Willing to whip his weight in wildcats: The Addison White Story Part I
As this week marks the 156th
anniversary of two significant turning points in the Civil War, specifically
the Battle of Antietam and Lincoln’s issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation,
it seemed an opportune time discuss the real world outcome of those events and
how it impacted Ohioans. Lincoln’s proclamation and the Union’s continuing
struggles with suppressing the rebellion opened the door in early 1863 for the
acceptance of black troops into the army. Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts
secured approval to raise the first black regiment in January 1863- this would
become the famous 54th Massachusetts Infantry which contained in its
ranks a number of Ohioans.
Click here to read part II of this story.
Click here to read part II of this story.
(Stories about a couple of these
Ohioans of the 54th Massachusetts have been featured in earlier
posts which can be viewed here:
This article (the first in a two part
series) will focus on the story of Addison White of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, a salt
maker who would go on to enlist in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. But
Addison White’s story doesn’t begin or end with his service in the 54th
Massachusetts; he had struck a blow for freedom six years prior which is where
our story begins…
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| Addison White |
Addison White was born in 1822 as a
slave in Fleming County, Kentucky, and by the 1850s he was considered the
property of a man named Daniel White. In August 1856, Addison escaped from
slavery, crossed the Ohio River and traveled north in Ohio along the
Underground Railroad. Finding that he had exhausted his funds and feeling safe,
he stopped in Mechanicsburg, Ohio. “Finding employment, he concluded to remain
there until he made enough to send for his wife and children who were still in
Kentucky, but free,” it was reported. The region was known as a hotbed of
abolitionist sentiment, and Addison hired out to local farmer and abolitionist named
Udney H. Hyde who lived about a mile from town. (Hyde, a 50 year old native of
Vermont, had a reputation for assisting slaves escape to freedom, and for his
superlative command of profanity.) A newspaper article described Addison as
“remarkably large and stout” and stated that “he is a powerful man, able to
raise a barrel of whiskey over his head with great ease; a feat that but few
men are able to perform.”[i]
In the meantime, Addison’s former
master had tracked him down. The circumstances of which have been variously
related, but the most plausible story was that his friend Charles Taylor wrote
a letter to Addison’s wife in Kentucky and advised her where her husband was
living. Postmaster William Boggs of Springfield reputedly directed the letter
to Daniel White, and thus he learned where his escaped slave was residing. (Interestingly,
his wife refused to join him in Ohio and Addison eventually remarried.) Under
the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Daniel White obtained an
arrest warrant in Cincinnati and set out to Champaign County in the company of
Deputy Marshal John C. Elliott of Cincinnati and four other Kentuckians,
including slave catcher Benjamin P. Churchill.
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| Udney Hay Hyde (Ohio History Connection) |
On Tuesday May 19, 1857, this group
was joined by Deputy Marshal John Poffinbarger of Urbana (Champaign County
Federal Marshal) and the group traveled to Mechanicsburg to arrest Addison and
return him to slavery in Kentucky.[ii]
“Ad was at that time a powerful man, able and willing to whip his weight in
wildcats if necessary, and had expressed his determination never to return to
slavery alive. Churchill & Co. had been advised of this and made their
approaches to Hyde's house cautiously, informing some persons in Mechanicsburg
of their business, and suggesting to them to go out and see the fun, which
invitation was promptly accepted.”[iii]
The Urbana Citizen & Gazette reported
that “quite early in the morning, the party made a descent upon the cabin of
Mr. Hyde where the colored man resided. Making known the object of their visit,
and reading their warrant, Mr. Hyde told them that Addison was there and
interposed no objection to his arrest.”[iv]
“Addison was in the front room of the Hyde
house pulling on his boots when a squad of U.S. marshals and deputies passed
the window. He quickly sprang to the ladder and ascended to the loft of the
cabin. To prevent escape, the deputies were stationed on all sides of the
house. The three marshals without stopping to knock pushed open the door and
entered.”[v]
The 1881 History of Clark County continues: “Ad
slept in the loft of Hyde's house, to which access could only be obtained by
means of a ladder and one person only at a time. Here he had provided himself
with such articles of defense as a rifle, double-barreled shot-gun, revolver,
knife and ax, and had the steady nerve and skill to use them successfully if
circumstances forced him to. Churchill and his party arrived at Hyde's and
found the game in his retreat. They parleyed with him for some time, coaxed him
to come down, ordered old man Hyde to go up and bring him out, deputized the
men who followed them to go up and bring him down, but all declined, telling
them five men ought to be able to take one. White finally proposed, in order to
relieve Hyde of danger of compromise, that if the five Marshals would lay aside
their arms and permit him to go into an adjoining field, and they could then
overpower him, he would make no further resistance, but so long as they
persisted in their advantage, he would remain where he was, and kill the first
man who attempted to enter the loft.”[vi]
“Deputy Marshal Elliot, of Cincinnati, was the first and
only one to make the attempt to enter where White was, and as his body passed
above the floor of the loft, he held a shotgun before him, perhaps to protect
himself, but particularly to scare White. But White was not to be scared that
way. He meant what he said when he warned them to let him alone, and, quick as
thought, the sharp crack of a rifle rang out in the air, and Elliott dropped to
the floor, not killed, but saved by his gun, the ball having struck the barrels.”
[vii]
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| The Udney Hyde home in Mechanicsburg, Ohio where Addison White confronted the slave catchers. It is no longer standing. (Ohio History Connection) |
Marshal Elliott’s ear was wounded when the bullet
ricocheted off his gun barrel, and “he fell to the floor below exclaiming ‘I am
a dead man.’ [Udney] Hyde, a very excitable man, fumed and swore, “Why didn’t
you go up and get him? Damn you!”[viii]
In a ploy to inform his neighbors of what was going on, Udney
called to his daughter Manda and told her to go feed the chickens. Manda set
off toward the barnyard, and then headed off to the neighbor’s house. After she
had a good head start, “one of the marshal’s shouted after her, ‘You girl,
stop, or I’ll shoot!’ Her black eyes snapped as she shouted back “Shoot and be
durned!” and away she fled and the people in the ‘abolition hole’ of
Mechanicsburg were notified of the situation.”[ix]
“Word soon went to
town and in a short time, quite a crowd came out to the rescue. The braggadocio
spirit of the slave catchers was properly resented, and finding that they had
got into the ‘wrong diggins’ to catch fugitives, the whole party left in double
quick time.”[x]
The crowd “rallied them considerably on their failure and in all probability
was not very choice in their English to express their opinions of slave
hunters.” The men left for Urbana and then returned to Cincinnati empty-handed.[xi]
The Citizen &
Gazette defiantly reported that “Addison is still in the neighborhood, fully
armed, and determined never to be taken alive.” Interestingly, one of the guns
that Addison White used to defend himself (which was given to him by Udney
Hyde) is now property of Ohio History Connection.[xii]
“Chagrined and
mortified at their failure, and smarting under the sharp rallies of the
bystanders, Churchill and Elliott made their report to the Court at Cincinnati,
and made oath that Azro L. Mann, Charles Taylor, David Tullis and Udney Hyde
had interfered and prevented the capture of the Negro White, and refused to
assist when called upon.”[xiii]
Warrants were issued for their arrest, and a posse of 14 men set out to execute
the warrants.
They arrived in Urbana on Monday May 25th on
the 10:30 train from Cincinnati, but stayed in Urbana until Wednesday. It was
reported that Addison had left for Canada several days before the posse arrived.
“These deputy marshals, it appears, were determined to arrest somebody, and
well knowing that the fugitive Addison was more than a match for them, they had
writs for five or six citizens of Mechanicsburg who were suspicioned of aiding
Addison in his escape. Not suspecting anything of the kind, the people of the
burg were taken by surprise when four of their citizens were suddenly arrested
and carried off from their homes by those official dignitaries.” The men
arrested were Charles and Edward Taylor (brothers), Hiram Guthridge, and
Russell Hyde, a son of Udney Hyde.[xiv]
“The men were
prominent in the community, and their arrest created intense excitement.
Parties followed the Marshals, expecting them to go to Urbana to board the cars
for Cincinnati, but they left the main road, striking through the country,
their actions creating additional excitement, and causing a suspicion of
abduction. A party went at once to Urbana and obtained from Judge S.V. Baldwin
a writ of habeas corpus, commanding the marshals to bring their prisoners and
show by what authority they were held. John Clark, Jr., then Sheriff of
Champaign County, summoned a posse and started in pursuit, overtaking the
Marshals with their prisoners just across the county line at Catawba, when the
two parties dined together.”[xv]
The Fremont Journal
picks up the story, quoting from the Xenia
News: “We have heard some facts in regard to the conduct of the United
States marshal and his accomplices towards the prisoners while in their custody
which go very far towards showing that they were engaged in a scheme to kidnap
these men under the color of legal authority, take them into Kentucky, and deal
with them as their depraved passions might dictate. They not only hand cuffed
the prisoners, but they treated them with all manner of indignity, as for
instance, remarking when a convenient limb projected over the road that ‘that
would be a good place to hang such damned abolitionists’ as they were. They
threatened to blow out their brains if they opened their mouths to tell anybody
they were under arrest or what for.”[xvi]
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| Joseph C. Brand of Urbana |
“In the meantime,
Judge Ichabod Corwin and Hon. Joseph C. Brand went to Springfield with a copy
of the writ, and started Sheriff John E. Layton, of Clark County, and his
deputy to intercept them at South Charleston. They reached there just as the
Marshals passed through, and overtook them half a mile beyond the town. In
attempting to serve the writ, Layton was assaulted by Elliott with a slingshot,
furiously and brutally beaten to the ground, receiving injuries from which he
never fully recovered. Layton's deputy, Compton, was shot at several times, but
escaped unhurt, and when he saw his superior stricken down and helpless, he
went to him and permitted the Marshals to resume their journey. Sheriff Clark
and his party came up soon after, and Sheriff Layton was borne back to South
Charleston in a dying condition, it was supposed, but a powerful constitution
withstood the tremendous shock, although his health was never fully restored.”[xvii]
“The assault upon Sheriff Layton was at once telegraphed
to Springfield and other points, causing intense excitement and arousing great
indignation. Parties were organized and the capture of the Marshals undertaken
in earnest. Their track now lay through Greene County. Sheriff Lewis was
telegraphed for and joined the party. On the following morning, near the
village of Lumberton, in Greene County, the State officers, headed by Sheriff
Lewis, overtook the Marshals, who surrendered without resistance. The prisoners
were taken to Urbana before Judge Baldwin and released, as no one appeared to
show why they were arrested, or should be detained.”[xviii]
“The United States Marshals were all arrested at
Springfield, on their way to Urbana, for assault with intent to kill, and,
being unable to furnish security, were lodged in jail overnight. James S. Christie
was Justice of the Peace at the time, and issued the warrants for the arrest of
the Marshals; the excitement was so great that the examination was held in the
old court house which proved too small for the crowd. Mr. Christie was one of
those who were obliged to attend at Cincinnati. The Marshals again returned to
Cincinnati and procured warrants for the arrest of the four persons released
upon habeas corpus, together with a large number of citizens of Mechanicsburg,
Urbana, Springfield and Xenia, who participated in the capture of the Marshals.”[xix]
In Champaign County the feeling against the enforcement
of this feature of the fugitive slave law had become so intense that the
officers serving the warrants were in danger of violence. Ministers of the
Gospel and many of the best and most responsible citizens of Urbana said to
Judge Baldwin, Judge Corwin, Judge Brand and Sheriff Clark, on the day of
arrest: "If you do not want to go, say the word, and we will protect
you." feeling that the conflict was inevitable, and might as well be
precipitated at that time. These men, however, counseled in moderation, and
were ready and willing to suffer the inconvenience, expense and harassment of
prosecution for the sake of testing this feature of the slave driver's law, and
also in hope and belief that it would make it more odious, and secure its early
repeal or change.”[xx]
“The cases of Udney Hyde and Hon. Joseph C. Brand were
selected as test cases representing the two features — that of Hyde for
refusing to assist in the arrest of a fugitive slave, and that of Brand for
interference with a United States officer in the discharge of duty. The
District Attorney was assisted by able counsel, and the most eminent lawyers in
the State were secured to conduct the defense, when, after a long and stormy
trial, the jury failed to make a verdict. The contest had now lasted nearly or
quite a year, and all parties were becoming tired of it. The patriotism
actuating both sides, though being of a different character and order, was
entirely exhausted, and the glory to be obtained would now be left for others
yet to follow.
The Kentucky gentlemen (Daniel White) who had stirred up
all this racket in an effort to get possession of his $1,000 in human flesh and blood now stepped to the
front and proposed to settle the trouble if he could have $1,000 for his Ad
White, and all the costs in the cases paid.[xxi]
This proposition was readily acceded to, the money paid (presumably by the
citizens of Mechanicsburg), and the cases all nulled by
District Attorney Matthews. The deed of Ad White was made in regular form by
his Kentucky owner, and now forms one of the curious and interesting features
of the Probate Court records for Champaign County. Thus ended one of the great
conflicts in the enforcement of the fugitive slave law, which did much toward
crystallizing public sentiment against the extension of slavery, and added
thousands to the Republican voters of the State.”[xxii]
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| Addison White historical marker in Mechanicsburg, Ohio was dedicated in 2005. |
“Ad White was notified of his freedom, and at once
returned to Mechanicsburg, where he yet resides (1881), borne down by hard work
and age, but ever cherishing the memory of those who gave him shelter and
protection when fleeing from oppression and seeking his freedom.”[xxiii]
Udney Hyde remained in hiding for a period of time, but eventually returned to
Champaign County and is claimed to have helped 513 slaves on their way to
freedom.[xxiv]
After the war, Addison White worked for the Street
Department of Mechanicsburg and died in 1885. He is buried with his second wife
Amanda at Maple Grove Cemetery with a government stone noting his service with
the 54th Massachusetts.[xxv]
This concludes part I of the Addison White story. Click
on the link below to read part II in which Addison provides an account of his
experiences after joining the 54th Massachusetts regiment.
[i]
“Slave Catcher’s Baffled,” Urbana Citizen & Gazette, May 22,
1857, pg. 3
[ii] This date has been variously
reported as May 15 and also as late April- the Citizen & Gazette article already cited states that the event
occurred the previous Tuesday which was May 19, 1857.
[iv] “Slave Catcher’s Baffled,”
op. cit.
[v]
Ware, Joseph. History of
Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Columbus: The F.J. Heer Printing Co., 1917, pgs. 40-42
[vi] History of Clark County, op
cit.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii]
Ware, op. cit.
[ix] Ibid.
[x] “Slave Catcher’s Baffled,”
op. cit.
[xi] History of Clark County, op
cit.
[xii] “Slave Catcher’s Baffled,”
op. cit.
[xiii]
History of Clark
County, op cit.
[xiv] “Slave Catcher’s Baffled,”
op. cit.
[xv] History of Clark County, op
cit.
[xvi]
“The Man Hunt-Slave Catching:
Resistance of Officers and High-Handed Outrages,” Fremont Journal, June 5, 1857, pg. 2
[xvii]
History of Clark
County, op cit.
[xviii]
Ibid.
[xix] Ibid.
[xx] Ibid.
[xxi] This has been reported in
various accounts ranging from $800-1,000.
[xxii]
History of Clark
County, op cit.
[xxiii]
Ibid.
[xxiv]
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Udney_H._Hyde
[xxv] “Addison White” Ohio
Historical Marker in Mechanicsburg, Ohio and findagrave.com
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