Biography
Black man held in Boston federal custody under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 after escaping enslavement in Georgia. The first major fugitive-slave rendition in Massachusetts under the 1850 Act; the courthouse was wrapped in chains by U.S. Marshals to prevent rescue by the Boston Vigilance Committee. Defended by Richard Henry Dana Jr. and Robert Rantoul Jr. Returned to Savannah on April 12, 1851, where his enslaver had him publicly whipped. Freed in 1863 during the Civil War; later worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC under President Grant.
Case
Boston Court House
