John Hossack

Released
Date of birth:06. 12. 1806
Date of death:08. 11. 1891
Age:84† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:White
Era:1800s
State:Illinois
Support
Abolitionism Underground Railroad
John Hossack

Biography

John Hossack was an Ottawa, Illinois grain merchant and Underground Railroad activist who had helped build the Illinois & Michigan Canal. In 1859 he became nationally known after being arrested and tried for violating the Fugitive Slave Law in the rescue of a freedom seeker; his defiant courtroom address on the injustice of the law was widely reprinted.

Case

Charges: Violating the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law.
Incarcerated: 1859
Sentence: Fined and briefly jailed under the Fugitive Slave Law. Verdict as recorded: Yes — convicted; celebrated for his defiant statement to the court. Charges as recorded: Violating the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law — for a rescue of a freedom seeker at Ottawa, Illinois (1859).
Convicted: Yes

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