Leonardtown (MD) St. Mary's Beacon, "Negro Stampede," October 22, 1863

Negro Stampede.

   Whlist the people of our county, and particularly of this locality, have, heretofore, congratulated themselves upon the loyalty of the slave element amongst us, they must now admit, that here, as elsewhere, the negro is incapable of avoiding the shaft of corruption that has been leveled at his fidelity. Our losses, here, can no longer be counted by ones and twos, but by hundreds. It is no longer the isolated and occasional case of shirking the reciprocal obligation that the slave is under to his master, but has become the wholesale [and] meditated and organized business of this branch of our population. On Saturday night last, about fifty negro men left their homes in this vicinity and have not since been heard from. Since then, we daily hear of others that are missing from various sections of the country, and the tenure to this species of property has become so insecure as to render it entirely valueless. Whether or not the Government connives at this certain destruction of our interests, or the statements of Mr. Reverdy Johnson and others to the contrary are correct, we know not; but we know this,––these negroes find shelter and protection somewhere, and the laws of the State are powerless to reach them. The question, we learn, is soon to be brought before the authorities, in legal shape, and we presume, it will then be discovered whether the Government really seeks the abduction of our slaves, or they are being seduced away––as we rather suspect they are--by thieving and irresponsible parties. 

    Since the above was in type, we learn that from 50 to 100 slaves, belonging to citizens on the Patuxent side of the Factory District, have left their masters during the past two days.