THE PEARL, Largest Attempted Slave Escape In US History, 1848, Wash., DC: Paul Jennings

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Thu Apr 21, 2022, 05:05 PM - Edit history (2)

- Paul Jennings (1799–1874) was born at Montpelier in Orange, Va., the home of James Madison. Jennings was an American personal servant, as a young enslaved man, to President James Madison during & after his White House years. Jennings is noted for publishing in 1865 the first White House memoir. His book was A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, described as "a singular document in the history of slavery & the early American republic."
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- The Largest Attempted Slave Escape in American History. The failed escape attempt inspired "Uncle Tom's Cabin." History, Aug. 23, 2017.

All through the night of April 15, 1848, slaves slipped out of their masters’ houses and crept through the streets of Washington, D.C. Their destination was the Pearl, a schooner that promised freedom to as many people who could fit on board. As more and more people filled the boat—77 in all—hope surged through the assembled slaves and the boat’s white crew. Freedom was just 225 miles away…that is, if they made it that far. Now known simply as the Pearl Incident, the plot was one of the most daring of its era, and one of the most infamous.

It was the largest attempted slave escape in American history—one that was doomed from the start. The slaves’ decision to board the Pearl was not spontaneous; it was the product of months of planning. It was the brainchild, in part, of 2 free black men who had seen slavery firsthand. And though the stakes were high, the potential payoff was more than worth it. Paul Edmonson knew the risks and rewards well. He was free, but his wife, Amelia, wasn’t—and Maryland law meant that all 14 of the children he had with his enslaved wife belonged to her mistress, Rebecca Culver. Though 4 of his children had purchased their freedom, the rest were still enslaved and their labor leased out to rich D.C. families.



- Edmonson Sisters, sculpture (detail) in Alexandria, Va. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonson_sisters

Paul Jennings, who had been the slave of President James Madison’s family until his wife, Dolley, freed him in her will, was also active in the city’s anti-slavery movement, & the 2 men reached out to William Chaplin, one of Washington’s most prominent abolitionists. Chaplin & others, including Gerrit Smith, a philanthropist known for using his riches to fund anti-slavery efforts & assist African-Americans, agreed to fund the plan. Captain Daniel Drayton, hated slavery, & during years of sailing up & down the Atlantic coast, the pleas he heard from enslaved people touched his heart. “Why had not these black people, so anxious to escape from their masters, as good a light to their liberty as I had to mine?” he wrote in a memoir of the incident. Drayton hired the Pearl as the escape vessel, enlisting the ship’s white captain, Edward Sayres, & a single boatman to assist with the escape.

News spread that the ship would depart on April 15, & slaves hatched plans to head to the wharf on the Potomac that night. Among them were 6 Edmonson siblings, including 13-year-old Mary and 15-year-old Emily.

But though hopes were high, the tide—literally—was against the escape attempt. As the boat slipped into Chesapeake Bay on its way to New Jersey, a free state, it faced a strong headwind & the tide brought the ship to a halt within hours. The Pearl was forced to drop anchor near Point Lookout, Maryland. Hours later, a posse hired by the slaves’ furious owners rendezvoused with the boat. They dragged the ship, slaves & crew back to Washington. “All on board were…made prisoner without bloodshed, although it was evident that the slaves would have resisted if there were any chance of escape,” wrote a local newspaper. But the real danger awaited them in Washington, D.C., where an angry mob had gathered at the dock. The slaves, many of them in manacles and chains, were paraded through the streets...
https://www.history.com/news/the-largest-attempted-slave-escape-in-american-history
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- Daguerreotype photograph of Mary Edmonson (left) & Emily Edmonson (right), shortly after they were freed in 1848.

- Mary Edmonson (1832–1853) & Emily Edmonson (1835 – Sept. 15, 1895), were African Americans who became celebrities in the United States abolitionist movement after gaining their freedom from slavery. On April 15, 1848, they were among the 77 slaves who tried to escape from Washington, DC on the schooner The Pearl to sail up the Chesapeake Bay to freedom in New Jersey. Although that effort failed, they were freed from slavery by funds raised by the Congregational Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York, whose pastor was Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent abolitionist. After gaining freedom, the Edmonsons were supported to go to school; they also worked. They campaigned with Beecher throughout the North for the end of slavery in the US...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonson_sisters
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- The Pearl incident was the largest recorded nonviolent escape attempt by enslaved people in United States history. On April 15, 1848, 77 slaves attempted to escape Washington D.C. by sailing away on a schooner called The Pearl. Their plan was to sail south on the Potomac River, then north up the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River to the free state of New Jersey, a distance of nearly 225 miles. The attempt was organized by both abolitionist whites and free blacks, who expanded the plan to include many more enslaved people. Paul Jennings, a former slave who had served President James Madison, helped plan the escape... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_incident
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- PAUL JENNINGS (1799–1874) was an American personal servant, as a young enslaved man, to President James Madison during and after his White House years. Jennings is noted for publishing in 1865 the first White House memoir. His book was A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison, described as "a singular document in the history of slavery and the early American republic." Living in Washington, DC from 1837 on, Jennings made many useful connections and was aided by the northern Whig Senator Daniel Webster in gaining freedom.

In the 1850s, Jennings traveled to Virginia, where he tracked down his children, who had grown up on a neighboring plantation with his late wife Fanny, who was also enslaved. His relatives on his mother's side were sold by the widow Dolley Madison with Montpelier in 1844. His three sons joined the Union cause during the American Civil War. In 2009 his descendants were honored at Montpelier following a lecture on Jennings. They were also invited to a private viewing at the White House of the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington, which Jennings helped save during the Burning of Washington, an episode of the War of 1812... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Jennings_(slave)



- Daguerreotype taken by Ezra Greenleaf Weld at the 1850 Fugitive Slave Convention, Cazenovia, New York. The Edmonson sisters are standing wearing bonnets & shawls in the row behind the seated speakers. Frederick Douglass is seated, with Gerritt Smith standing behind him.

[brush]

1. Thanks for posting. I didn't know about this.

[appalachiablue]

2. A courageous effort of huge importance, much more

should be known about this bold plan and the people behind it. The Pearl deserves its own museum and monument.

I added more info. above on the *Edmonson sisters- photo of a bronze sculpture of them in Alexandria, Va. and Wiki.