Lincoln and the Fugitive Slave Act

[L Verge]

(01-18-2019 06:03 PM)L Verge Wrote:  

(01-18-2019 05:30 PM)Steve Wrote:  James Hamlet

According to my sources, Steve is correct. I stumbled on this the other night after receiving The Civil War Lover's Guide to New York City. I'll supply the details of Hamlet's story tonight when I get home from work.

Okay, I'm home, fed, and watered, and here's what I learned about James Hamlet, a free black man living in the Williamsburgh part of Brooklyn, NY. In September of 1850, he was seized by authority of a Thomas J. Clare who had been sent from Baltimore by a Mary Brown to find her escaped slave. Clare saw Hamlet and swore that he was the fugitive that he was hired to find.

Hamlet was taken into custody, and because of the laws at that time, he was not allowed to testify in his own defense. However, his supporters gathered in the oldest black church in the city and took up a contribution to buy his freedom. John H. Woodgate, a white businessman, went to Baltimore and ransomed Hamlet for $800 ($100 of which had been donated by another free black man).

As a result of this, free blacks in the city formed a vigilante group called The Commission of Thirteen to prevent such a thing from happening again and also to assist fugitive slaves. This brought a good deal of publicity to the new Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. In the end, it was proven that Hamlet had been born a free man. I'm now off to Google what eventually happened to him.

BTW: I highly recommend The Civil War Lover's Guide to New York City. The author is Bill Morgan, an archivist, writer and editor who has done a number of historical guide books. He has included a wealth of period as well as current photos as well as brief, concise histories and descriptions of about 100 places. Bet you didn't know that Stonewall Jackson was baptized in a New York City church that is still open for worship or that the home of Stephen Crane is still there and where he wrote Red Badge of Courage. There are also several monuments to Lincoln discussed.

I quit. So far, all that I can find is that Hamlet returned to his home, wife, and children in Brooklyn. The history trail ends there, but I would suspect that he became part of that vigilante group to protect others against such actions.