Thomas Garrett to William Still and James Miller McKim, November 21, 1858

    Source citation
    William Still, The Underground Rail Road (Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872), 512-513.
    Type
    Letter
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Michael Blake, Dickinson College
    Transcription date

    The following text is presented here in complete form, as true to the original written document as possible. Spelling and other typographical errors have been preserved as in the original.

    WILMINGTON, 11th mo., 21st, 1858.

    DEAR FRIENDS McKIM AND STILL: - I write to inform you that on the 16th of this month, we passed on four able bodied men to Pennsylvania, and they were followed last night by, a woman and her six children, from three or four years of age, up to sixteen years; I believe the whole belonged to the same estate, and they were to have been sold at public sale, I was informed yesterday, but preferred seeking their own master; we had some trouble in getting those last safe along, as they could not travel far on foot, and could not safely cross any of the bridges on the canal, either on foot or in carriage. A man left here two days since, with carriage, to meet them this side of the canal, but owing to spies they did not reach him till 10 o'clock last night; this morning he returned, having seen them about one or two o'clock this morning in a second carriage, on the border of Chester county, where I think they are all safe, if they can be kept from Philadelphia. If you see them they can tell their own tales, as I have seen one of them. May He, who feeds the ravens, care for them.

    Yours, THOS. GARRETT

    How to Cite This Page: "Thomas Garrett to William Still and James Miller McKim, November 21, 1858," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/1013.