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May 2018 Volume 13, number 72

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREE PRESS® Independent reporting on today’s Underground Railroad community

urrFreePress.com His State and Hometown Remove Memorials to US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney, Author of the Dred Scott Decision It was Frederick, Maryland's Roger eral Assembly, the state's legislature, Taney as Chief Justice of the United installed a statue of Taney on the In This Issue States Supreme Court who in 1857 grounds of the State House. In 1932, wrote the court's opinion in Dred Frederick County, Maryland, where He had successfully defended free- Scott vs. Sandford, the explosive deci- Taney was born and practiced law, dom seekers, but then ruined his rep- sion that stripped blacks of citizen- installed a bust of Taney on the lawn utation in a single act. ship, kept Scott and his family en- of the County Courthouse. In the 1 slaved, and enraged the northern 1970s, when the courthouse became states. Regarded immediately and ev- the city hall of Frederick, the county er since as one of the most misguided seat, the bust remained. The international Underground Rail- road community's top honors will be decisions, if not the most so, that the The two monuments stood until last awarded again in September. Tell us Supreme Court ever issued, Dred year when the State and the City of who should win. Scott vs. Sandford was a direct cause Frederick—like Baltimore, New Orle- 1 of the Civil War, emancipation, and ans, Charlottesville, Virginia, and thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth Who was President Eli- many other locales—came to the real- amendments to the Constitution. as Boudinot and why was he an early ization that a gradually enlightened emancipation leader? Nevertheless, as with the many stat- nation had moved beyond wink and ues of Confederate generals which nod to the legacy of slavery. 1 went up across the South after the For several years, the Frederick City Civil War, Roger Taney was memori- Romantic getaways at Underground Council had struck an edgy compro- Railroad sites? Try these B&Bs. alized perhaps more than any other mise between history and grievances Chief Justice, despite the Dred Scott decision. In 1872, the Maryland Gen- Please see Removed, page 3, column 1 2

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The First Non-enslaver US President (Not Who You Might Think) Rather famously, , George Wash- dent of the original United States government ington's successor as president, made it a under the Articles of Confederation, the na- point that, unlike Washington, he, Adams, tion's first governing charter. was never an enslaver. In fact, from Adams Boudinot was a delegate to the until Lincoln 60 years later, the only other first government, the United States in Con- president who was not an enslaver was John gress Assembled, when in 1782 the body elect- Quincy Adams. Even two presidents who ed him as the second President of the United came after Lincoln and emancipation— States for a one-year term. The unexplained Andrew Johnson and Ulysses Grant—had failure of United States history textbooks to been slave owners. adequately describe the original government, But John Adams was not the first president its presidents, and its critical role in establish- who was never an enslaver. That distinction ing nationhood has left most Americans unin- goes to Elias Boudinot IV, the second presi- Please go to Boudinot, page 3 column 2 123

Underground Railroad Free Press 2 More Underground Railroad B&B Inns In our January, 2017, issue, we ran an arti- ment, they were able to flee into the 1945, which was converted into a B&B in cle on bedandbreakfast.com's list of 26 woods toward freedom in Canada. 1985. A secret passage conceals a pair of bed and breakfast inns that claim Under- second floor rooms large enough for a The Fairfield Inn ground Railroad history. Now the website dozen adults. Today, the bed and break- offers nine more. Its new listings have been Fairfield, Pennsylvania fast inn celebrates it’s unique past by edited here for length. Opening it’s doors in 1757, the Fairfield providing Underground Railroad tours to 1830 Hallauer House B&B Inn is one of the oldest, continuously op- school groups, families and others by ap- Oberlin, erated inns in the United States. The inn pointment. was used as a battlefield hospital in the Hallauer House was built by Nathan Six Acres Bed and Breakfast Civil War and also as a safe station along Smith in 1830 but it was not until later , Ohio the Underground Railroad. Runaway when Samuel Wightman and family lived slaves were taken to the third floor and, This home was built in the 1850s by in the house during the Civil War that it after crawling through a small trap door, Zebulon Strong, a noted abolitionist and was believed to have been used as an in- the door was boarded back up with participant in the Underground Railroad, strumental stop on the Underground wainscoting. The runaway slaves hid in- and is close to Cincinnati’s National Un- Railroad. There is much evidence that side the wall of the inn until the coast was derground Railroad Freedom Center. points to how the Wightman family once clear and someone would lead them out. Documents in the Ohio Historical Library aided slaves as they traveled on the Un- While staying at the inn, guests can visit say Strong had a “false bottom” in his derground Railroad from Wellington an Underground Railroad exhibit on the farming wagon where he would pick up through Oberlin and north to Lake Erie. third floor where a window has been cut his “passengers” along Mill Creek, which A dry cistern with an adjacent thick- into the wall so viewers can see the area runs alongside the property. He hid the walled secret room and a concealed open- where the escaping slaves hid. Through- runaways in the bottom of his wagon and ing offered shelter. Just above the hidden out its 261 years of history, the Fairfield covered them with crops to be hidden room, a small rectangular opening con- Inn has also hosted many famous Ameri- from view. He would then take them to cealed by a wooden plug that offered the cans including Patrick Henry, General his home for a safe respite before moving family access to communicate and pro- Robert E. Lee, and Ike and Mamie Eisen- them further up Hamilton Pike to the next vide food to those hidden below. hower. The inn offers a free history tour safehouse along the route to Canada. 1852 Hall Place Bed & Breakfast daily to its guests and other visitors. Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast Glasgow, Kentucky The Great Valley House of Valley Forge Nebraska City, Nebraska th Innkeeper Karin Baldwin-Carroll is relat- Malvern, Pennsylvania 100 Anniversary A short stroll from the 1878 Victorian ed to Judge Christopher Tompkins, the Today's owner and innkeeper Pattye Ben- home Whispering Pines is the Mayhew original owner of Hall Place. Judge son avidly shares many interesting stories Cabin (also known as John Brown’s Tompkins was a teacher of Abraham Lin- of hidden rooms at this historic 1690 inn Cave), one of the oldest buildings in Ne- coln and an active Underground Railroad where she has lived for decades. A tunnel braska and currently Nebraska’s only supporter. A now-closed cave located from the main house, originally built to recognized National Park Service Under- under Hall Place was linked to an entire store food and vegetables, was later pre- ground Railroad Network to Freedom network of other caves which were used pared as an escape route in the event of a site. In 1855, Allen B. Mayhew, with the for safe travel for slaves escaping to free- British attack during the Revolutionary aid of his father-in-law, Abraham Kagi, dom. Access to the caves through this War. In the 1850s the tunnel was used to built the cabin of cottonwood logs. The B&B and a number of other nearby homes house runaway slaves moving north Mayhew Cabin became a stop on the Un- gave the area surrounding Glasgow, Ken- along the Underground Railroad. Two derground Railroad in the late 1850s, tucky the nickname “Cave City.” As addi- green doors remain as important tributes used by freedom seekers escaping to tional proof that Judge Tompkins was a to this escape route. The stories of the Canada. supporter of freeing the slaves, he pro- Underground Railroad at Great Valley vided lifetime care for each of his former House are just a few of the many of this Williams House B&B slaves in his will. Amelia Island, Florida inn rich in American history. Ashley Manor on Cape Cod Munro House B&B and Spa Built in 1856, this mansion contains a Barnstable, Massachusetts Jonesville, Michigan mysterious trapdoor in the dining room closet, offering access to a secret room Built in 1699, this historic inn has a secret After purchasing Munro House, George where slaves could hide. When Union passage behind a bookcase that connects Clinton Munro constructed a Greek re- troops occupied Fernandina, Florida, they the upstairs and downstairs. The passage vival addition to the home in 1840. The used Williams House as their headquar- was originally thought to provide a hid- addition contained a secret room that be- ters and its large hearthstone as an infir- ing place for loyalists during the Revolu- came an instrumental station on the Un- mary. Upon his return to the island, Mar- tionary War and later to provide a tempo- derground Railroad for over 15 years. celus A. Williams released his slaves prior rary hideout for slaves traveling the Un- More than 400 runaways are thought to to the war and became active in the Un- derground Railroad. Allegedly, slaves have been hidden at Munro House on derground Railroad by offering safety to climbed down a ladder, still found be- their way to a free life in Canada. The freedom seekers in a secret space in the hind the bookcase of the King George Munro family lived in the house until dining room. Suite, into the basement. From the base-

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Underground Railroad Free Press 3

Removed Boudinot formed even of its existence. A nation is by erecting a wayfinding sign next to its sell whatever you think we shall not not a nation until it has a government and Taney bust, explaining the memorial in stand in need of. You must get all the head of state, and that did not occur until candid detail in the context of the Dred Cash you can; as that all will not be suffi- November 4, 1781, the date prescribed in Scott decision. But by 2017 a growing un- cient. Sell one or two Horses, the largest the Articles of Confederation for for- ease tipped the scales in favor of no long- Colt & the little Mare, the Waggon, mation of the new government and there- er having city government offering offi- Plough, Harrow, Chair and supernumer- for the nation. On that date, cial imprimatur of a proponent of slavery. ary Hogs. As to the Family, I know not of Maryland was elected the actual first Last March, the memorial came down what to say about them. " president of the United States. and was moved to a nearby cemetery but, During the summer of his presidential oddly, not the one where Taney is buried. Hanson’s immediate successor as presi- term, Boudinot had to deal with a serious dent was New Jersey lawyer and early In August, two days after Baltimore mutiny of unpaid soldiers which required American philanthropist Elias Boudinot Mayor Catherine Pugh had four Confed- the rescue of the government by General who had a long distinguished record be- erate statues on public land removed, the Arthur St. Clair and the permanent vacat- fore, during and after his presidency but State of Maryland followed suit by re- ing of Independence Hall for Princeton, is almost entirely forgotten today. Boudi- moving its Taney statue and putting it in- then Annapolis, then New York where not served as a New Jersey delegate to to storage. Said Maryland Governor Lar- the capital remained until nearly the end the Second and ry Hogan, a moderate Republican, “We of the John Adams administration. Elias then to the first government throughout can’t wipe out all of our history, nor Boudinot served in the United States its seven-year existence. For a time before should we try to, but when it reaches the House of Representatives during the first formation of the first government, he re- point where some symbols become a fo- six years of its existence until his ap- ported directly to as cal point for racism and violence, then it’s pointments by Presidents Washington, Commissary General of Prisoners of the time to do something about it.” Hogan Adams and Jefferson as director of the Revolutionary Army, and later served as said that it was the racist demonstration from 1795 to 1805. He the Congress's de facto point man on for- in Charlottesville that led him to order served as a member of the Board of Trus- eign affairs. In the latter role, Boudinot removal Taney of the statute. tees of for forty-nine was instrumental in controlling the re- years. Late in life in 1816, Elias Boudinot Several years ago, the State erected a ceipt and disbursements of the nation's founded and served as the first president statue of Baltimore native Thurgood Mar- life-line foreign aid from the French, of the until his shall, the first African American Supreme Dutch and Spanish, and gained credit for death in 1821 at age eighty-one. Court justice, on the opposite side of the his careful handling of relations with State House from the Taney statue. In the Canada. His diplomatic and foreign af- As with the Hanson-Washington con- works are statues honoring abolitionists fairs experience would prove an excellent trast, most Americans today can easily Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass fit during his presidency, as the Treaty of identify John Adams, second president of to be placed in the State Maryland House. Paris was being concluded. the government under the Constitution, but surely few can now name Elias Bou- Elias Boudinot was forty-three when in- dinot as the second president of the orig- ® augurated as president. Upon his taking Underground Railroad Free Press inal government and of the United States. Independent Reporting on office, the nation transitioned from the Even his name's pronunciation is now Today’s Underground Railroad fourth oldest president who would serve clouded: President Boudinot's immigrant in either the first or second governments Peter H. Michael, Publisher grandfather, Elias Boudinot II, used the [email protected] through 2018 to the fifth youngest. French pronunciation, boo-din-OH. Some 301 | 874 | 0235 Perhaps most to his credit was Boudinot’s modern references have corrupted the Underground Railroad Free Press serves as the life-long philanthropic work promoting name to boo-DIN-ot, but pronunciation nexus of the international Underground Railroad rights, education and place in society of websites use the original pronunciation community, maintains its central registry, calen- as does the family. dar and surveys, and publishes its free epony- African Americans and Native Ameri- mous newsletter at Underground Railroad Free cans. The exceptionally gifted Yale- Press, 2455 Ballenger Creek Pike, Adamstown, educated Chief Kilikeena Watie Maryland, 21710. things you can was so touched by Boudinot’s tutoring Free Press is distributed by email. Send new sub- scriber email addresses and changes to the email and friendship that he adopted his name. do at Free Press address above. Back issues are available free at His tombstone epitaph well sums the life our web site. of Elias Boudinot: "His life was an exhibi- We welcome news articles and letters to the edi- tion of fervent piety, of useful talent and Click on links at urrFreePress.com to: tor. All rights to submissions including emails and letters will be treated as unconditionally as- of extensive benevolence." Subscribe signed to Free Press for publication and copyright Just as with his predecessor, Elias Boudi- purposes, and subject to our unrestricted right to Join the Community or View Lynx not provides another example of financial edit and comment editorially unless otherwise Make a Free Press Prize Nomination agreed with authors. sacrifice for the nation to take on the in- Read Underground Railroad Surveys Free Press accepts tasteful nonpolitical advertis- termittently paid job of an early presi- ing which we reserve the right to reject for any View or Add to Datebook dent. The day after his inauguration in reason that in our sole judgment is not accepta- Submit News, Letters, Articles or Ads ble. Submit advertising in pdf, jpg or text for- November 1782, Boudinot wrote in dis- List an Underground Railroad Site mats. Visit our website for rates and layout spec- tress to his wife Hannah, "I informed you ifications. Rate an Underground Railroad Site that I had this morning accepted the Chair of Congress. I think you had best