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Mapping is critical for understanding group escapes or slave stampedes. We have created some narrative maps or StoryMaps for selected stampede episodes during the period between 1840 and 1865. We have also generated some custom map visualizations in Google Maps that can help show the range of individual newspaper reports from across the country on various antebellum and wartime stampedes. And finally, we have built a series of interactive GIS maps detailing national stampedes and various types of escapes in Missouri.
National slave stampedes, 1847-1865
Nearly 200 attempted large group escapes identified as "stampedes" by contemporary newspapers, with color-coded outcomes (Dark blue = freedom, light blue = uncertain, purple = mixed, red = death or capture. Dots are sized according to reported numbers. Click on dots to gain access to full records within database. The underlying base map contains layers that show the concentration of enslaved and free Black populations in 1850.
View larger map and datasets on the Dickinson server
Missouri Escapes, 1840-1865
Nearly 300 escapes identified by newspaper reports and runaway ads, covering an estimated 1,500 freedom seekers, with color-coded outcomes (Dark blue = freedom, light blue = uncertain, purple = mixed, red = death or capture. Dots are sized according to reported numbers. Click on dots to gain access to full records within database. The underlying base map contains layers that show the concentration of enslaved Black population in 1850.
View larger map and datasets on the Dickinson server