Biography
Castner Hanway was a Defendant in the federal treason prosecution following the September 11, 1851 Christiana Resistance — an armed defense by free Black and formerly-enslaved residents of Christiana, Pennsylvania against slave-catcher Edward Gorsuch, who was killed in the confrontation. The Fillmore administration charged 38 men with treason in what was then the largest federal treason prosecution in U.S. history. White Quaker miller who refused U.S. Marshal Henry Kline's order to assist in capturing the fugitives. The lead test case for the government's treason theory. Outcome: acquitted in 15 minutes.
An early historical account gives his death date as May 26, 1893.
