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The Story Of Antietam’s Dunker Church

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A Place Of Peace Surrounded By War

Antietam Dunker Church with Yankee and Rebel dead killed on the morning of September 17, 1862. Photograph by Alexander Gardner.

Antietam Dunker Church with Yankee and Rebel dead killed on the morning of September 17, 1862. Photograph by Alexander Gardner.

The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862. This one-day battle left a terrible carnage on the beautiful and pastoral countryside of Sharpsburg, Maryland. In United States history, Antietam is the battle where the most casualties in one day of fighting occurred. At Antietam, there were more American dead than at Pearl Harbor, D-Day, or at 911. Over 3,600 were killed and over 19,000 were wounded, missing, or captured.

In the middle of the violent Antietam battlefield stood the whitewashed Dunker Church. The Dunker Church was a place meant for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, where the good news message of love, forgiveness, peace, and salvation was faithfully believed and taught.

The Dunkers – German Baptist Brethren

Where Did The Name “Dunker” Come From, And What Does It Mean?

The congregation of the Dunker Church were members of the German Baptist Brethren which began in Germany in 1708. In Germany, they baptized adults in a local river, which was uncommon for the time. Usually, infants were baptized in a church by sprinkling water on them. During the German Baptist Brethren river baptism, the person would be completely submerged, or dunked, into the river water. In Germany, The German Baptist Brethren had the nickname of “Tunkers,” but when they began arriving in Maryland during the middle 1700s the nickname “Tunkers” became “Dunkers” because of their baptismal practice. The number of Dunkers in the Sharpsburg, Maryland area grew large enough so they could open their own church building in 1853.

What Were The Dunkers Like?

The Battle of Antietam with Dunker Church in background.

The Battle of Antietam with Dunker Church in background.

The Dunkers believed in a literal interpretation of the New Testament. They were similar to the Quakers, the Amish, and the Mennonites in their beliefs and the Dunkers often associated with these other Protestant denominations. The Dunkers did not like any type of indulgence. They were against drinking alcohol, violence, slavery, and gambling.

The Dunker Church was built in 1852 on land given to the Dunkers the previous year by Sharpsburg farmer Samuel Mumma. In its early years, about six local farm families made up the membership of the Dunker Church. The church was a plain whitewashed building without a steeple. The Dunkers felt a steeple was too extravagant. Inside the church, there were no paintings or other artwork, and the wooden benches were hard and plain. The women entered the church from a door oriented to the south and the men entered from a door oriented to the east. There were no musical instruments and singing was done a capella. The Dunkers were modest, simple, and plain in the way they dressed and lived. Although the Dunkers were opposed to slavery, they were pacifists and would not serve in the military, not for the North or for the South. Their beliefs prohibited them from taking up arms.

During Dunker services, the pastor would stand in the front of the church at a table with a Bible. The pastor would give a sermon, and there would be singing. Occasionally, a circuit pastor may instead give the sermon. The church service was long, it would last three to four hours and perhaps run into the afternoon. Religion was central in the lives of the Dunkers and their church services were a way for them to meet regularly in fellowship with friends, neighbors, and relatives. The Dunkers would enjoy peaceful worship in the years before the Civil War.

As the Dunkers worshiped in their whitewashed church on Sunday, September 14, 1862, they knew the Civil War was coming their way. As they looked toward South Mountain, which was only seven miles away to the east, they could clearly see smoke and hear cannon echoing from the Battle of South Mountain. After that Sunday service, the Dunkers went to the nearby farm of Samuel Mumma for dinner. On Tuesday, Confederate infantry and artillery were in position around the Dunker Church, ready for the battle beginning on Wednesday. During the battle, the Dunkers and most citizens had left to find safety away from the battlefield. By the end of the Battle of Antietam, the Dunker Church would be riddled by cannon and small arms fire, the now bloody landscape around it torn and littered with the remains of the great battle. The Samuel Mumma farm was in ashes. The Dunker Church would forever be a part of the Antietam battlefield.

Does reading about Civil War history from long and dry academic-like books bog you down and cause you to lose interest? Would you like to read interesting stories based on facts of the Civil War, stories that inform you and move along with the war’s history? Does having to read from cover to cover tire you and cause you to drag through a history book? Would you prefer the freedom to skip around in a book and learn story-by-story about the Civil War? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then the factual stories in 125 Civil War Stories and Facts will help you learn Civil War history. The stories are informative and entertaining and it’s a fun way to learn about the Civil War. Do books like Civil War Trivia and Fact Book by Webb Garrison or The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts by Burke Davis interest you? Then you will find 125 Civil War Stories and Facts follows in their tradition of providing the reader with rich and interesting information about the Civil War. Available as a Kindle device e-book or as a paperback. Get 125 Civil War Stories and Facts now!

 

The Dunker Church During The Battle Of Antietam

An Iconic Battlefield Landmark

The location of the Dunker Church on the Antietam battlefield made it an important landmark because it was on high ground and in the center of the Confederate line. The church is next to the Hagerstown Pike and on a natural ridgeline that provided the Confederates a good place to establish a defensive position on their left flank.

Battle of Antietam Overview, September 17, 1862. Map by Hal Jespersen, www.cwmaps.com.

Battle of Antietam Overview,
September 17, 1862.
Map by Hal Jespersen,
www.cwmaps.com.

The Dunker Church was a visual reference point for both the Confederates and the Federals during the Battle of Antietam because its distinctive whitewashed walls stood out well on the battlefield. The morning the battle began on September 17, 1862, was foggy and drizzly, and the smoke of battle made it difficult to pick out landmarks. The whitewashed Dunker Church was clearly visible through the fog, drizzle, and smoke, it became a reference point for both sides. The Yankees knew the Rebels were near that whitewashed building, so that’s where they focused their attention in wave after wave of attack.

Stonewall Jackson

Stonewall Jackson

The Dunker Church itself was not chosen by the Confederates to be a defensive position because of its physical structure. Rather, the church just happened to be at the place on the battlefield which gave the Confederates their best defensive position. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson’s men were in camp behind the Dunker Church and along the Confederate line north and south of the church.

 

  • Early on September 16, 1862, the Confederates began to gather and organize at Antietam. Hood’s division along with some brigades of Jone’s Division, took a position which overlooked the Hagerstown Pike and stretched from the Dunker Church and into the West Wood.
  • The battle began at dawn on September 17, with Joseph Hooker’s Union I Corps moving in attack down the Hagerstown Pike, his goal was the high ground around the Dunker Church. Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson had a defensive position near the Dunker Church that stretched in a line from the West Woods nearby the church to across the Hagerstown Pike and to the south end of the Miller Cornfield. Stonewall had four brigades held in reserve in the West Woods.
  • The trees around and near the Dunker Church made excellent cover for Confederates. Men of the 48th North Carolina were around Dunker church and the 30th Virginia were nearby on the Hagerstown Pike awaiting more regiments.
  • The Federals used the church as a reference point during the battle, it was a landmark located in the middle of the fight as wave after wave of Federal advances were made toward the Confederate left flank.
  • The smoke of battle made it difficult for men of Federal Brigadier General George Greene’s 2nd Division to see. The prominent whitewashed Dunker Church was only fifty yards away from them, but they had a hard time seeing it through the smoke.
  • The Union 1st and 2nd Corps came from the east and pushed west across the Antietam battlefield, some of them were able to make it as far as the West Woods behind the Dunker Church.
  • The Confederate Texas Brigade came from behind the Dunker church to meet the Union 1st Corp.

  • There was action and battle swirling around the Dunker Church. A brigade led by Colonel Henry Stainrook of Brigadier General George Greene’s 2nd Division extended the Federal line southwest of the Dunker Church. Only fifty yards to the west of the Dunker Church, six twelve-pounder Napoleon cannons of Battery D, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery were ordered by Captain J. Albert Monroe to fire on Confederates on an exposed field south of the Dunker Church.
  • Confederate General Jeb Stuart had Colonel Stephen D. Lee with his four batteries of artillery in position across from the Hagerstown Pike on a piece of high ground near the Dunker Church. They were under strong fire from Union artillery located on a ridge behind the North Woods, and other artillery two miles east of Antietam Creek. This artillery duel between the Confederates and the Federals was described by Colonel Lee as “artillery hell.”
  • The epicenter of the Battle of Antietam is a triangular piece of land bordered roughly by the West Woods, the Cornfield, and the Mumma Farmstead, it is where a significant portion of the Battle of Antietam took place. The closeness of the Dunker Church to the epicenter made it a battlefield landmark. Concentrated fighting took place near and on the property of the Dunker Church because of its location on the left flank of the Confederate line, and because of its closeness to the West Woods.
  • The Union and Confederate commanders made mention of the Dunker Church in their battle reports. Both Confederate Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson and Union General “Fighting Joe” Hooker spoke of the Dunker Church in their battle reports.
  • The Dunker Church was scarred after the Battle of Antietam. Bullet holes riddled its whitewashed walls, and artillery had damaged the church’s roof and walls. The Dunkers repaired their small church and in 1864, worship services were held again.

Immediately after the battle, the Dunker Church served another role as a makeshift hospital for the wounded. It was not used as a proper hospital because it was too small, and the church had no supply of water or food. The Dunker Church was used instead as a place where the wounded could be brought and evaluated, like modern-day triage. Perhaps the wounded received some immediate treatment at the Dunker Church and then were moved on to other places where they could be better cared for. Usually, one of the nearby family farms made a much better, though not perfect, hospital than the Dunker Church did. It is possible the Dunker Church was also used as an embalming station.

The Dunker Church continued to be a point of reference after the battle. It was a common and easy-to-find location to meet and gather for army commanders, the soldiers, and for the local people whose help was now greatly needed. There is a sketch made by Civil War artist Alfred Waud that depicts a truce being made near the Dunker Church between Confederates and Federals in order to exchange wounded and to bury dead.

The Dunker Church After The Battle Of Antietam

A Big Whirlwind

After the Battle of Antietam, the Dunkers and the local citizens worked hard at putting their lives and property back together. They wanted to get their lives back to normal, which was an impossibility after the bloodshed of war.

The Dunkers (They had officially changed their name to the Church of the Brethren. Note: A comment by Rebecka Snell Labson tells us that the name Church of the Brethren was not officially adopted until 1908.) moved to a new church on Main Street in Sharpsburg in 1899. After the move, their old church on the Antietam battlefield was mostly ignored, it was seldom used and fell into neglect and disrepair. As time went on, the old Dunker Church continued its physical decline. Tourists to the Antietam battlefield sometimes took bricks from the church walls as souvenirs. The damage from the Battle of Antietam to the church building continued to worsen. A strong windstorm flattened the church into a pile of rubble on April 24, 1921. The Dunker Church congregation did not have the financial ability to repair the old church.

The Dunkers deeded the old church to the Samuel Mumma family, who had originally donated the church’s property to the Dunkers. The Mummas then sold the Dunker Church property at auction to a Sharpsburg grocer named Elmer Boyer. Boyer salvaged what was left of the Dunker Church building and stored the material in a shed. He then sold the Dunker Church property to Charles Turner.

Get Your Cold Beer Here

Charles Turner used the Dunker Church foundation to build a new frame structure. Being an entrepreneur, Turner used his building during the 1930s and 1940s as a lunch counter and to sell souvenirs. Tourists of the Antietam Battlefield could quench their hunger and thirst by treating themselves to refreshments and food at Turner’s lunch counter. Turner’s efforts were not appreciated. His lunch counter and souvenir stand were considered an eyesore and his building was much different in appearance from the original Dunker Church. Turner even sold beer at his lunch counter, a great contrast to the strict beliefs of the Dunkers who abstained from drinking alcohol. Attempts were made for years to buy the Dunker Church property back and restore it to its condition as during the Battle of Antietam.

The Revival Of The Dunker Church Building.

The Dunker Church at Antietam

The Dunker Church at Antietam

In 1951, things began to change favorably for the Dunker Church property when there were plans to widen the nearby Hagerstown Pike. The Dunker Church is so close to the Hagerstown Pike that the original church property would be encroached upon, and the historical preservation of the Dunker Church site lost, with the widening of the road. The Washington County Historical Society came to the rescue by raising enough money to purchase the Dunker Church property, and to raze Turner’s frame building with the lunch counter and souvenir stand. The Washington County Historical Society then donated the Dunker Church property to the Federal government. The Federal government was unable to do anything with the Dunker Church property for a decade because the Korean War was being fought and money was not available. All tourists saw of the Dunker Church during this time was its remaining foundation.

During the Civil War Centennial national attention focused on the history and importance of the Civil War. Many events were held during the Civil War Centennial to commemorate the Civil War and to educate people about it. Maryland Governor Millard Tawes allocated money for the rebuilding of the Dunker Church and restoration plans were made by historians and architects. Amazingly, Elmer Boyer still had original Dunker Church materials stowed away in his shed. Work began in the fall of 1961 to rebuild the Dunker Church. By the following summer in 1962, the Dunker Church was back with its historical appearance and place on the Antietam battlefield.

Re-dedication of the Dunker Church, September 2, 1962

Maryland Governor Millard Tawes

“On a field shrouded with smoke, the church alone was the only visible landmark. And so, this Dunker Church stood out as a beacon by which commanders took their direction and men found their way through the smoky chaos of battle. May it stand in peace as it did in war, as a beacon to guide those searching their way through the darkness. May it stand throughout all ages as a symbol of mercy, peace, and understanding.”

If you visit the Antietam battlefield today, you will find the Dunker Church much as it was in 1862. You can go inside and see the wooden benches where the Dunkers sat during their long services, you can hear your voice and other’s echo through the simple and barren building. A trip to visit the Antietam National Battlefield is worthwhile if you want to learn about the history of the Civil War.

Learn Civil War History Podcast Episode Eleven: The Story Of Antietam’s Dunker Church – Part Two

Immediately after the battle, the Dunker Church served as a makeshift hospital for the wounded. It was not used as a proper hospital because it was too small, and it had no supply of water or food. The Dunker Church was used as a place where the wounded could be brought to and evaluated, like modern-day triage.

The Dunker Church continued as a reference point after the battle. It was a common and easy-to-find location to meet and gather for army commanders, soldiers, and for the citizens whose help was now so greatly needed. There is a sketch by Civil War artist Alfred Waud that depicts a truce meeting between the Rebels and the Yankees near the Dunker Church in order to exchange wounded and bury the dead.

Learn Civil War History Podcast Episode Ten: The Story of Antietam’s Dunker Church – Part One

The Battle of Antietam or the Battle of Sharpsburg as the South called it, was fought on September 17, 1862. This one-day battle left a terrible carnage on the beautiful and pastoral countryside of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Antietam is the battle in United States history where the most casualties occurred in one day. At Antietam, there were more American dead than at Pearl Harbor, D-Day, or at 911. Over 3,600 were killed and over 19,000 were wounded, missing, or captured.

In the middle of the Antietam battlefield stood the whitewashed Dunker Church. The Dunker Church was meant to be a place for the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. It was where the good news message of love, forgiveness, peace, and salvation was faithfully believed and taught. The congregation of the Dunker Church were members of the German Baptist Brethren which began in Germany in 1708. In Germany, they baptized adults in a local river, which was uncommon for the time.

1850 Fugitive Slave Law

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An Ugly Law Of Compromise To Satisfy Southern Slaveholders

A Ride for Liberty - The Fugitive Slaves

A Ride for Liberty – The Fugitive Slaves

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 meant that if you were an escaping slave or a slave who had escaped to a free Northern state, then you could be hunted down by slaveowners or paid slavecatchers, and returned to slavery in the South. The law required local governments in the free Northern states to cooperate with and not prevent, the efforts of the slaveowners and slavecatchers. If you were a fugitive from slavery, it did not matter how long you had lived in Northern freedom, you could be legally pursued, tracked down, captured, and returned to slavery.

Under the Fugitive Slave Law, if you were a white or free black person and you aided a runaway escaped slave, perhaps by providing food, clothing, care, or shelter, then you were guilty of a federal crime and could be given a heavy fine of $1000 and imprisonment of six months. Citizens had to cooperate with the Fugitive Slave Law. People were required: “to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required.”

Note: The names “Fugitive Slave Act” and “Fugitive Slave Law” are interchangeable.

An office of federal commissioners was created by the law and the commissioners determined if a black person captured by slaveowners or slavecatchers was in fact, a runaway slave. These commissioners acted without regard or constraint of state and local laws. By the Fugitive Slave Law there was no trial by jury or the right to habeas corpus for captured runaways. A rigged bounty system almost assured that you would be determined to be a runaway slave because the commissioners were paid $10 for each slave returned to slavery, but only $5 if they determined you to not be runaway slave. Both runaways and freed slaves were returned to slavery by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, sometimes even entire free black families were said to be runaways by the slavecatchers and commissioners. Blacks who had been born free had little or no proof of their right to freedom and were accused of being runaways, they would find themselves taken South to toil as slaves. James Phillips was a free black man in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where he lived and worked for fourteen years, but by the Fugitive Slave Law he was arrested in May, 1852. It was nothing but kidnapping.

Frederick Douglass Regarding The Fugitive Slave Law

Frederick Douglass, circa 1860s.

Frederick Douglass, circa 1860s.

“The only way to make the Fugitive Slave Law a dead letter is to make half a dozen or more dead kidnappers. A half dozen more dead kidnappers carried down South would cool the ardor of the Southern gentlemen, and keep their rapacity in check… A black man may be carried away without any reference to a jury. It is only necessary to claim him, and that some villain should swear to his identity. There is more protection there for a horse, for a donkey, or anything, rather than a colored man–who is, therefore, justified in the eye of God in maintaining his right with arm.”

How The Fugitive Slave Law Came About- The Compromise of 1850

The Mexican War lasted sixteen months (1846-1848) and under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, a vast amount of territory was added to the United States. This territory would eventually become the states of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of the state of Arizona, and parts of the states of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Besides adding new territory to the United States, the Mexican War also added new political debate and conflict within the country. Would the new territory be slave or free?

Matters came to a boil when California was admitted to the Union as a state in 1850. Even then, California had a huge population and if it became a free state, then the political representative balance between North and South would be upset. The North already held an advantage in the House, and if California became free then it meant the North would also have a Senate majority. This launched a contentious and explosive political debate. California’s status, and also the rest of the newly acquired territory, of being made free or slave would shift political power dramatically in a country already strongly divided over slavery.

Henry Clay.

Henry Clay.

Senator Henry Clay was a Whig from Kentucky and he was an experienced politician whose career had included time as congressman, senator, secretary of state, and as a presidential candidate. Clay had the art of compromise in his bones, earlier when the United States had faced severe division between the political parties of North and South Henry Clay had devised compromises in the forms of the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise Tariff. Clay’s efforts of compromise worked and disunion was prevented with these measures.

In 1850, Henry Clay was seventy-three-years old but the white-haired Kentucky senator had another compromise up his sleeve. Clay drafted a compromise to ward off the threat of disunion between North and South brought about by whether or not California and the other lands acquired from Mexico would be free or slave. Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850 at first failed to pass, but then Democrat Stephen Douglass of Illinois by Clay’s guidance arranged the Compromise of 1850 into five smaller acts, and then it narrowly passed.

The Compromise of 1850 was successful in avoiding secession and a Civil War… until 1860. However, the Fugitive Slave Law of the Compromise of 1850 left the country with an ugly law that only the bloodshed of a Civil War would remove.

The Compromise of 1850

  • California would be a free state. (pro-free)
  • Slave trade (But not slavery!) would be abolished in the District of Columbia. (pro-free)
  • The citizens of Utah and New Mexico would decide by popular sovereignty whether their territories were to have slavery. (pro-slave)
  • Texas (a slave state) would not further expand at the expense of New Mexico territory, and the Federal government would award $10 million to Texas to settle claims of its national debt. (pro-slave)
  • The Fugitive Slave Law was created. (pro-slave)

Steal Away – Reverend Pearly Brown

The Fugitive Slave Act 1850

Section 1


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the Circuit Courts of the United States, and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled “An Act to establish the judicial courts of the United States” shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.

Section 2


And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized Territory of the United States shall have the same power to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which is now possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall hereafter be appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United States, shall possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by law upon the commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the United States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.

Section 3

And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall from time to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.

Section 4


And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in their respective circuits and districts within the several States, and the judges of the Superior Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and remove such fugitives from service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled.

Section 5


Am I Not A Man And A Brother?

Am I Not A Man And A Brother?


And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond, to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped: and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties; with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said officers, any where in the State within which they are issued.

Section 6


Runaway slave.

Runaway slave.

And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever.

Section 7


And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.

Section 8


And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the like fees as may be allowed for similar services in other cases; and where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant, his or her agent or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest, and take before any commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending at the examination, keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and until the final determination of such commissioners; and, in general, for performing such other duties as may be required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the premises, such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.

Section 9


And be it further enacted, That, upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will he rescued by force from his or their possession before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant,
his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for transportation of criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.

Section 10


Slave kidnap poster. Boston, 1851.

Slave kidnap poster. Boston, 1851.

And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other office, authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence if necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant, And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs, competent in law.

Approved, September 18, 1850.

Learn Civil War History Podcast Episode Seven: Freedman Jourdon Anderson Writes A Letter To His Old Master

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