{"id":4145,"date":"2025-12-17T14:14:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/?p=4145"},"modified":"2025-12-29T14:56:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T14:56:47","slug":"the-1852-bourbon-county-stampede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/the-1852-bourbon-county-stampede\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1852 Bourbon County Stampede"},"content":{"rendered":"

DATELINE: OCTOBER 31, 1852, NEAR LEXINGTON, KY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Eliza Crossing the Ohio River (Library Company of Philadelphia<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Late in the evening of October 31, 1852, when Harriet Beecher Stowe\u2019s <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i> was still fresh in American minds, 25 enslaved men, women, and children, with the aid of a white accomplice, escaped from slavery in Bourbon County, Kentucky. They were heading toward freedom, first in Ohio and then perhaps beyond. Stowe had described the courage they exhibited in her novel. Eliza, her freedom-seeking protagonist from Kentucky, \u201cwas nerved with strength such as God gives only to the desperate.\u201d [1]<\/span> Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin <\/span><\/i>challenged American views of slavery, and some historians view it as a catalyst for the Civil War.<\/span> [2] But the 1852 Bourbon County \u201cstampede\u201d of freedom seekers offers perhaps an even more compelling reflection of how actual Black people helped to destroy slavery through their flight and resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

STAMPEDE CONTEXT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout November 1852, readers as far away as Massachusetts read headlines of \u201cAnother Negro Stampede\u201d from Bourbon County, just north of Lexington. The<\/span> Paris, Kentucky<\/span> Western Citizen<\/span><\/i> had announced the event under the headline \u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d describing a \u201cgang\u201d of some twenty-five freedom seekers. Newspapers across Ohio echoed the term, with the <\/span>Zanesville Courier<\/span><\/i> announcing a \u201cStampede,\u201d and adding that most of the escapees remained \u201cnon est comodibus in swampo,\u201d using faux Latin to joke that the vanished freedom seekers were probably hiding in a swamp. [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

MAIN NARRATIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freedom seekers like the ones from Bourbon County could not enter free soil without first crossing the Ohio River, making it a physical and spiritual boundary between freedom and enslavement. The Ohio, often compared to the biblical River Jordon, had no bridges until after the Civil War. This meant the river could only be crossed by skiffs (boats), on foot if frozen, or by swimming.<\/span> [4] The river\u2019s turbulent waters, sandbars, and seasonal flooding made crossings even more dangerous. [5]<\/span>\u00a0Still, hundreds, probably thousands, of enslaved people had taken that risk before 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the summer of 1852, William Johnson, the secretary of the Vigilance Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society of Philadelphia, was arrested for passing counterfeit money to freedom seekers. Headlines from Bourbon County\u2019s <\/span>Western Citizen<\/span><\/i> read \u201cThe Underground Railroad Out of Order \u2013 Conductor was conducted to the state prison.\u201d Though the Kentuckian paper hoped that the article might prove to be a warning for other abolitionists, reports such as this only fueled anxieties among Kentucky enslavers about their human property and what they considered blatant violations of the laws of the Constitution. [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite \u201cstrong and active patrolls,\u201d Kentucky slaveholders experienced relatively frequent escapes. By 1849, Bourbon County\u2019s enslaved individuals made up 50% of its total population. [7]<\/span> After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, historian Blaine Hudson argues that Kentucky freedom seekers began to flee more often in groups, sometimes including women, children, and older enslaved people.<\/span> [8] By 1852, personal advertisements in local newspapers revealed the reward for a captured freedom seeker was typically $75 if they were caught in state, and $125 if retrieved outside of Kentucky. [9]<\/span><\/p>\n

Enslavers\u2019 fears about the growing trend of group escapes were borne out on October 31, 1852, when 25 men, women, and children escaped from multiple plantations. They escaped from the plantations of slaveholders Abram Spears, T.K. Marsh, Thomas Garrard, and Franklin Bedford. These enslavers were well<\/span>–<\/span>established members of the community. Jacob Spears, the father of Abram, established the first distillery in Bourbon County in 1790 and soon rose to fame as one of the first distillers of corn-based whiskey.<\/span> [10] By 1850, Spears was recorded twice under the Federal Census Slave Schedules as owning a total of 78 enslaved people.<\/span> [11] Thomas Garrard was a descendant of the second governor of Kentucky, who was remembered for naming the new county after the reigning House of Bourbon.<\/span> [12] Aside from his business of cattle breeding, Garrard owned 17 enslaved workers.<\/span> [13] Thomas K. Marsh, who was a silversmith known for crafting his own silver pieces, owned between 10 and 12 slaves.<\/span> [14] Franklin Bedford owned 7 slaves at the time of the 1850 census.<\/span> [15]<\/span><\/p>\n

Mounted on horseback, the 25 freedom seekers made tracks for the Ohio River. The freedom seekers likely followed the Maysville Road corridor due to its proximity to abolitionist networks in southern Ohio.<\/span> [16] However, these paths were known by friend and foe. In <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, our protagonist\u2019s slave trader sought to take the road right to the river and boasted, saying, \u201cI know the way of all of \u2019em, – they makes tracks for the underground.\u201d An enslaved man searching with him responded that there were now two roads to the river, dirt and pike, but he was inclined to believe that Eliza took the dirt road, \u201cbein\u2019 it\u2019s the least travelled.\u201d<\/span> [17] In the Kentucky border counties, there were estimated to be about 3,000 miles of escape routes with at least twenty-three points of crossing along the Ohio River mapped out by the Cincinnati Underground Railroad.<\/span> [18] However, the landscape to freedom was not only treacherous, but it was ever evolving, and no secret to slave catchers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Negro Stampede,” Paris (KY) Western Citizen, November 5, 1852 (Newspapers.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

In this case, it was not slave catchers, but a hunting party who thwarted the stampede. As the freedom seekers rode near the Blue Licks, a group of white Kentuckians out hunting at night confronted them. The hunters \u201cdispersed the gang, and captured several of them.\u201d At least four crossed the river opposite Fulton, a riverfront neighborhood in Cincinnati.<\/span> [19] Fearing recapture, other freedom seekers \u201cdispersed\u201d and apparently crept back to their plantations before their enslavers noticed their abs<\/span>ence. The Paris <\/span>Western Citizen<\/span><\/i> speculated that some of the 25 freedom seekers returned home, \u201cand of course were not missed by their masters.\u201d<\/span> Other freedom seekers were not so lucky. Five days later, the <\/span>Western Citizen<\/span><\/i> reported that seven freedom seekers had been recaptured. [20]<\/span><\/p>\n

Recaptured freedom seekers revealed to the <\/span>Louisville Daily Courier<\/span><\/i> that they had received<\/span> assistance from a white accomplice. This was not uncommon. In 1855, local newspapers accused a white man and a free Black man of helping another group in a failed escape on skiff that sank in the Ohio River. The correspondent noted, \u201cIf they can get possession of the free negro he will probably be hung. The white man, if he is discovered, will be pretty apt to meet with the same treatment.\u201d [21]<\/span> Historian Blaine Hudson relates the story of another escape out of Bourbon County during this period that involved free Black leader Elijah Anderson, who reportedly spent the night in a tree with a freedom-seeking couple while bloodhounds and slave catchers passed nearby. [22]<\/span><\/p>\n

AFTERMATH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although seven of the freedom seekers were recaptured, at least five remained at large: two belonging to Spears, one to Marsh, one to Garrard, and one to Bedford.<\/span> [23] In the days following the 1852 stampede, Kentucky slave catchers descended upon Cincinnati, Ohio on November 5, the Friday after the escape. [24] However, their efforts were unsuccessful, and there were no reports published of the recapture of the four freedom seekers who crossed into Fulton or the five claimed by Spears, Marsh, Garrard, and Bedford.<\/span><\/p>\n

The freedom seekers likely received assistance from Cincinnati\u2019s extensive Underground Railroad network. Levi Coffin, the self-proclaimed “President of the Underground Railroad,” operated a key safe house in the city and organized a vigilance committee to safeguard freedom seekers. Coffin contributed $50,000 of his own money to fund the protection of freedom seekers and collected double the amount from local businesses and professional men.<\/span> [25]<\/span><\/p>\n

While the slave catchers were still searching fruitlessly for the remaining freedom seekers, the Lisbon, Ohio <\/span>Anti-Slavery Bugle<\/span><\/i> reported on another Kentucky escape that had begun a week before the Bourbon County stampede. Three enslaved people escaped from slaveholder Abraham Piatt in nearby Boone County<\/a>, making their way through Cincinnati\u2019s Underground Railroad network. Levi Coffin helped the freedom seekers board a northbound train, but the smooth-talking Donn Piatt, the nephew of slaveholder Abraham Piatt, happened to be aboard the same train and convinced the freedom seekers to accompany him to his home near West Liberty, Ohio. Only timely intervention from the local free Black community, who filed a writ of habeas corpus to rescue the freedom seekers, saved them from re-enslavement.<\/span><\/p>\n

By November 1852, Kentuckians clearly felt the mounting pressure to prevent further escapes. Slaveholders from Mason and surrounding counties met “for the purpose of devising means to better secure the slave property of Kentucky\u201d by means of the \u201cformation of slave protection societies in each county of the State, especially those bordering on the Ohio.\u201d The new slave patrols included funds to pay for expenses and stipends for those who captured runaways. [26]<\/span> The newspapers described this as a real \u201cplan of action.\u201d<\/span> [27]<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet such activity did not deter the Kentucky freedom seekers or their vigilance supporters. <\/span>The Voice of the Fugitive<\/span><\/i>, a Canadian newspaper edited by Henry Bibb, reported that by the end of 1852, the Underground Railroad \u201cnever did a more thriving business than at present.\u201d The newspaper reported that in merely the last ten days of November, twenty-six refugees from American slavery had crossed the Canadian border into freedom.<\/span> [28]<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the fates of the remaining freedom seekers from Bourbon County remain uncertain, it seems likely that they made it to freedom since no report publicized their recapture. Inspired by stories of freedom seekers escaping out of Kentucky, Stowe\u2019s protagonist Eliza crossed the Ohio River, without shoes or stockings, \u201cwhile blood marked every step\u201d she took on the ice floes. Fueled by the determination to bring her son to free soil and encouraged by the dim vision of a man helping her up the bank on the side of freedom, continued her journey.<\/span> [29] Later, safe at a Quaker home in Ohio, \u201cShe dreamed of a beautiful country,\u2014a land, it seemed to her, of rest,\u201d and woke to the sound of her husband\u2019s footsteps and the understanding that her family was reunited and they would soon make their way to Canada.<\/span> [30] Stowe\u2019s mission to humanize Kentucky\u2019s enslaved population revealed an ongoing theme of resilience and justice that surrounded the anti-slavery movement along the southern borderlands. Despite the efforts of Kentucky slaveholders to force men and women back into slavery, community organization and human perseverance kept the promise and hope of freedom alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

FURTHER READING<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more on the Underground Railroad in this region and the tensions in the border states, see Richard Cooper and Dr. Eric R. Jackson’s <\/span>Cincinnati’s Underground Railroad<\/span><\/i>, as well as Blake W. Hudson’s <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>. These works provide in-depth analyses of the networks and individuals that made escapes possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Harriet Beecher Stowe, <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i> (New York: Ascent Audio, 2020), 53.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Richard Cooper and Dr. Eric R. Jackson, <\/span>Cincinnati\u2019s Underground Railroad<\/span><\/i> (Mount Pleasant: Arcadia Publishing Inc., 2014), 139; and J. Blaine Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i> (Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2002), 82. On the impact of <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, see David S. Reynolds, <\/span>Mightier than the Sword: Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin and the Battle for America <\/span><\/i>(New York: W.W. Norton, 2011).<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0\u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d Boston (MA)<\/span> New England Farmer<\/span><\/i>, November 11,1852; and \u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d Paris (KY) <\/span>Western Citizen<\/span><\/i>, November 5, 1852; and \u201cStampede,\u201d Zanesville (OH) <\/span>Zanesville Courier<\/span><\/i>, November 8, 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0Stowe, <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, 62; Cooper and Jackson, <\/span>Cincinnati\u2019s Underground Railroad<\/span><\/i>, 109.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 12, 18.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] \u201cThe Underground Railroad Out of Order,\u201d Paris (KY)<\/span> Western Citizen<\/span><\/i>, June 11, 1852. <\/span><\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0Karl Raitz and Nancy O\u2019Malley, \u201cSlavery, the Underground Railroad, and Hemp Production,\u201d in <\/span>Kentucky\u2019s Frontier Highway<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Historical Landscapes along the Maysville Road <\/span><\/i>(University Press of Kentucky, 2012), 297; and \u201cKentucky\u2019s Underground Railroad: Passage to Freedom,\u201d KET Education, <\/span>https:\/\/education.ket.org\/resources\/kentuckys-underground-railroad-passage-freedom\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 35.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0\u201cRunaway Ad from Paducah KY,\u201d Louisville (KY)<\/span> Louisville Daily Courier<\/span><\/i>, November 15, 1852.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[10]\u00a0\u201cInnovative Farmer and Distiller\u201d image, from \u201cJacob Spears (1754-1825) – Find a Grave Memorial,\u201d <\/span>https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/200501849\/jacob-spears<\/span><\/a>; and ID: 1966, \u201cJacob Spears (1754 \u2013 ca. 1825),\u201d ExploreKYHistory, <\/span>https:\/\/explorekyhistory.ky.gov\/files\/show\/1966<\/span><\/a>; and Bourbon County 175th Birthday Celebration Corporation, <\/span>Historical Scrap Book\u00a0; a Record of the Celebration of the One Hundred Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 13-20, 1961<\/span><\/i> (Paris, Kentucky, 1961), 10.<\/span><\/p>\n

[11]\u00a0\u201cAbram Spears – Slave Schedules,\u201d from <\/span>Seventh Census of the United States 1850, images 1 and 4, via Ancestry.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

[12]\u00a0“Bourbon Stock for Missouri,\u201d Paris (OH) <\/span>The Kentuckian-Citizen<\/span><\/i>, May 4, 1870; and Bourbon County 175th Birthday Celebration Corporation, <\/span>Historical Scrap Book: A Record of the Celebration of the One Hundred Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 13-20, 1961<\/span><\/i>, 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

[13]\u00a0\u201cThomas Garrard – Slave Schedules,\u201d from <\/span>Seventh Census of the United States 1850, image 2, via Ancestry.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

[14]\u00a0Raitz and O\u2019Malley, <\/span>Kentucky\u2019s Frontier Highway<\/span><\/i>, 187; and \u201cThomas K Marsh – Slave Schedules,\u201d from <\/span>Seventh Census of the United States 1850, images 11-12, via Ancestry.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

[15]\u00a0\u201cFranklin Bedford – Slave Schedules,\u201d from <\/span>Seventh Census of the United States 1850, images 29, via Ancestry.com; and <\/span>Atlas of Bourbon, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine and Woodford Counties, Ky<\/span><\/i> (Philadelphia, January 1, 1877), G1333 .B3 1877, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu, <\/span>https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/resource\/g3953bm.gct00130\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[16]\u00a0Raitz and O\u2019Malley, <\/span>Kentucky\u2019s Frontier Highway<\/span><\/i>, 297.<\/span><\/p>\n

[17]\u00a0Stowe, <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, 50-1.<\/span><\/p>\n

[18]\u00a0<\/span>Cooper and Jackson, <\/span>Cincinnati\u2019s Underground Railroad<\/span><\/i>, 77 and 81.<\/span><\/p>\n

[19]\u00a0\u201cAnother Negro Stampede,\u201d Sandusky (OH) <\/span>Sandusky Register<\/span><\/i>, November 8, 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

[20]\u00a0\u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d Louisville (KY) <\/span>Louisville Daily Courier,<\/span><\/i> November 4, 1852; and \u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d Paris (KY) <\/span>Western Citizen<\/span><\/i>, November 5, 1852. <\/span><\/p>\n

[21]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 86.<\/span><\/p>\n

[22]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 117.<\/span><\/p>\n

[23]\u00a0\u201cNegro Stampede,\u201d Paris (KY) Western Citizen, November 5, 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

[24] “Another Negro Stampede,” Sandusky (OH) OH Sandusky Register, November 8, 1852.<\/p>\n

[25]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 121-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

[26]\u00a0Hudson, <\/span>Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad in the Kentucky Borderland<\/span><\/i>, 82-3.<\/span><\/p>\n

[27]\u00a0<\/span>\u201cRunaway Slaves,\u201d Wilmington (OH) <\/span>Clinton Republican<\/span><\/i>, November 26, 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

[28]\u00a0<\/span>\u201cUnderground Railroad,\u201d Greenville (OH) <\/span>Greenville Journal<\/span><\/i>, December 30, 1852.<\/span><\/p>\n

[29]\u00a0<\/span>Stowe, <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, 72.<\/span><\/p>\n

[30]\u00a0<\/span>Stowe, <\/span>Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin<\/span><\/i>, 155.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DATELINE: OCTOBER 31, 1852, NEAR LEXINGTON, KY Late in the evening of October 31, 1852, when Harriet Beecher Stowe\u2019s Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin was still fresh in American minds, 25 enslaved men, women, and children, with the aid of a white accomplice, escaped from slavery in Bourbon County, Kentucky. They were heading toward freedom, first in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ky-narratives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4145"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4178,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4145\/revisions\/4178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/stampedes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}