leader and approached the
white man for whom they had been felling and hauling logs. No doubt, William P.
Brown was surprised that Anthony would approach him. It took a lot of courage
on Anthony’s behalf. He didn’t belong to Brown. His owner was Richard Woolfolk.
Brown had simply hired him from Woolfolk to work on cutting trees. Of course, Woolfolk
got all the money for Anthony’s labor.

Brown knew exactly what to do when
Anthony explained to him how Work and Burr had approached the slaves. Brown knew
what an abolitionist was, and that slavery had been outlawed in Canada. He knew
that the abolitionists had to be caught.
However, he immediately realized he had a problem. No white person had
heard Work and Burr speak. Under Missouri law, no slave could testify in court
– not even against an abolitionist. Brown sounded the alarm and a posse was
raised. The slaves were promised a reward for cooperating with the
slaveholders. The trap was set.

Continues with Part 3:

Sources

Dempsey, Terrell.

Searching
for Jim, Slavery in Sam Clemens’s World.

Columbia, MO:

University of Missouri Press, 2003.

Palmyra Missouri Whig

, July 17, 1841.

Palmyra Missouri Whig

, September 25, 1841.

Circuit Court records of Marion County, Missouri.

Liberator

, August 27, 1841.

Liberator

, October 8, 1841.

Liberator

, November 5, 1841.

Liberator

, December 10, 1841.

Thompson, George.

Prison Life and Reflections

.
Hartford, Conn.: A. Work, 1853.