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I have had occasion to examine many pages of the 1850 and 1860 federal census slave schedules. Each has a place to list the number of slaves belonging to the master who were fugitives as of June 1 of the year of the census, having escaped within the last year. Such slaves were listed on the slave schedule as though they were present.
I had always noticed that on the pages I examined there were never any slaves reported as fugitives.
I went to the trouble of first examining, on the 1860 slave schedule, the complete return for a district of a small, typical inland Deep South county in Mississippi. Out of 1,920 slaves in this district of the county, none were reported as fugitives.
I then picked a slaveholding district where escape would be particularly easy, District 1 of Jefferson County, Kentucky, on the Ohio River opposite Indiana. Here, there were no fugitives listed among 1,840 slaves.
I then checked on Hannibal, Missouri, the home town of Huck Finn and his companion the escapee slave Jim. It lies on the Mississippi opposite Illinois. Zero fugitives listed among 480 slaves.
I then turned to the very heart of the cotton plantation society, the city of Natchez, Mississippi. In the city there were 2,160 slaves and not one was listed as a fugitive.
These four random searches turned up exactly zero reports of fugitive slaves (within the past year) from a total of about 6,400 slaves.
With all the furor about abolitionists inciting slaves to escape and the controversy over the Fugitive Slave Act, slave owners certainly had no reason to downplay or conceal the number of escaping slaves. The actual number was apparently incredibly tiny. It seems to have been a hysteria, a counterpart to that in the north about the massive ongoing African slave traffic to the southern United States.
Probably rare, as near-certain capture after escape was inevitable, and certainly the threats of additional beatings, torture, crippling injuries, rape, etc (to the escapee or those left behind), having children and other family ripped away and sold, or themselves being "sold down the river" to be worked to death on deep south plantations, all served to keep hope and spirits broken such that considering escape was not even an option.
Curious. I've not used slave schedules much and just never noticed that census notation on fugitives. I wonder if that portion was just ignored. It seems unlikely that there would be zero. I see that the heading says fugitive from the state, implying that the slave owner knows that the fugitive left the state.
Curious. I've not used slave schedules much and just never noticed that census notation on fugitives. I wonder if that portion was just ignored. It seems unlikely that there would be zero. I see that the heading says fugitive from the state, implying that the slave owner knows that the fugitive left the state.
The title of the column was "Fugitive from the state" but the actual instructions to the enumerators were just to list all fugitive slaves during that period. They said nothing about making a determination as to whether or not the escapee was outside the state.
It is surprising, but I do think it's important to note that it only includes fugitive slaves within the last year. Of course, if it was happening a lot, there would be some within the last year, but it doesn't mean the data is comprehensive. It's a shame Ancestry doesn't index the fugitive data (and neither does FamilySearch), it would be a lot easier to get the full numbers without having to go through the records manually.
There's definitely lots of newspaper notices about run away slaves - here's four notices on the same day/location from 1857: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2580...unaway-slaves/ (this is a shareable clipping, anyone can view it without a subscription and it does not expire).
Unless these are fake, it seems unlikely there would be 4 different run away slaves in the same area at the same time unless it was somewhat common. Just searching for "ranaway" between 1750 and 1860 turned up over 20,000 results, and "ran away" (in quotes so searching for that exact phrase) turned up over 68,000 results. Granted, maybe not all of those are runaway slaves notices (some may be political articles about runaway slaves, some may be about criminals escaping custody), but based on the top results, most of them are (and I can't just add the word "slave" to my search because as the clipping above shows, the word "slave" frequently wasn't actually used in fugitive slave notices). If we consider that even half of them are runaway slave notices, that's roughly 44,000, over the course of 110 years - about 400 per year.
If I use the more specific phrase "Ranaway from the subscriber", there's 6,495 results and "ran away from the subscriber" (yes, the space is distinct) 11,239 hits. Those are likely all actual fugitive slave notices (animals are more likely to be described as "lost" not runaways), but that exact phrase is not always used so that number is not comprehensive. The above clipping shows how sometimes "absconded" is used and in some cases, that sort of phrase isn't even used at all (such as, "The above reward will be paid for the apprehension and delivery to me [...] of my slave LINSEY" - not sure there's a way to search for that). But absconded could also be used to describe criminals absconding from prison. The phrase "absconded from the subscriber" is used 710 times. Sometimes, "from plantation/farm" is used instead:
"Ranaway from the plantation" 808
"Ranaway from my plantation" 312
"Ran away from the plantation" 1,311
"Ran away from my plantation" 349
"Absconded from the plantation" 339
"Absconded from my plantation" 82
"Ranaway from the farm" 171
"Ranaway from my farm" 57
"Ran away from the farm" 310
"Ran away from my farm" 68
"Absconded from the farm" 62
"Absconded from my farm" 26
"Escaped from the subscriber" 92
"Escaped from the plantation" 90
"Escaped from my plantation" 16
"Escaped from the/my farm" wasn't common apparently. If anyone can think of any other common phrases found in notices, please remind me.
Keeping in mind all those phrases are still not going to be totally comprehensive of all fugitive slave notices (so this is a conservative estimate), adding them together is 22,537, or about 205 fugitive slaves per year (over 110 years).
Maybe what the slave schedule actually indicates is that the rate of quick return of fugitive slaves was high. Maybe there were lots of fugitive slaves, but most of them didn't make it out of the south before being returned fairly quickly. That would explain why there might be more fugitive slave notices in the paper than the slave schedule would suggest.
The title of the column was "Fugitive from the state" but the actual instructions to the enumerators were just to list all fugitive slaves during that period. They said nothing about making a determination as to whether or not the escapee was outside the state.
Yes, I took "from the state" to mean "fugitive from the government/law enforcement", not the literal state - just meaning slaves running away was illegal. Because how could they have possibly known whether the fugitive was within that state or not? If they knew where they were, they could go get them.
It is surprising, but I do think it's important to note that it only includes fugitive slaves within the last year. Of course, if it was happening a lot, there would be some within the last year, but it doesn't mean the data is comprehensive. It's a shame Ancestry doesn't index the fugitive data (and neither does FamilySearch), it would be a lot easier to get the full numbers without having to go through the records manually.
There's definitely lots of newspaper notices about run away slaves - here's four notices on the same day/location from 1857: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2580...unaway-slaves/ (this is a shareable clipping, anyone can view it without a subscription and it does not expire).
Unless these are fake, it seems unlikely there would be 4 different run away slaves in the same area at the same time unless it was somewhat common. Just searching for "ranaway" between 1750 and 1860 turned up over 20,000 results, and "ran away" (in quotes so searching for that exact phrase) turned up over 68,000 results. Granted, maybe not all of those are runaway slaves notices (some may be political articles about runaway slaves, some may be about criminals escaping custody), but based on the top results, most of them are (and I can't just add the word "slave" to my search because as the clipping above shows, the word "slave" frequently wasn't actually used in fugitive slave notices). If we consider that even half of them are runaway slave notices, that's roughly 44,000, over the course of 110 years - about 400 per year.
If I use the more specific phrase "Ranaway from the subscriber", there's 6,495 results and "ran away from the subscriber" (yes, the space is distinct) 11,239 hits. Those are likely all actual fugitive slave notices (animals are more likely to be described as "lost" not runaways), but that exact phrase is not always used so that number is not comprehensive. The above clipping shows how sometimes "absconded" is used and in some cases, that sort of phrase isn't even used at all (such as, "The above reward will be paid for the apprehension and delivery to me [...] of my slave LINSEY" - not sure there's a way to search for that). But absconded could also be used to describe criminals absconding from prison. The phrase "absconded from the subscriber" is used 710 times. Sometimes, "from plantation/farm" is used instead:
"Ranaway from the plantation" 808
"Ranaway from my plantation" 312
"Ran away from the plantation" 1,311
"Ran away from my plantation" 349
"Absconded from the plantation" 339
"Absconded from my plantation" 82
"Ranaway from the farm" 171
"Ranaway from my farm" 57
"Ran away from the farm" 310
"Ran away from my farm" 68
"Absconded from the farm" 62
"Absconded from my farm" 26
"Escaped from the subscriber" 92
"Escaped from the plantation" 90
"Escaped from my plantation" 16
"Escaped from the/my farm" wasn't common apparently. If anyone can think of any other common phrases found in notices, please remind me.
Keeping in mind all those phrases are still not going to be totally comprehensive of all fugitive slave notices (so this is a conservative estimate), adding them together is 22,537, or about 205 fugitive slaves per year (over 110 years).
Maybe what the slave schedule actually indicates is that the rate of quick return of fugitive slaves was high. Maybe there were lots of fugitive slaves, but most of them didn't make it out of the south before being returned fairly quickly. That would explain why there might be more fugitive slave notices in the paper than the slave schedule would suggest.
Those four runaway notices bear dates from January through October (they apparently were to run until further notice, i. e. until the slave was captured) and are from four widely scattered counties in Virginia, a state with over half a million slaves. They are certainly not evidence that there were a large number of runaway slaves.
It was extremely common for advertisements about runaway slaves to be posted in more than one newspaper, meaning an overcount.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates has said that he doubts that more than 25,000 slaves escaped to freedom in the North over the entire period of slavery in what became the United States, beginning in colonial times, and he believes that nearly all these were young men.
Those four runaway notices bear dates from January through October (they apparently were to run until further notice, i. e. until the slave was captured) and are from four widely scattered counties in Virginia, a state with over half a million slaves. They are certainly not evidence that there were a large number of runaway slaves.
It was extremely common for advertisements about runaway slaves to be posted in more than one newspaper, meaning an overcount.
That's true, but they still occurred within the same year and location, and 4 is more than 0. Plus, like I say, I don't think the phrases I used were comprehensive so the numbers may even out somewhat. I didn't say there was a large number of runaway slaves, I was just illustrating that it wasn't 0 or close to 0 like your sampling suggested.
Quote:
Dr. Henry Louis Gates has said that he doubts that more than 25,000 slaves escaped to freedom in the North over the entire period of slavery in what became the United States, beginning in colonial times, and he believes that nearly all these were young men.
That's about 102 per year, which is not that far off my estimate.
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