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Slavery

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Free Persons of Color

The Violent Decade

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US Colored Troops

Civil War

The Year of Jubilee (1863)

Regional Fugitive Slave Advertisements

 

April 1832: Tom escapes from Senator George Poindexter in Washington, D.C. to join his wife in Ohio

250 Dollars Reward.
The subscriber will give the above reward for the apprehension and delivery to him, in this city, of his mulatto man slave, named Tom, who eloped from his service, without the slightest provocation, on the 23d of April last. He will give one hundred and fifty dollars if said slave is secured in any jail in the United States, so that he is thereby enabled to reclaim him.

Tom is a tall dark mulatto, upwards of six feet high, straight built, and not inclined to be fleshy. At the time of his elopement, he wore large black whiskers, which, I am informed, he has since shaved off. His dress, as my coachman, was a livery of dark gray cloth, with a red cape and cuffs on the coat; red cassimere waistcoat, and grey cloth pantaloons. He has also a drab great coat, and other clothing not particularly recollected. These articles of clothing he will probably change to prevent detection.

I have been informed that he went off with a free mulatto woman, who furnished him with the free papers of her husband, whose name is Washington Williams. With these papers, and by this name, it is probable that he will attempt to pass, but of this I am not certain. He was born and raised in Albemarle county, in Virginia, but it is believed that he will attempt to pass through Pennsylvania into Ohio, as his wife, a free mulatto woman, was sent by him to Cincinnati a few years past, with the intention of seeking some opportunity to follow her. He smiles when spoken to, speaks very softly, and has a deceitful countenance. He is very artful and cunning, and will no doubt use every precaution to avoid detection.

Besides the above mentioned reward, I will pay all reasonable expenses of his transportation to this city, or to my plantation in Mississippi, from any place at which he may be taken.

Geo. Poindexter.
Washington, JUne 6.

Source: Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), Wednesday, 22 August 1832.

Notes: George Poindexter was serving in the U.S. Senate from Mississippi at the time that Tom escaped. Prior to his senatorial service, Poindexter served as the Governor of Mississippi from 1820-1822.


Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.

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The Year of Jubilee, Volume One: Men of God, Volume Two: Men of Muscle

 

 

 

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