The rescue of freedom seeker John Price from federal custody signals Northerners’ increasingly open defiance of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act
Date(s): escaped 1856; recaptured and rescued September 13, 1858
Location(s): Kentucky; Oberlin, Ohio; Wellington, Ohio
Outcome: Freedom
Summary:
Oberlin-Wellington Rescuers (Ohio History Connection)
John Price escaped from slavery in Kentucky in 1856 and settled in Oberlin, Ohio, a staunchly antislavery town in central Ohio. Federal officers and Kentucky slave catchers caught up with Price on September 13, 1858 and spirited Price away to nearby Wellington. Outraged Oberlin residents quickly mobilized to rescue Price. Within a few hours, a large crowd of Black and white Oberlin residents had surrounded the slave catchers, who were holed up inside a Wellington hotel, ultimately overpowering the Kentuckians and freeing Price. Federal authorities charged 37 Ohio residents for their roles in Price’s rescue, but only managed to convict two abolitionists to relatively light sentences.
Related Sources
- Jacob R. Shipherd, Ralph Plumb, and Henry Everard Peck. History of the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue (Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1859)
- Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Reflex of Opinion,” April 22, 1859
- Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “The Oberlin Women,” April 28, 1859
- Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Respect for Law,” May 30, 1859
- Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Another Jubilee [Jubilee] at Oberlin,” July 9, 1859