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Stafford port was slaves' gateway to freedom
Aquia Landing was part of an escape route for many area slaves during the Civil War
Date published: 9/7/2008
BY KAFIA HOSH About a decade before the Civil War, Richmond slave Henry Brown folded his slender frame into a dry-goods box and shipped himself to Philadelphia. The box traveled by train to Aquia Landing, where it was put onto a steamboat headed for Washington. Now a park in Stafford County, Aquia Landing, at the mouth of Potomac Creek, was once the terminus of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Brown became a noted abolitionist. In his writings, he described arriving at Potomac Creek and being turned upside down as the box was loaded onto the boat. Other slaves, including William and Ellen Craft of Georgia, also passed through Aquia Landing during their escapes to freedom. Ellen Craft, who was fair-skinned, disguised herself as a white man traveling with his slave. The couple's story and Brown's documented escape fueled anti-slavery feelings in the North. "These were very daring, flamboyant escapes," said Norman Schools, a local Civil War historian. "It was great food for the abolitionist movement." By the time of the Civil War, the region would see a mass exodus of slaves through Aquia Landing. PLANNING ESCAPES In the spring of 1862, Slaves from surrounding areas used the invasion to quietly plot their escapes. They paid attention to how the war was developing, and quickly relayed their discoveries from plantation to plantation. A house slave would listen to dinnertime chatter and pass information to a field slave, who might tell a carriage driver. "They overheard conversations, so they knew things," said Frank White, a Stafford native and black-history expert. "They did a lot of listening." The escapes were made feasible by the absence of some landowners who fled the area in fear of the Union soldiers. They left their property and belongings to their trusted servants. But some slaves only feigned obedience as they planned their escapes. "They wanted the masters to think they were not in a state of rebellion," Schools said. The Union occupation also allowed slaves to roam more freely.
Read more stories about Stafford Date published: 9/7/2008
A perfect place for Slavery Museum...
(posted by
MrZorro
, Sep. 7, 2008 12:53 pm)
It is a stupid idea to build it in the middle of a shopping and amusement area of Central Park. It would get some real donations if it were located in the non-commercial area of Aquia. No wonder the museum has been a bust.
Central Park. Ha, ha, ha.
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