Historical Documents - 1850s

   A PANIC IN TALBOT COUNTY, MARYLAND.––A letter from a reliable source in Talbot (says the Baltimore Exchange) thus explains the excitement said to exist in that county: "There will be, I apprehend, some rumors reaching you of an unpleasant excitement here, but I hope that neither currency nor credit will be given to such. It seems that a portion of a letter was picked up yesterday at St. Michael's, without date, signature or address upon it, but making allusion to meetings of servants to be held in three different places in Miles River Neck. The purpose was not stated, but as the fragment stated that six hours would be sufficient for the accomplishment of their objects, it was supposed that a grand stampede was alluded to. Whether the paper is an old affair or of recent origin, whether a genuine document or a hoax, has not been determined. 

                             MESSAGE OF THE

                       GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA,

                   RICHMOND, DECEMBER 5, 1859. 

   The Post Master at Emerson, writing to us on business, adds the following postscript:

   "The next man that comes along and enquires for Emerson, tell him that it is in the North-west corner of Marion county, Mo. A gentleman told me a short time since that he enquired two days in your city before he could fin a man that could tell him where Emerson was. 

   "A day or two since a lot of negroes in this neighborhood were making preparations for a general stampede, but the scheme was detected before they got off, and their plans defeated."

      Beecher on Practicability. 

   The Independent, in some comments on John Brown's movements at Harper's Ferry, observes:

   "If we carefully analyze the action in the light of the hero's character and motive, we shall find that the criminal loses itself, in the erratic; that the sheer impracticability of the scheme is the real ground for its condemnation." 

   HARPER'S FERRY.––The slave population of the region of country in which the late outbreak was located is very large, and no doubt an immense stampede was calculated upon by these people. Within twenty miles of Harper's Ferry, there are not less than 23,000 slaves, of whom probably 6,000 are men. 

   Ten negroes, valued at $10,000, escaped from Lagrange, Mo., into Illinois, on the 14th ult. 

           NO DISUNION.

    We propose to show that the fire-eaters in Congress, who are now dinning the ears of peaceable Northern men with their threats of Disunion, are under bonds to keep under the guns of the Federal power, and that they dare not, if they could, rupture the tie which binds them to the North. We mean what we say––"dare not."

The South and Southern Safety––A New Presidential Programme.

   We are informed from Washington that the failure of the South to secure a law at this session of Congress for the better protection and security of Southern institutions and Southern society will not be considered as the direct signal for disunion, but that still another effort will be made to secure the South, within the Union, against the abolition incendiaries and movements of the North. This effort, it is predicted, will be something in the shape of a Presidential ticket or platform, or both, from a caucus or convention of Southern members of Congress, the authorized and legally constituted representatives of the Southern people.

   WHAT GOV. WISE THINKS OF THE LOYALTY OF THE SLAVES.

   There is no consistency in the advocates of Slavery upon this point. At one time they will sing the halcyon peace and good will which reigns between master and slave, and almost defy the Abolitionists to seduce the negroes from their happy homes. Gov. Wise and the whole Southern press have dwelt with much unction upon the facts, that the slaves refused to join John Brown, and that the first Virginia martyr was a free negro fleeing from the Abolitionists. But immediately they turn about and speak of the imminent danger of insurrection, with all its train of horrors. In his recent message to the Legislature, Gov. Wise says:

    A Poor Show for Moses

….If the argument is well grounded, the condition of the ancient law-giver, int he other world, must be very deplorable, for he headed the greatest stampede of slaves of which there is any record.––Gate City.

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

  NEGRO STAMPEDE.––The Chicago Journal says that on Thursday, the 17th inst., the Under-ground Railroad arrived there with thirty passengers, five from the vicinity of Richmond, Va., twelve from Kentucky and thirteen from Missouri. They are now all safe in Canada. The thirteen in Missouri were sold to go down the river the very day they started. A stalwart six-footer and a Sharpe's rifle were the only guides. 

      The Abolitionists to be Expelled.

   The citizens of Madison county met on Saturday, and resolved that John G. Fee and his brother Abolitionists in that county should be driven from it. They recite these as good reasons why their presence is unsafe in a community where slaves are held:

     The Entire Animal of Nothing

   ...We are tired of the whole Yankee nation, with their nasal twang, their hypocrisy, their canting, praying and cheating, preaching and swindling, lying and stealing, and creeping about the South with maps and books as men and false as their makers and authors. Always in the wake of these Aminadab Sleeks, you hear of one or more negroes making a stampede. We prefer them as open enemies to false friends. We have had quite enough of them and of this Union. The South has within itself every element of a great nation, and all we want is to cut loose from the free States and form a Southern confederacy. 

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

Excitement on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

   We learn from Captain Beckworth of the schooner Peri, of this city, that the stampede and excitement originated with a negro man belonging to Wm. Townsend, Esq., who resides some five miles from St. Michael’s.––According to her story she was met by two strange men, who, after threatening her life if she betrayed them, told her that if Brown as hung at Charlestown, a large number of whites and blacks were combined to lay the whole county of Talbot in ashes….

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

   John Brown's Death - Its Effect on American Politics

…Just then took place the “invasion” of Virginia, and the development of the scheme of a slave stampede to Canada. This the pro-slavery party looked upon as a “Godsend,” for they re profane enough to think that God keeps slaves and can love slaveholders––and they thought that He had sent this in their behalf to rouse up all the sympathies of the American heart, by a powerful revelation, in favor of the South…..

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

      New York Union Meeting

…if slave States are to be invaded by Northern and British ruffians, and those escaping from Southern courts to be protected and concealed, and sympathy and kindness expressed for the motives that induced these assaults; if fanatical leaders preaching treason, insurrection, invasion, murder, and slave stampedes, are to be protected by police-officers in their unlawful and treasonable discourse; if the hands of outraged conservatism are to be stayed by Northern police from preventing these incendiary meetings….

[Editors Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]

   Abolitionism of 1835 and of 1859.

   Wendell Phillips denies unequivocally that he had any knowledge of Brown's intended invasion of Virginia. He also states that he was but little acquainted with Brown personally, and had met him but a few times, and on these occasions, whenever the subject of stampeding slaves had been broached, he had discountenanced and discouraged it, and had not aided Brown with either money or advice.