kidnapping

Fugitive Slaves, Kidnapping & State Government Response

August 17, 2025 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

Although not authorized to do so by a strict constructionist reading of the Constitution’s fugitive slave clause, Congress enacted the first Fugitive Slave Act in 1793. Northern states blocked effective enforcement of the federal law, leading to a southern outcry for more stringent legislation.

The sectional crisis precipitated by the California Statehood Act in 1850 provided the opportunity for passage of a harsher Fugitive Slave Act, which became part of the Compromise of 1850. [Read more…] about Fugitive Slaves, Kidnapping & State Government Response

New York’s Kidnapping Club Redux

April 9, 2025 by Alan J. Singer Leave a Comment

David Ruggles was a free Black man born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1810. He moved to the city of New York in 1826 where he worked as a mariner, eventually opened a grocery, and later ran book store. An active opponent of slavery, Ruggles was a sales agent for abolitionist newspapers, published his own anti-slavery journal, and was secretary of the New York Vigilance Committee aiding freedom seekers who escaped from slavery, helping them evade slavecatchers, and providing legal assistance if they were captured.

One of the people Ruggles helped to escape from slavery was Frederick Douglass. [Read more…] about New York’s Kidnapping Club Redux

Documents Reveal More About Peter John Lee Kidnapping Case

January 12, 2023 by David Fiske Leave a Comment

Information about the 1836 kidnapping of Peter John Lee was related in a recent article on the New York Almanack, “NY-CT Border Disputes & The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee.”

Lee, an African American, was lured out of Connecticut, where he resided, to Rye in Westchester County, New York. Additional aspects of this incident can be gleaned from historical documents. [Read more…] about Documents Reveal More About Peter John Lee Kidnapping Case

NY-CT Border Disputes & The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee

September 27, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 4 Comments

If you’ve driven on U.S. 684 or Byram Road in Greenwich, CT you see signs notifying you that you are crisscrossing back and forth between New York and Connecticut. The border has been a sore point since the British colonies were founded in the 17th century.

In the 1680s Bedford and Rye were shifted from Connecticut to New York leading to a local taxpayers revolt. In 1857, a report by the New York State Senate noted, “Along the whole distance the greatest uncertainty existed, and a distrust and want of confidence in all the supposed lines.” The border was not finally clarified until 1879. [Read more…] about NY-CT Border Disputes & The Kidnapping of Freedom-Seeker Peter John Lee

The 1817 Hudson River Kidnapping Case: Details & Outcome

July 14, 2022 by David Fiske Leave a Comment

The recent New York Almanack post, “Kidnapped Into Slavery On The Hudson River” reprinted an early report of the crime by the New York Evening Post. The accused kidnappers were put on trial (and convicted).

This incident is one of the approximately 50 case studies included in my book Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the Civil War (Praeger, 2016). The following is adapted from the account of the incident which appears there. [Read more…] about The 1817 Hudson River Kidnapping Case: Details & Outcome

Kidnapped Into Slavery On The Hudson River

July 8, 2022 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Editor’s note: The following engraving and text were originally published in the New-York Evening Post in June, 1817. The language of the article reflects the time period when it was written.

KIDNAPPING — This most odious, and I might even say, worst of crimes, which has hitherto been principally confined to the southern states, has of late found its way among us. On Thursday last, information was lodged with the Manumission Society, that a gang of scoundrels were engaged in seducing, and decoying free men of color, on board a small schooner, called the Creole, then lying up the North River, a little distance above the state-prison [Sing-Sing], with the intention of transporting them abroad and selling them as slaves for life.

Assistance was procured from the police-office, the schooner boarded, and a search took place, when behold, on opening the hatches, 9 poor unfortunate sons of Africa, who were huddled together in her hold, half suffocated, leaped upon deck, and disclosed to their deliverers the scene of villainy which had been practiced upon them. [Read more…] about Kidnapped Into Slavery On The Hudson River

Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

March 15, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

In February 2022, the New York State Archives announced that archivists had uncovered court records detailing the 1828 legal battle by Sojourner Truth to secure her enslaved son Peter’s freedom. According to archivist Jim Folts, this case was the first time in United States history that a Black woman successfully sued a White man for a family member’s freedom.

After passage of the New York State Gradual Emancipation Act in 1799, some slaveholders illegally sold enslaved Africans to Southern planters for the expanding cotton industry. When Sojourner Truth, then known as Isabella Van Wagenen, escaped from enslavement in 1826, her former “owner,” John J. Dumont of New Paltz, Ulster County, NY, sold her five-year old son Peter to Eleazer Gedney who planned to take the boy with him to England.

When this plan fell through, Eleazer Gedney sold Peter to his brother, Solomon Gedney, who resold Peter to their sister’s husband, a man named Fowler, who was a wealthy Alabama planter. [Read more…] about Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

New Critical Edition of ‘Twelve Years a Slave’

January 21, 2017 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Twelve Years A Slave (W.W. Norton Critical Edition, 2017) offers the autobiography of Solomon Northup, based on the 1853 first edition. It is accompanied by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Kevin Burke’s introduction and detailed explanatory footnotes.

Solomon Northup was a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, DC, in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before his release. [Read more…] about New Critical Edition of ‘Twelve Years a Slave’

Free Citizens Kidnapped Before the Civil War

February 26, 2016 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

This week on “The Historians” podcast David Fiske discusses his new book, “Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the Civil War” (Praeger, 2016). Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University professor and PBS host, said, “Fiske’s efforts to document these victims and the crimes that robbed them of their families and freedom are heroic indeed and should be applauded.” Fiske previously was the co-author of “Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave.” You can listen to the entire podcast here. [Read more…] about Free Citizens Kidnapped Before the Civil War

The Law That Saved Solomon Northup, And Others

May 6, 2014 by David Fiske 2 Comments

The amazing, and fortuitous, rescue of Solomon Northup was made possible by a New York statute that was signed into law, and became effective, on May 14, 1840.

Following the 1808 ban on importation of slaves into the U.S., enacted by Congress, the kidnapping of free blacks for sale as slaves became a larger problem. The ban reduced the “supply” of slaves, and with “demand” unchanged, prices rose, along with the potential profit for kidnappers. In 1817, in a description of a kidnapping case, the City Hall Recorder noted that, after 1808: “the practice of kidnapping was commenced, and has been carried to an alarming height.” [Read more…] about The Law That Saved Solomon Northup, And Others

The Life of Anne Northup, Wife of Solomon Northup

April 14, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Solomon Northup of Saratoga was lured into slavery in 1841, and was a slave in Louisiana for 12 years before being rescued. What impact did Northup’s kidnapping have on his wife and family? In Solomon’s absence, the Northup family became a one-income household.

At 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, 2014, David Fiske will offer a presentation that describes how his wife Anne carried on and saw to the needs of their children. Information on her later life will also be provided. [Read more…] about The Life of Anne Northup, Wife of Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup: Not The Only New Yorker Kidnapped

February 6, 2014 by David Fiske 2 Comments

The film “12 Years a Slave” is raising global awareness of Solomon Northup’s story of being kidnapped and sold into slavery before the Civil War. Northup’s victimization was not unique, however, and there were numerous cases–in New York State alone–of free blacks being kidnapped for the purpose of being sold as slaves.

Some of these crimes were committed prior to Northup’s kidnapping in 1841, and others after his rescue and the publication of his narrative in 1853. Apparently public awareness of the existence of kidnapping did not diminish its occurrence. [Read more…] about Solomon Northup: Not The Only New Yorker Kidnapped

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