Biography
Captain Jonathan Walker was a Massachusetts sea captain and abolitionist. In 1844, while sailing seven freedom seekers from Florida toward the Bahamas, his boat was captured. Charged with slave stealing and jailed for about a year, he was, after a lengthy trial, sentenced to stand in the pillory and to be branded "SS" (for "Slave Stealer") on his right hand by order of the federal court — becoming the celebrated "Man with the Branded Hand," memorialized in Whittier's poem. He spent the rest of his life lecturing against slavery.
