1861 Maryland (April) Stampede

Near the end of April 1861, a correspondent for the New York Herald reported from Harrisburg that there had been an "attack" by a Marylander slaveholder across the border into southern Pennsylvania occasioned by the "stampede" of enslaved families from Maryland over the previous month.  "Reliable accounts say that whole families are crossing into Adams, York, and Franklin counties," read the "midnight" dispatch, estimating that upwards of 500 had fled "since the troubles began."