A FLIGHT ACROSS OHIO: THE ESCAPE OF
WILLIAM WELLS BROWN FROM SLAVERY
by W. EDWARD FARRISON
Chairman, Department of English,
North Carolina College
at Durham
It was January 1, 1834. On the previous
night Captain Enoch
Price, a commission merchant and
steamboat owner of St. Louis,
Missouri, had arrived on his steamer The
Chester in Cincinnati.
This was a pleasure as well as a
business trip, and on it the captain
had brought his family and also several
of his house slaves. Among
the latter was a mulatto youth about
nineteen years of age whom
the Prices called Sandford, but who
called himself William.
It was already a Happy New Year for
many of those around
William. Would it become that for him?
It would indeed if he
could only escape from slavery, as he
had planned to do on that
day. For a moment he stood beside the
trunk he had brought to
the landing in order to give himself a
reason for coming ashore
at that time. Then casually he made his
way through the dispersing
crowd on the landing and into the
neighboring street. Turning at
the first corner he reached, he began
to walk a little faster, but
not fast enough to give any casual
observer the impression that
he was hurrying away from anything.
Within a few minutes he
was on the outskirts of the city; and
what was more, not far in
the distance he saw a wood.
Many years earlier William Wordsworth,
whom he was never
to see but whose home he was destined
to visit seventeen years
later, had said that there was a spirit
in the woods. And to be
sure, there was. But as yet the
fugitive knew nothing about the
great presence in nature which for
Wordsworth had turned groves
into temples. The spirit the fugitive
sought in the woods was a
protecting spirit-a protector against
discovery by men who would
remand him to slavery. In the woods
even on this cold winter day
there were more security and peace for
him than there were among
the people of the city through which he
had just passed. For there
272
A Flight Across Ohio 273
were many in that city who would gladly
return him to slavery
for a fee. He remembered all too well
what had happened to a
man belonging to General Ashley of St.
Louis. While en route to
Washington, D. C., with his
owner, the slave had run away near
Cincinnati but had been recaptured and
carried back into bondage.
William also remembered how he and his
mother had been re-
captured in central Illinois when they
had attempted to flee to
Canada early in the preceding year.
Perhaps a similar fate now
awaited him. Lest he might be overtaken
by it, he must not "be
seen by any one."1 In order to
avoid contact with either travelers
or others who might be curious, he had
decided to hide in the woods
by day and travel by night, when he
would have the roads to himself.
He hurried into the woods, therefore,
to wait for night and the
appearance of what was to be his guide
to freedom-the North
Star. He soon found himself in "a
marshy woodland,"2 a swamp
so uninviting that nobody was likely to
look for him there, because
no one would have expected to find
anybody there, especially on
a cold day.
At last night came, bringing with it a
cloud that hid the North
Star. Nevertheless the fugitive was
eager to be on his way.
Emerging from his hiding place, he
found a main road but did
not know which way on it led to
freedom, if either did. It did
not occur to him, one supposes, to feel
the trunks of trees for
moss and to proceed in the direction
indicated by the sides on
which it grew, for moss growing on
trees faces the north. Whether
this botanical fact was known to
William or not, according to the
Rev. William M. Mitchell, it soon
became familiar to other fugitive
slaves traveling in Ohio as well as
elsewhere.3 Mitchell, who was
of Negro-Indian parentage, was a native
of Guilford County, North
Carolina. He was a conductor on the
Underground Railroad in
Ross County and elsewhere in southern
Ohio from 1843 to 1855.
As such he was a co-worker of the Rev.
John Rankin of Ripley.
Among the fugitive slaves whom he said
that he sheltered for a
1 Narrative of William W. Brown, A
Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself (Boston,
1847), 95-97.
2 "Letter from W. W. Brown," National Anti-Slavery Standard, April
21, 1855.
3 W. M.
Mitchell, The Under-Ground Railroad (London, 1860), 36.
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
night and then sped on to freedom were
Mrs. Stowe's Eliza, whose
real name he said was Mary, and her
child. In the summer of 1935
an ex-slave who had spent most of his
life in the vicinity of New
Garden in Guilford County, North
Carolina, told me how slaves
found directions by noting the sides on
which moss grew on trees.
This ex-slave, of course, had never
heard of the Rev. William M.
Mitchell. New Garden, now Guilford
College, was the community
which Levi and Addison Coffin made
famous as a station on the
Underground Railroad.
To return to William on a strange road
on that cold New Year's
night in 1834, there was nothing much
he could do, it seemed,
but pray and wait for the North Star to
appear. Meanwhile he
must do something to keep himself warm.
The night was much
colder than the day had been, and he
was not dressed for winter
weather in Ohio. Both his suit and his
shoes were old, and he had
no overcoat. He had no clothes but
those he was wearing nor
any other belongings except a tinderbox
and a small bag of
"provisions." In order to
keep himself warm, he walked to and fro
in the road. After what seemed like
hours the North Star appeared,
and at once the fugitive was on his way
to freedom-in Canada,
he then hoped. Freedom was a
beautiful word, he thought, but
surely it must be more than a word.
Eventually he would see what
it really was.
When William escaped from slavery, the
Underground Railroad
in Ohio had not yet been very well
organized, and few if any of
its routes had been established.
Without the assistance of any
conductors or any appreciable knowledge
of the geography of the
state, he traveled about half of the
way from Cincinnati to Cleveland.
Neither in his Narrative nor in
any other autobiographical sketch
did he give specific information about
the route he followed
across the state, perhaps because he
could not give very much, or
possibly because he did not wish to
disclose to slaveholders any
secrets about the ways by which
fugitive slaves might get to
freedom. He did not revisit
southwestern Ohio for twenty-one
years nor central Ohio for ten years
after his flight; and the changes
which had taken place in those sections
during those periods had
A Flight Across Ohio 275
made it very difficult, if not
impossible, for him to identify ac-
curately the route along which he had
fled. With regard to the
time it took him to get across the
state, he was more specific;
and the record his Narrative gives
of his progress northward,
principally in terms of time, indicates
more or less generally the
route that he probably followed from
Cincinnati to Cleveland.
When on the night of January 1st the
North Star appeared,
according to William's reckoning it was
almost twelve o'clock.
Having started at last in the right
direction, he must have walked
very fast, for before dawn the next day
he had gone, he estimated,
"twenty or twenty-five
miles." The testimony of the Rev. William
M. Mitchell, to whom I have already
referred, renders this distance
remarkable if not questionable.
Speaking of activities on the Under-
ground Railroad in Ohio more than ten
years after William escaped
from slavery and after those activities
had been well organized,
Mitchell said, "I have taken them
[fugitive slaves] 20 miles in a
night, but that is not a usual
distance, 6 to 12 miles is more
commonly the length of each
journey."4 Apparently William
traveled much faster without guides
than fugitive slaves usually
traveled with them.
On the fourth day of his flight, while
William was still in
southwestern Ohio, his
"provisions" gave out. To suffering from
exposure was now added the threat of
starvation. There were three
ways by which he could obtain food. He
could purchase it, beg
for it, or forage for it. Even if he
had had more money than he
possessed, he still would have
considered buying as dangerous as
begging; for either would have
necessitated direct contact with
strangers, and he was still afraid to
be seen by anyone. As to
foraging, he knew that he could get no
feast by that method; but
the small risk of discovery which it
involved made it comparatively
safe, and just now safety from
recapture was more important to
him than anything else. As he saw
matters, the only way for him
to remain safe and get food was to keep
away from people, as
he had done during the last four days,
and forage. This he re-
solved to do and promptly put his
resolution into action.
4 Ibid., 5.
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
In his Narrative, page 97, he
said, "On the first night after my
food was gone, I went to a barn on the
road-side, and there found
some ears of corn. I took ten or twelve
of them and kept on my
journey. During the next day, while in
the woods, I roasted my
corn and feasted upon it, thanking God
that I was so well pro-
vided for." Another of his quests
for food, on which he went
presumably a night or two later, he
recounted many years after-
wards as follows: "One night,
while in search of corn, I came
upon what I supposed to be a hill of
potatoes, buried in the
ground for want of a cellar. I obtained
a sharp-pointed piece of
wood, with which I dug away for more
than an hour, and on
gaining the hidden treasure, found it
to be turnips. However, I
did not dig for nothing. After
supplying myself with about half-
a-dozen of the turnips, I again resumed
my journey. This uncooked
food was indeed a great luxury, and
gave strength to my fatigued
limbs." In her Biography of an
American Bondman (Boston, 1856),
page 39, Josephine Brown referred to
her father's "narrative" as
the source of this story. I have not
found it, however, in any of the
editions of his Narrative. The
earliest version of it I have found is
the one quoted by Josephine Brown
herself, and this is the one
I have quoted.
"On the fifth or sixth day,"
according to the Narrative, page 99,
"it rained very fast, and it froze
about as fast as it fell, so that
my clothes were one glare of ice. I
travelled on at night until I
became so chilled and benumbed--the
wind blowing into my face--
that I found it impossible to go any
further [sic], and accordingly
took shelter in a barn, where I was
obliged to walk about to keep
from freezing.
"I have ever looked upon that
night as the most eventful part
of my escape from slavery. Nothing but
the providence of God,
and that old barn, saved me from
freezing to death. I received a
very severe cold, which settled upon my
lungs, and from time to
time my feet had been frost-bitten, so
that it was with difficulty
I could walk." As unhappy as his
plight was, he preferred it, or
even death, to being re-enslaved; so
with more strength of will than
of body he walked on for two more
days-or rather nights. After
A Flight Across Ohio 277
that time he must get help from
somebody or die. But how could
he get help from anybody without
running the risk of being re-
captured? He was uncertain but
necessity made him hopeful.
Concealing himself one morning
"behind some logs and brush"
beside a highway, he waited for
somebody to come along on whom
he might call for aid.
The first person that passed was a man
in a buggy-wagon. He looked too
genteel for me to hail him. Very soon,
another passed on horseback. I
attempted speaking to him, but fear
made my voice fail me. As he passed,
I left my hiding-place, and was
approaching the road, when I observed
an old man walking towards me, leading
a white horse. He had on a
broad-brimmed hat and a very long coat,
and was evidently walking for
exercise.
By the same providence of God which had
kept him from freezing
in the barn two or three nights
earlier, William recognized the
man who was to be his Good Samaritan.
When the old man got
close enough to speak to him, he asked
whether William was a
fugitive slave. Without answering his
question, William explained
that he was ill and asked whether the
old man knew anyone who
would help him.
He answered that he would; but again
asked, if I was not a slave. I
told him I was. He then said that I was
in a very pro-slavery neighborhood,
and if I would wait until he went home,
he would get a covered wagon
for me. I promised to remain. He
mounted his horse, and was soon out of
sight.
After he was gone, I meditated whether
to wait or not; being ap-
prehensive that he had gone for some
one to arrest me. But I finally
concluded to remain until he should
return; removing some few rods to
watch his movements. After a suspense
of an hour and a half or more, he
returned with a two horse
covered-wagon, such as are usually seen under
the shed of a Quaker meeting-house on
Sundays and Thursdays; for the
old man proved to be a Quaker of the
George Fox stamp.5
Upon arriving at the Friend's home with
him, William hesitated
to enter it until the housewife herself
urged him to do so. "I thought
5 Narrative, 101-102.
278
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
I saw something in the old lady's
cap," he said in his Narrative,
"that told me I was not only safe,
but welcome, in her house."
Although he had not had a decent meal
for more than a week,
at first he could not eat, partly
because he was not at ease and
partly because he was ill from
exposure. Taking notice of his
physical condition, the housewife soon
improved it with one of her
home remedies-a cupful or two of
"composition," or "number
six."
By both words and deeds the Friend and
his wife made it
clear to William that he need not hurry
away from their home-
that certainly he must not leave them
while he was ill. In spite of
their kindness, however, he was
uncomfortable with them at least
for a day or two. Slavery had left its
scars upon his mind no less
than upon his body. In the
"peculiar institution" he had been
effectively taught that a slave was, at
the very best, an inferior
human being, who could never expect to
associate on equal terms
with white people of any class. And as
he had observed, the fact
that he looked as much like a white
person as any of his owners
was of no importance whatever. It was
as much a matter of legal
and social status as of racial
identity. On the contrary, here were
two white people whom he had known only
a day or two and
who had not only taken him into their
home but were also treating
him as if he were a member of their
family. It was an experience
such as he had never had even with the
white people who had
admitted that he was their relative.
This transition from the un-
natural status of human property to the
natural status of a human
being equal to any other human being
was too sudden to be
easily made by one who had been
proscribed all of his life by
the adroit and grotesque logic of
American slavery. He could
not help feeling amazed at his
situation. "The fact that I was a
freeman-could walk, talk, eat and sleep
as a man," he remarked
in his Narrative, page 104,
"and no one to stand over me with the
blood-clotted cowhide-all this made me
feel that I was not myself."
But fortunately, slavery had only
wounded, because it could not
kill, the freedom-loving human spirit
which belonged as much to
William as to the rest of mankind; and
ere long in the home of his
A Flight Across Ohio 279
newly found friends he began to feel
like a normal person among
other normal persons.
The name of William's Good Samaritan
was Wells Brown, and
his home was "about fifty or sixty
miles from Dayton, in the
State of Ohio, and between one and two
hundred miles from
Cleaveland [sic]."6 William
did not tell what was the name of
Wells Brown's wife, and his reference
to the location of his
benefactors' home is so indefinite that
one might wonder whether
he did not know where it was or was
vague on purpose. Because
Wells Brown had helped many fugitive
slaves, perhaps William
thought that if he had told
specifically where his benefactors' home
was, he would have disclosed
information that might have proved
valuable to slave-catchers. In
referring to Wells Brown by name,
nevertheless, William must have
identified him for an appreciable
number of people. But there is another
possibility to be considered.
When he succored William early in
January 1834, Wells Brown
"was very old, and not in the
enjoyment of good health." Ap-
parently William never saw him nor
heard from him afterwards.
For all William knew, therefore, by
1847 when the first edition
of his Narrative was published,
there might have been no need
to conceal any information about Wells
Brown, because by that
time he might have been dead. Whether
William thought he was
still alive or dead, however, he
dedicated his Narrative to him.
According to William's reference to its
location, Wells Brown's
home might have been anywhere in the
rectangular area bounded
by Washington Court House, Marysville,
Delaware, and Circleville.
Two circumstances make it probable that
the Friend's home was
somewhere in the northern half of this
area. First, the Cincinnati-
Cleveland road now known as United
States Highway Number 42
ran in 1834, as it does now,
northeastward across the northern half
of this area; and second, the road just
mentioned was the more
direct and probably the more frequently
traveled of the two routes
which then led from Cincinnati to
Cleveland.7 Accordingly, it is
6 Ibid., iii-iv, 104.
7 William F. Gephart, Transportation
and Industrial Development in the Middle
West (Columbia University Studies in History, Economics,
and Public Law, XXXIV,
New York, 1909), map facing p. 139.
280
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
presumable that this was the route
William followed northward;
and if it was, Wells Brown's home must
have been near it.
The only references to Wells Brown I
have found are those
made by William. His name seems not to
have been recorded in
the registries of either deeds or wills
in any of the counties com-
prising the area in which he probably
lived, nor is it listed either
in the printed records of the Ohio
Anti-Slavery Society or in
William Wade Hinshaw's Encyclopedia
of American Quaker
Genealogy. He was, it appears, one of those who helped their un-
fortunate fellow men whenever they
could do so, but with no
thought of making places for themselves
in history-like the
original Good Samaritan who, in
addition to doing all he could do
for the victim of the thieves, paid the
innkeeper to care further
for him but did not bother to identify
himself by name. Indeed, if
chance or providence had not brought to
Wells Brown for aid a
fugitive slave who eventually became a
prominent abolitionist and
author, his name might have been lost
from the annals of the
antislavery movement in America.
William remained in his benefactors'
home "about twelve or
fifteen days." And now having
fully recovered from the cold he
had caught, he was eager to continue
his journey northward. In
addition to helping him to revive his
body, before letting him
depart, Wells Brown also helped him to
revive his spirit by in-
dividualizing him with a complete name.
Wells Brown asked the
fugitive what name he had in addition
to William. When the
fugitive replied that as a slave he had
had no surname, the Friend
remarked that since William had got out
of slavery and had become
a man, he must have an additional name,
because all free men
had two names. In appreciation of Wells
Brown's fatherly kindness
William gave the Friend the privilege
of naming him, whereupon
the Friend offered his own name. But
finding that the fugitive
was unwilling to give up the name William,
the Friend settled
matters by calling him William Wells
Brown.8
With some new clothes, new shoes, a
small amount of money, a
8 Narrative, 105-106.
A Flight Across Ohio 281
parcel of food, and the name of a free
man-all of which he had
received from his Quaker
benefactors-Brown set out again for
Canada. Within four days he had
traveled half of the distance from
central Ohio to Cleveland, but by this
time his supply of food and
money was exhausted, and he was
beginning to suffer again from
exposure. The need for comfort having
become urgent, he stopped
one day to warm himself in "a
public house." While he was there
he heard some customers at the bar
discussing some fugitive slaves
who, it seemed, had just passed that
way. He was immediately
chilled with fear lest he might be
recognized as a fugitive slave and
recaptured. As soon as he could summon
enough courage to do so,
he withdrew from the public house to a
forest, where he waited
until night to continue his journey.
The next day, having existed without
food for almost two days,
he was impelled to beg for some at a
farmhouse he was about to
pass. In response to his knock a man
came to the door and asked
him several questions, refused to give
him any food, and advised
him to go and work for something to
eat. Finding this lecture
neither physically nor spiritually
satisfying, Brown was about to
withdraw when the man's wife came to
see what was happening.
When her husband hesitated to explain
the situation, she questioned
Brown directly.
I told her that I had asked for
something to eat. After a few more
questions, she told me to come in, and
that she would give me something
to eat.
I walked up to the door, but the
husband remained in the passage, as if
unwilling to let me enter.
She asked him two or three times to get
out of the way, and let me in.
But as he did not move, she pushed him
on one side, bidding me walk in!
I was never before so glad to see a
woman push a man aside! Ever
since that act, I have been in favor of
"woman's rights!"
After giving me as much food as I could
eat, she presented me with ten
cents, all the money then at her
disposal, accompanied with a note to a
friend, a few miles further [sic] on
the road. Thanking this angel of mercy
from an overflowing heart, I pushed on
my way, and in three days arrived
at Cleaveland [sic], Ohio.9
9 Ibid., 107-108.
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Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Probably this housewife had recognized
Brown as a fugitive
slave but had refrained from asking him
too many questions for
fear of frightening him unnecessarily.
The dime and the note
she gave him suggest that she might
have been one of the pioneer
stationmistresses on the Underground
Railroad in Ohio. It is re-
grettable that Brown gave no more
information about her than
he did.
Arriving in Cleveland at the end of
January, Brown was dismayed
to find that there was ice in Lake Erie
and that no steamboats were
running. To get to Canada he would have
had to go by land
through either Buffalo or Detroit.
Either way would have neces-
sitated a long trip on foot, for he had
no money for stagecoach
fares; and still worse, he would have
had to travel in such mid-
winter weather as he had never
experienced before. He was a
stranger in Cleveland, but believing
that he would be secure in that
city for a while, he decided to remain
there at least until winter
ended and navigation on the lake was
resumed. If he could have
foreseen the future, he would have
known that he was to make
Cleveland his home for more than two
years and was never to settle
in Canada. Instead he was to remain in
the United States and
eventually to join in the crusade to
win for others the freedom he
had won for himself.