07/07/2025
Frederick Douglass was in Philadelphia when he heard of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and subsequent capture, and the news hit him "like an earthquake." He barely had time to process what this meant for his friend before another hard-hitting piece of news came in: Douglass himself had been identified as a co-conspirator in the raid, and was charged with "murder, robbery, and inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia." The evidence supporting this claim?
A single letter from Frederick Douglass to John Brown found in Brown's carpetbag, dated two years before the raid and containing no discussion of Harper's Ferry at all. This was enough for President James Buchanan to grant Governor Henry Wise of Virginia's request for assistance in tracking down and arresting Douglass. For the second time in his life, Frederick Douglass fled the country to keep his hard-earned freedom; if he was caught this time, the consequence would not be re-enslavement, but trial and ex*****on. With the help of multiple friends and allies, Douglass successfully escaped to Canada, and from there travelled to Europe for a lecture circuit in England and Scotland. Governor Wise finally dropped the charges in June of 1860, and Frederick Douglass returned home to a grief-stricken Anna Murray Douglass; their 10-year-old daughter, Annie, had died in March.
If you were forced to spend a long time away from home, what would you most fear missing?
Image Credit: John Brown on his way to his ex*****on (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain).
Alt-text: "An illustration of abolitionist John Brown being taken to his ex*****on. A Black woman holding a baby sits on the jailhouse steps, blocking his way. A white flag with the words 'Sic Semper Tyrannis,' the state motto of Virginia, flies behind him."