*** Entries from main project area are headlined in red ***

July 1841 || Trio of Illinois abolitionists captured enticing groups of slaves

• Locations: Hannibal, MO and Quincy, IL
• Numbers:  Unknown (Abolitionists = James Burr, George Thompson, Alanson Work)
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Lighting Out for the Territory: Reflections on Mark Twain and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 53-8; Terrell Dempsey, Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens’s World (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003).

October 1841 || 26 freedom suits at once –A legal mass escape

• Locations:  St. Louis Circuit Court
• Numbers:  26 (and then 27) freedom seekers, including Preston, Braxton (process begins after owner Milton Duty’s death in 1838, accelerates with successful injunction to stop threat of sale in October 1841 and continues throughout early 1850s with multiple freedom suit petitions)
• Owners:  Milton Duty (Mississippi slaveholder); executors David and Mary Coons,  John F. Darby
• Sources:  Kelly M. Kennington, In the Shadow of Dred Scott: St. Louis Freedom Suits and the Legal Culture; Lea VanderVelde, Redemption Songs; Dale Edwyna Smith,African American Lives in St. Louis, 1763-1865: Slavery, Freedom and the West

August 1842 || Richard Eells helps serial runaway; resulted in Moore v. Illinois

• Locations:  Monticello, MO to Quincy, IL
• Numbers: 1 freedom seeker (part of the Mission Institute series) (Charley)
• Owners:  Chauncey Durkey
• Sources:  Quincy Whig, “Once Upon a Time in Quincy,” September 9, 2011; Quincy Whig, Aug. 27, 1842, Quincy Whig, Feb. 8, 1843, Quincy Whig, April 26, 1843, Quincy Whig, May 3, 1843

February 1843 || Anti-Negro Stealing Society organized in Jacksonville

• Locations:  St. Louis, MO and Louisiana to Jacksonville, IL
• Numbers:  Incidents involving controversy over sojourning of visiting slaves (Bob and Emily Logan, late 1830s), “slave girl Lucinda” (owned by St. Louis visitor and then freed and hired out to attorney Murray McConnel), and finally (1843) young girl held by Mrs. Lisle of Louisiana helped in escape by Julius (father) and Samuel (son) Willard
• Owners:  Mrs. Lisle of Louisiana // organizers of Anti-Negro Stealing Society include M. McCormick, W.B. Warren, A. Smith and O.M. Long
• Sources:  “News-Extra, February 22, 1843 (ALPLM Broadside); Don H. Doyle, The Social Order of a Frontier Community: Jacksonville, Illinois, 1825-70, pp. 53-7; Samuel Willard, “My First Adventure with a Fugitive Slave,” Illinois Historical Journal,  89 (Winter 1996)

1844-45 || St. Genevieve County petitions Legislature for relief from escapes

• Locations: St. Genevieve, MO
• Numbers:  Unknown
• Owners:  Unknown
• Sources:  MO House Journal, 13th Assembly, 1st Session, p. 332

May 1845 || Runaways “battle” in Maryland during mass escape

• Locations:  Smithsburg, MD
• Numbers:  10 freedom seekers, 8 slave patrollers
• Owners:  Unknown
• Sources:   “Runaway Negroes–A Battle with the Whites,” Boston Daily Atlas, June 2, 1845 cited in Stanley Harrold, Border War: Fighting Over Slavery before the Civil War, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010). See post.

July 1845 || Attempted mass escape in Maryland involving 70-80 black men

• Locations:  Southeastern counties counties, via 2 groups thru Bladensburg, Rockville
• Numbers:  70-80 freedom seekers (led by Bill Wheeler, free black), 330 “well armed” slave patrollers
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: Stanley Harrold, Border War: Fighting Over Slavery before the Civil War, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 129-31. See post.

May – July 1847 ||  First mentions of stampedes in antislavery press

• Locations:  Maysville, KY
• Numbers:  5 or 6 freedom seekers
• Owners:  Unknown
• Sources (with quotation):
  • “GRAND STAMPEDE.  On Friday or Saturday last, says the Times, between twenty and twenty-five negroes, belonging to different plantations in Kenton Co., Ky., across the river, left for parts unknown via the state of Ohio. We learn that the aggregate amount of award offered for their apprehension is over four thousand dollars.  –Cincinnati Atlas”  (Danville (VT) North Star, “Grand Stampede,” May 17, 1847)
  • We learn that a stampede occurred among the negroes at and near Maysville, a few days ago. Five or six of the number belonged to a prominent and influential member of the Northern Methodist Church at Maysville. And we also understand that a distinguished preacher of that denomination was at the gentlemans’s house at the time his negroes left-Covington (Ky.) Register” (Boston (MA) Liberator, “Negro Stampede,” July 16, 1847)

April 1848 || Scholar calls Pearl  “most influential mass-escape attempt”

• Locations:  Washington, DC
• Numbers:  77 freedom seekers stowed aboard steamer Pearl (organized by Daniel Bell and William Chaplin with ship captain Edward Sayres; mostly unarmed house servants with women and children, all recaptured in the escape attempt, include most famously, the Edmonson sisters, Mary and Emily)
• Owners:  Unknown
• Sources:  “most influential” designation from Stanley Harrold, Border War: Fighting Over Slavery before the Civil War, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010),131-33;Andrew Delbanco, The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), 214-5 (see post); referred to as a stampede retrospectively when abolitionists pardoned, Macon (GA) Weekly Telegraph, “Reminiscences,” August 2, 1853
  

June 1848 || Daggs Farm escape becomes major fugitive Case

• Locations: Clark County, MO to Salem, IA
• Numbers:  9 freedom seekers
• Owners:  Ruel Daggs
• Sources:  “An Iowa Fugitive Slave Case –1850,” (by George Frazee) [WEB]; Lowell J. Soike, Necessary Courage: Iowa’s Underground Railroad in the Struggle against Slavery (2013); O.A. Garretson, Traveling on the Underground Railway [WEB]; James Patrick Morgans, The Underground Railroad on the Western Frontier (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. 2010), 94-5; New York (NY) Evening Post, “Negro Stealing,” June 21, 1848; New York (NY) Herald, June 22, 1848; Talladega (AL) Alabama Reporter, July 20, 1848

October 1849 || Stampede from St. Louis

• Locations: St. Louis, MO
• Numbers: 4 freedom seekers (and free Black operative Bill Williams)
• Owners: Emmanuel Block, Alban Harvey Glasby,  John S. McCune, Williamson Pittman
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Republican, “A Stampede,” October 29, 1849; Louisville (KY) Daily Courier, “Stampedes,” November 2, 1849; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Apprehension of Runaway Negroes––Conduct of Abolitionists in Illinois,” November 5, 1849; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Bill Williams,” November 8, 1849; Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal, “A Stampede,” November 17, 1849

November 1849 || Attempted “Stampede” from Missouri makes national headlines

• Locations: Canton (Lewis County), MO
• Numbers:  35-50 freedom seekers (slave woman Lin, man John, child Henry; note possible connections to Gregory’s Landing “whites” and Sen. Thomas Hart Benton)
• Owners:  Samuel McKim, James (also sometimes John) Miller, John McCutcheon (McCutchen or also McCutchan), William Willis (also Ellis)
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Republican, “The Lewis County Stampede of Negroes,” November 5, 1849; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Apprehension of Runaway Negroes––Conduct of Abolitionists in Illinois,” November 5, 1849; Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer, “Great Slave Stampede in Missouri,” November 6, 1849; Louisville (KY) Daily Courier, “Negro Stampede,” November 6, 1849; “Slave Stampede and Resistance,” Philadelphia (PA) North American and United States Gazette, November 7, 1849; Baltimore (MD) Sun, “Slave Stampede and Resistance––Their Leader Killed,” November 7, 1849; Hannibal (MO) Courier, “Effect of Benton’s Visit – Stampede Among the Negroes,” November 8, 1849; Palmyra (MO) Weekly Whig, “Negro Stampede,” November 8, 1849; Glasgow (MO) Weekly Times, “Negro Stampede,” November 8, 1849; St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Republican, “Great Negro Stampede,” November 12, 1849; Easton (MD) Star, “Slave Stampede and Resistance,” November 13, 1849; Natchez, (MS) Daily Courier, “Stampede near St. Louis,” November 13, 1849; Plaquemine (LA) Southern Sentinel, “Stampede near St. Louis,” November 14, 1849; Philadelphia (PA) North American and United States Gazette, “Stampede,” November 14, 1849; Glasgow (MO) Weekly Times, “Negro Stampede in Lewis County,” November 15, 1849; Palmyra (MO) Weekly Whig, “The Lewis County Affair,” November 15, 1849; Canton (MS) American Citizen, “Negro Stampede,” November 17, 1849; Fayetteville (NC) North Carolinian, “Slave Stampede,” November 17, 1849; Philadelphia (PA) North American and United States Gazette, “The Great Slave Stampede in Missouri,” November 22, 1849; Philadelphia (PA) North American and United States Gazette, “The Great Slave Stampede in Missouri,” November 29, 1849; Concord (NH) Independent Democrat, “‘Happy and Contented’ – Slave Stampede,” November 29, 1849; Boston (MA) Liberator, “The Great Slave Stampede in Missouri,” January 18, 1850; Washington (DC) National Intelligencer, “California, Deseret, and New Mexico,” January 19, 1850; Raleigh (NC) Register, “Benton and Foote,” January 26, 1850; New Lisbon (OH) Anti-Slavery Bugle, “The Great Slave Stampede in Missouri,” February 2, 1850; Diane Mutti Burke, On Slavery’s Border, p. 186 (see post); Terrell Dempsey, Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens’s World (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003), 129; Lorenzo J. Greene, et al. Missouri’s Black Heritage, p. 43 (on slave woman Lin);  George R. Lee, “Slavery and Emancipation in Lewis County, Missouri,” Missouri Historical Review 65, no. 3 (April 1971): 294-317. [WEB]

January 1850 ||  Jameson Jenkins, Lincoln’s neighbor,  leads a stampede

• Locations:  St. Louis area, MO (through Springfield, IL)
• Numbers: Up to 14
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: Springfield (IL) Daily Journal, January 22, 1850; Springfield (IL) Journal, “Letter to the Editors,” January 23, 1850

October 1851 || Missouri runaway arrested, then liberated in “Jerry” rescue

• Locations:  Syracuse, NY
• Numbers: 1 freedom seeker (William “Jerry” McHenry)
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources:  Steven Lubet, Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers, and Slavery on Trial, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 86-90, 254, 305-307, 316, (see post)

July 1852 || Reports of a “regular stampede” from St. Louis

• Locations: St. Louis, MO
• Numbers: 4 freedom seekers
• Owners: John Mattingly (slave trader)
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Republican, July 22, 1852; Marshall (TX) Texas Republican, July 31, 1852

September 1852 || Stampede from Ste. Genevieve

• Locations: Ste. Genevieve, MO
• Numbers:  8
• Owners: Lewis V. Bogy, Antoine Janis, William Skewes, Jonathan Smith, Felix Valle, Neree Valle
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Republican, “Negro Stampede – Large Reward,” September 11, 1852; St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Republican, “Sixteen Hundred Dollars Reward!!” September 11, 1852; Alton (IL) Weekly Telegraph, “Slave Stampede,” September 17, 1852; Louisville (KY) Daily Courier, “Slave Stampede,” September 20, 1852; Alton (IL) Weekly Telegraph, “Fugitive Slave,” September 24, 1852; Alton (IL) Weekly Telegraph, “Arrest of the Other Ste. Genevieve Fugitive Slaves,” September 24, 1852; Wheeling (VA) Daily Intelligencer, “Slave Stampede,” September 30, 1852

May 1853 || “Battalion” of slaves escape in “stampede” towards Iowa

• Locations:  Ray County, MO
• Numbers:  15
• Owners:  Unknown
• Sources:  “Negro Stampede,” Alton (IL) Evening Telegraph, 23 May 1853; Boston (MA) Liberator, “Slave Stampedes,” June 10, 1853; Rochester (NY) Frederick Douglass’ Paper, “Negro Stampede,” June 24, 1853, all quoting an initial report from the Alton, IL Telegraph; Richard Blackett, Captive’s Quest, 139-40, describes a “battalion” of 18 escapees because he combines it with the escape of three freedom seekers from Weston, Missouri slaveholder R. Meek that occurred a week later

May 1853 || Another escape in wave of recent “slave stampedes”

• Locations: Weston, MO
• Numbers: 3
• Owners: R. Meek
• Sources: Boston (MA) Liberator, “Slave Stampedes,” June 10, 1853; Rochester (NY) Frederick Douglass’ Paper, “Negro Stampede,” June 24, 1853

October 1853 || Palmyra Stampede

• Locations: Marion County, MO (Palmyra) to Quincy, IL to Menden (Mendon), IL to Chicago, IL
• Numbers: 11 (though at least newspaper claimed 13)
• Owners: Mrs. Hopkins, Albert Gallatin Johnson, Rufus Mathews, John T. Redd, Jeremiah K. Taylor, Caleb Taylor
• Sources:  Richard Blackett, Captive’s Quest, 139;  James Patrick Morgans, The Underground Railroad on the Western Frontier (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. 2010), 69; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Runaway Negroes,” November 7, 1853; Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Clear the Track!––The Train is Coming!,” November 7, 1853; Hannibal (MO) Courier, “Negro Stealing,” November 10, 1853; Boston (MA) Herald, “A Stampede,” November 15, 1853; Milwaukee (WI) Daily Free Democrat, “Grand Stampede,” November 21, 1853; Quincy (IL) Whig, November 21, 1853; Jireh Platt Diary, December 5, [1853]; Quincy (IL) Whig, “Misrepresentation,” December 12, 1853; Hannibal (MO) Courier, “Marion Association,” January 12, 1854; Palmyra (MO) Whig, “Prompt Proceedings,” February 23, 1854; Quincy (IL) Whig, “Over The River Again,” August 14, 1854; Jeremiah Evarts Platt to Wilbur Siebert, March 28, 1896

March 1854 || Missourian Arrested in Wisconsin; Leads to Landmark Case

• Locations:  St. Louis to Milwaukee
• Numbers:  1 freedom seeker (Joshua Glover)
• Owners:  Bennami Garland; rescue effort of Glover led by abolitionist Sherman Booth who appealed his conviction, eventually resulting in US Supreme Court case Ableman v. Booth (1859)
• Sources:  Steven Lubet, Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers, and Slavery on Trial, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 305-307, (see post).

July 1854 || Escapes from Lewis County spark war of words with Illinois neighbors

• Location: Howard County, MO and Lewis County, MO
• Numbers: 8 freedom seekers (four from Howard County, four from Lewis County)
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: Quincy (IL) Whig, “Across the River,” July 18, 1854; Quincy (IL) Whig, August 5, 1854

October 1854 || Families, “some aged and crippled” stampede together

• Locations:  St. Louis, MO
• Numbers: 15 to 20 freedom seekers
• Owners: Pierre Chouteau (3), Emanuel Block (3), Edward J. Gray (6), Mr. Merritt (3 or 4)
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Stampede Among the Africans,” October 24, 1854; St. Louis (MO) Republican “African Exodus,” October 24, 1854; Pittsburgh (PA) Gazette, “Stampede Among the Africans,” October 30, 1854; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “The Fugitive Slaves,” November 1, 1854; Boston (MA) Investigator, “Stampede Among the Africans,” November 8, 1854; Akron (OH) Summit County Beacon, “Stampede Among the Africans,” November 8, 1854; New York (NY) National Anti-Slavery Standard, “Stampede Among the Africans,” November 18, 1854; Poughkeepsie (NY) Journal, “Stampede Among the Africans,” November 25, 1854; Chicago (IL) Weekly Democrat, “Over Jordan,” December 16, 1854; Chicago (IL) Weekly Democrat, “A Remedy Proposed for Negro Stampedes,” December 23, 1854

November 1854 || Another St. Louis Stampede; $1,000 reward

• Locations: St. Louis, St. Charles, and Ste. Genevieve, MO
• Numbers: 17
• Owners: Richard Berry, Mrs. Smith, Martin Wash
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Another Slave Stampede,” November 30, 1854; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “News from the Fugitive Slaves,” December 8, 1854; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “What Is To Be Done Now!,” December 10, 1854; Chicago (IL) Free West, “Slave Hunt in Chicago. Great Excitement––Military Called Out,” December 14, 1854; Chicago (IL) Weekly Democrat, “Over Jordan,” December 16, 1854; Milwaukee (WI) Weekly Wisconsin, December 20, 1854; Chicago (IL) Weekly Democrat, “A Remedy Proposed for Negro Stampedes,” December 23, 1854; New York (NY) National Anti-Slavery Standard, “Another Slave Stampede,” December 30, 1854

May 1855 || Mary Meachum and the St. Louis Stampede

• Location:  St. Louis, MO
• Numbers: 8 to 9 freedom seekers
• Owners:  H.H. Cohen, Turner Maddox, Henry Shaw
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Slaves Captured,” May 22, 1855; Milwaukee (WI) Free Democrat, “Stampede,” May 26, 1855; St. Louis (MO) Pilot, “Slaves Captured,” May 26, 1855; St. Louis (MO) Pilot, “Negro Stealing,” May 26, 1855; Richmond (VA) Dispatch, May 29, 1855; Glasgow (MO) Weekly Times, “Slave Stampede,” May 31, 1855

July 1856 || Extended family stampede together from St. Louis

• Locations: St. Louis area, MO
• Numbers: 8 – 9 freedom seekers
• Owners: John O’Fallon and Robert Wash
• Sources: Richard Blackett, Captive’s Quest, 139; Lea VanderVelde, Redemption Songs: Suing for Freedom Before Dred Scott (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 263n [see post]; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Slave Stampede,” July 16, 1856; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Slave Stampede,” July 16, 1856; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Exodus of Slaves,” July 16, 1856; New Orleans (LA) Times-Picayune, “Slave Stampede at St. Louis,” July 23, 1856; New Lisbon (OH) Anti-Slavery Bugle, “Slave Stampede,” August 2, 1856; Burlington (IA) Hawk-Eye, “Slave Stampede,” August 6, 1856; New York (NY) Anti-Slavery Standard, “Slave Stampede at St. Louis,” August 9, 1856

October 1856 || Two families escape from Hannibal

• Locations: Hannibal, MO
• Numbers: 6 freedom seekers
• Owners: John S. Bush
• Sources: Palmyra (MO) Whig, “Another Stampede,” October 23, 1856; Hannibal (MO) National Democrat, “Negro Stampede,” October 23, 1856; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “Another Stampede,” October 28, 1856; Hannibal (MO) National Democrat, “Not Yet Caught,” October 30, 1856; Quincy (IL) Whig, “Negro Stampede,” November 1, 1856

Late 1858 || Missouri Runaway Helps More Escape through Galesburg

• Locations:  Missouri to Galesburg, IL to Canada
• Numbers:  9 (colored man who returned, attempted to bring nine out but only 5 or 6 made it to Galesburg
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources:  Originally Chapman’s History of Knox County cited in Owen Muelder, The Underground Railroad in Western Illinois (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2008), 110-1.

December 1858 ||  John Brown raids Missouri and frees a dozen in stampede

• Locations: Vernon County, MO (then Iowa to Detroit)
• Numbers: 11 freedom seekers (12 after the birth of John Brown Daniels)
• Owners: Harvey G. Hicklan (also Hicklin)
• Sources:  David S. Reynolds, John Brown, Abolitionist (2005), pp. 278-79; Kristen Epps, Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras, (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2016),129-32 [see post]; Fergus M. Bordewich. Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (New York: HaperCollins Publishers Inc, 2005), 419-20 [see post]

January 1859 || Dr. John Doy tries to copy Brown’ stampede

• Locations: [helping MO runaways in  Kansas] (captured and then jailed in Platte City, tried & convicted in St. Joseph, MO but then rescued from custody in July)
• Numbers:  11 freedom seekers (two free Black operatives, Wilson Hays and Charles Smith)
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: New York Times, “Dr. Doy of Kansas,” March 18, 1859;
• Epps, Slavery on the Periphery: The Kansas-Missouri Border in the Antebellum and Civil War Eras, (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2016), 125, 129-132 [see post]; David S. Reynolds, John Brown, Abolitionist (2005), p. 280 (but note that Reynolds misreads the family name as Joy); Mary Brown to William Brown, January 30, 1859; Burlington (IA) Weekly Hawk-Eye and Telegraph, “Negro Stealing on the Border,” February 8, 1859; Ephraim Nute to unidentified, February 14, 1859; Boston (MA) Liberator, “Thirteen Negroes Captured in Kansas,” February 18, 1859; Chambersburg (PA) Franklin Repository, February 23, 1859; Ephraim Nute to unidentified, February 24, 1859; Ephraim Nute to Franklin B. Sanborn, March 22, 1859

October 1859 || Stampede captured heading toward Chicago

• Locations: Maline Township (Saline County), MO
• Numbers: Unknown (Bob)
• Owners: Richard E. Snelling
• Sources: “Returned to Servitude,” Marshall Democrat (Saline County, MO), 15 August 1860

October 1859 || Over two dozen freedom seekers stampede toward Detroit

• Locations: western Missouri (traveling through Nebraska, Iowa, Chicago, and Detroit)
• Numbers: 26 freedom seekers
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: “A Large Underground Arrival,” Douglass’ Monthly, November 1859; “Signs Not to be Mistaken,” St. Louis Democrat, 9 November 1859; “Arrival of Twenty-Six Fugitive Slaves at Detroit,” Delaware Gazette (Delaware, OH) 11 November 1859; “Twenty-Six Missouri Negroes Arrived in Canada,” Glasgow Weekly Times (Glasgow, MO), 17 November 1859; “A Large Underground Arrival, Cadiz Sentinel, 23 November 1859. Original article appeared in Detroit Advertiser.

November 1859 || Successive “Stampedes” from LaGrange

• Locations: LaGrange (Lewis County), MO
• Numbers: 10 freedom seekers (followed by one additional escape)
• Owners: Seven Unknown, David S. Lillard
• Sources: Quincy (IL) Herald, November 14, 1859; Hannibal (MO) Messenger, November 15, 1859; Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Negro Stampede,” November 17, 1859; Glasgow (MO) Weekly Times, “Negro Stampede,” November 17, 1859; Cleveland (OH) Daily Leader, “Stampede of Negroes in Missouri,” November 18, 1859; Cleveland (OH) Daily Herald, “Negro Stampede,” November 19, 1859; New Orleans (LA) Sunday Delta, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County, Mo.,” November 20, 1859; Newburyport (MA) Morning Herald, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County,” November 22, 1859; Warren (OH) Western Reserve Chronicle, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County,” November 23, 1859; Jackson (MS) Semi-Weekly Jacksonian, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County, Missouri,” November 23, 1859; Lowell (MA) Daily Citizen and News, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County,” November 23, 1859; New Bern (NC) Daily Progress, “A Large Negro Stampede,” November 28, 1859; Franklin (KY) Tri-Weekly Kentucky Yeoman, “Stampede of Negroes,” November 29, 1859; New York (NY) Times, November 30, 1859; Plymouth (IN) Weekly Republican, “Stampede of Negroes in Missouri,” December 1, 1859; Groton (MA) Railroad Mercury, “Stampede of Negroes from Lewis County,” December 1, 1859; Hannibal (MO) Messenger, December 6, 1859; Toledo (IA) Transcript, December 8, 1859; Raleigh (NC) North Carolina Standard, “Negro Stampede,” December 21, 1859

August 1860 || Mother organizes family stampede

• Locations: St. Louis area, MO
• Numbers: 5 freedom seekers
• Owners:  Edward Bredell
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Five Slaves Ran Away,” August 27, 1860; Louisville (KY) Daily Journal, “Another Slave Stampede,” August 28, 1860

April 1861 || Arrest of Harris family in Chicago sets off free black stampede

• Locations:  St. Louis to Chicago
• Numbers: 5 freedom seekers (Onesimus Harris, wife and three children)
• Owners: William Patterson (estate), Assenath Piggott Patterson, Jacob Veale
• Sources: Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Onesimus and his Family Sent Back,” April 4, 1861; Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “The Fugitive Slave Case in Chicago,” April 5, 1861; New York (NY) Commercial Advertiser, “The Chicago Slave Case,” April 6, 1861; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “The African Excitement,” April 9, 1861; Janesville (WI) Daily Gazette, “Reign of Terror Among the Colored People of Chicago,” April 10, 1861; Louisville (KY) Daily Journal, “Rendition of Fugitive Slaves from Chicago,” April 10, 1861; Alexandria (VA) Gazette, “Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act,” April 11, 1861; Millersburg (OH) Holmes County Republican, “Latest News,” April 11, 1861; Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, “Which Section Observes Law?,” April 12, 1861; Washington (DC) Daily National Intelligencer, “Recent incidences of Rendition,” April 12, 1861; Fayetteville (NC) Observer,”Great Stampede of Fugitive Slaves for Canada,” April 15, 1861; Boston (MA) Liberator, “The Colored Exodus!,” April 26, 1861; Boston (MA) Daily Atlas, “Flight of Fugitives from Illinois,” May 3, 1861; Boston (MA) Liberator, “Flight of Fugitives from Illinois,” May 3, 1861; Evansville (IN) Daily Journal, “The Test of Unionism,” June 20, 1861

Summer 1861 || Northern magazines celebrate stampedes at Fort Monroe

• Locations:  Fort Monroe, Hampton, VA
• Numbers:  Hundreds of freedom seekers
• Owners:  Originally Col. Mallory
• Sources:  “Stampede Among the Negroes of Virginia,” (illustration),Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, June 8, 1861; “Stampede of Slaves from Hampton to Fortress Monroe,” (illustration), Harpers Weekly, August 17, 1861 (see post);

November 1861  ||  Springfield Stampede

• Locations: Springfield, MO and across southwestern Missouri
• Numbers: hundreds of freedom seekers
• Owners: Daniel Dorsey Berry, Olivia Berry, and many others
• Sources: New York (NY) Tribune, “Important From Missouri,” November 18, 1861; New York (NY) World, “Army of the West–From Gen. Hunter’s Command,” November 19, 1861; Junction City (KS) Smoky Hill and Republican Union, “Jim Lane’s Speech at Springfield, Missouri,” November 28, 1861

February 1862 || St. Joseph Stampede

November 1862 || Stampede from Loutre Island

• Locations: Loutre Island (Montgomery County), MO
• Numbers:  Unknown
• Owners:  Isaac Talbot, Elizabeth Clark, Martin
• Sources: F.A. Nitchy to Curtis, November 19, 1862; C.C. Manwaring to Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, November 26, 1862; St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Slave Catching at Hermann,” November 29, 1862; St. Louis (MO) Westliche Post, “Freedom triumphs!,” December 3, 1862; New York (NY) Tribune, “Reported Capture of a Supply Train,” December 5, 1862; New York (NY) National Anti-Slavery Standard, “Slave-Catching Under Difficulties,” December 13, 1862; Rochester (NY) Douglass’s Monthly, January 1863

November 1862 || Mounting stampedes from Ste. Genevieve

• Locations: Ste. Genevieve, MO
• Numbers: Unknown
• Owners: Unknown
• Sources: Bangor (ME) Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, “Slavery in Missouri,” October 23, 1862; New Orleans (LA) Daily Delta, “Slavery in Missouri,” November 13, 1862; Rochester (NY) Douglass’s Monthly, “Slavery in Missouri,” November 1862; Weaverville (CA) Weekly Trinity Journal, “Slavery in Missouri,” January 3, 1863

March 1863 || Stampede from Hannibal

• Locations: Hannibal, MO
• Numbers: 20-25 freedom seekers
• Owners: Sarah Carter, Gilchrist Porter, Brison Stillwell, Robert F. Lakenan
• Sources: Quincy (IL) Herald, “Arming the Negroes—‘whither are we Tending?’” March 24, 1863; Quincy (IL) Whig, “Arming the Negroes—‘Whither Are We Tending?’” March 28, 1863; Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Slave Stampede,” March 31, 1863; St. Louis (MO) Republican, “The Whig’s Niggers,” March 31, 1863; St. Joseph (MO) Herald, “Slave Stampede from Hannibal,” April 2, 1863; Vincennes (IN) Gazette, “Slave Stampede from Hannibal,” April 4, 1863; Lancaster (PA) Inquirer, “Slave Stampede from Hannibal,” April 6, 1863; Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Slave Stampede from Hannibal,” April 11, 1863

April 1863 || Another St. Louis Stampede

• Locations: St. Louis County (MO)
• Numbers: 3 freedom seekers
• Owners: Olly Williams
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Democrat, “Stampede of Slaves,” April 16, 1863; St. Louis (MO) Republican “Runaway Negroes,” April 16, 1863

April 1863 || Lafayette County Stampede

• Locations: Lafayette County (MO)
• Numbers: up to 375 freedom seekers (50 at one time from Lexington; 300 over few weeks; 75 more in mid-May)
• Owners: Packard of City Hotel (9), H. Wallace (9), Gen. Vaughan (3); J.R. Graves (2); Joseph Moreland (2)
• Sources: Baltimore (MD) Sun, “Slave Stampede in Missouri,” May 2, 1863; Washington (DC) Daily National Intelligencer, “Slave Stampede in Missouri,” May 2, 1863; Cleveland (OH) Daily Herald, “Slave Stampede From Missouri,” May 7, 1863; Atchison (KS) Champion and Press, May 16, 1863; Bel Air (MD) National American, “Slave Stampede in Missouri,” May 22, 1863

August 1863 || “Perfect Stampede” from Platte County

• Locations: Platte County, MO
• Numbers: hundreds of freedom seekers (“thirty or forty a day”)
• Owners: multiple
• Sources: St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Democrat, “The Negro Exodus,” August 21, 1863; Worcester (MA) Spy, “Slavery Passing Away in Missouri and Kentucky,” September 9, 1863; San Francisco (CA) Daily Evening Bulletin, “Letter From St. Louis – The Negro Exodus from Missouri,” September 16, 1863

November 1863 || Black Missourians “Stampeding” to Recruitment Offices

• Locations: Lafayette County, MO and Ray County, MO
• Numbers: 30+ freedom seekers (3 from Lafayette County, around 30 from Ray County)
• Owners: Col. Chiles, Col. Shea, and others
• Sources: Canton (MO) Weekly Press, “Negro Stampeding,” December 3, 1863; St. Louis (MO) Daily Missouri Democrat, “Missouri Items,” December 22, 1863

December 1863 || Family of Archer Alexander (face of DC statue) freed

• Locations: St. Charles to St. Louis
• Numbers: 4 freedom seekers (Archer and Louisa Alexander with children Ellen and James)
• Owners: James Naylor
• Sources:  Miranda Rechtenwald, “The Life of Archer Alexander: A Story of Freedom,” The Confluence (Fall/Winter 2014); Dale Edwyna Smith, African American Lives in St. Louis, 1763-1865 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017), 165 (see post)