In Search of Adam Smith and his Family, escaped from Issac Scaggs, Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1857
By Mark Auslander:
Among the many striking stories recounted in William Still’s classic The Underground Railroad (1872) is an account of the escapee Adam Smith, whom Still encountered in Philadelphia in August 1857, along with two other fugitives “George Johnson,” and “Thomas,” all from the District of Columbia area. Adam Smith had been enslaved by farmer Isaac Scaggs. (According to a land advertisement, the Scaggs farm during this period was about ten miles northeast of the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia. along the Baltimore and Washington railroad and turnpike , and about a mile and a half from Beltsville, Maryland (The Baltimore Sun, Tuescay, Jul 29, 1856. Page 3)
William Smith, The Underground Railroad, 1872, p. 414
Still offers the following account, incorporating quoted text from a runaway slave ad and quoted testimony by Adam himself, given in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
Adam was well described in the following advertisement taken from the Baltimore Sun,
“$300 reward. Ran away from the subscriber, near Beltsville Prince George’s County, MD , on Saturday night, the 23rd of August, 1857, Negro Man, Adam Smith, age age 30. Height 5 feet 4 or 5 inches; black, bushy hair, and well dressed. He has a mother living at Mr. Hamilton’s on Capitol Hill, Washington DC. I will give the above reward if taken in a free state. $50 if taken in the District of Columbia or counties of Mongomery and Prince George’s or $100 if taken elsewhere secured so that I can get him. Isaac Scaggs.“
With his fellow-passengers, George and Thomas, he greatly enjoyed the hospitalities of the Underground Rail Road in the city of Brotherly Love, and had a very high idea of Canada, as he anticipated becoming a British subject at early day. The story Adam related concerning his master and reasons for escaping ran thus:
"My master was an easy man, but would work you hard and never allow you any chance night or day: he was a farmer, about fifty, stout, full face, a real country ruffian, member of no church, a great drinker and gamblerl will sell a slave as quick as any other slave-holder. He had a great deal of cassh, but did not rank high in society His wife was very severe; hated a colored man to have any comfort in the world. they eight adult and nine yough slaves.”
ADAM left because he “didn’t like the treatment”. Twice had been placed on the auction-block. He was a married man and left a wife and one child. (Still, 1872, p 414)
Baltimore Sun, August 26, 1857, p 4. Account of 15 slaves escaping , including some owned by Isaac Scaggs
This would seem to be the same escape event described in more detail in The Baltimore Sun, (Wed August 26, 1857, page 4) which reports “On Saturday night about fifteen slaves left this city [Baltimore] in a covered wagon under pretense of going to camp-meeting, but as they have not since been heard from it is supposed they have made to a free state. Officers have gone in pursuit, Among the losers are Messrs. Linton, Randolph Harbaugh and Isaac Scaggs. “
Two weeks later, on Saturday, Sept 5, 1857, another escape evidently took place, this time from Scaggs’ farm. Scaggs arranged for a poster to be printed, stating:
$500 Reward,
ran away or decoyed [?] from the subscriber living near Beltsville, Prince George’s County, MD on Saturday, September 5, 1857,
Mulatto Woman Maria, from 30 to 35 years of age, and very stout
Negro boy, Dall Dark mulatto, 13 years of age, stout and well grown
Negro boy, Lem, 11 years of age, Black, has a scar on the side of his breat, caused by a burn
Negro boy, Bill, generally called “Shug,” 8 years of age.
Negro boy, Ben 2 years of age. Also
Negro man, Adam about 30 years of, 5 feet4 or 5minches, stoutly built, full suit of hair. He ran away on Saturday the 22nd of August and I think has returned and induced his Wife and Children off. I will give $300 reward for them, no matter where taken if lodgedin Jail, or secured so that I may get them again, or I will give $300 reward for Adam if taken separte, and a preportional (sic) award in any case they need to secured, so I may get them back again, Isaac Scaggs, Baltimore, September 7th, 1857
A newspaper version of the advertisement reproduced this same text, with the additional line “I have reason to think they are making for a free state.’ (The Baltimore Sun, Tuesday, Sep 08, 1857 ·Page 3.)
We may note several slight discrepancies between the William Still 1872 account and the 1857 ads. WilliamStill only reported Adam leaving one child behind in slavery, but the September 7, 1857 ad describes Adam and his wife Maria having four children. Speculatively, perhaps only one of the children was fathered by Adam, and thus was the only one mentioned by him to Still; but that when he returned surreptitiously two weeks later, he realized the need to bring all of Maria’s children as well. We should also note that Still makes no report of Adam returning into Maryland to retrieve his family, which would seem to suggest that Adam and his family never made it back to Philadelphia and never traveled as a group through the Underground Railroad network.
The Recaptured Children
Still’s silence on the children’s escape would seem due to the fact that the Smith children were recaptured before they reached Philadelphia. The evidence for this rests on the fact that in 1868, all former Maryland slaveowners were given the opportunity to petition for Federal compensation for the enslaved people that had been manumitted on November 1, 1864, upon adoption of the new Maryland Constitution. Isaac Scaggs listed fourteen slaves for whom he sought compensation. (As it happened, Congress never awarded compensation to Maryland slaveowners). Among those listed by Scaggs were four children, who match precisely with the children described in the September 1857 runaway slavery poster:
Specifically,
the escaped child "Negro boy, Dall, Dark mulatto, 13 years of age, stout and well grown “ must be the same person as “Dale Age 17,” for whom Scaggs declared in 1864/1868;
the escaped "Negro boy, Lem, 11 years of age, Black, has a scar on the side of his breast, caused by a burn” must be the same boy as “Lem, age 16” declared for in 1864/1868;
the escaped “Negro boy, Bill, generally called “Shug,” 8 years of age.’ must be the same as “ William, age 12,” declared for in 1864/1868
the escaped "Negro boy, Ben 2 years of age” seem to match with Benjamin, age 6 declared for in 1864/1868.
It would thus appear that these children were in fact recaptured, and then only manumitted on 1 November 1864 by Isaac Scaggs, as required by the Maryland Constitution.
What about the escaped parents, Adam and Maria Smith? Were they themselves recaptured? It is puzzling that among the fourteen slaves listed in the 1868 compensated petition, Scaggs lists man “Adam, age 25.” in 1864, this Adam would have been born about 1839, hence about twelve years younger than the Adam Smith reported in the advertisments in 1857, who was then about 30 years old, or born about 1827. Perhaps there were two Adams on the plantation, or perhaps they were the same person, and Adam Smith was in fact recaptured.
What else can be discerned about Adam Smith’s life? There is a record of at least one other escape. About three years earleir, March 4, 1854, an Isaac Birch committed 27-year-old Adam to the Washington, DC slave jail as a runaway slave. Ten days later, Adam was released to Isaac Scaggs, and presumably returned to Scaggs’ farm in Vansville, Prince George’s County. Since the August 1857 advertisement mentions his mother being enslaved at the household of “Mr Hamilton” on Capitol Hill, it seems possible that Adam had sought her help during his escape attempt.
(Isaac Birch, 1798-1877, who committed Adam to jail, spent most of his life in Georgetown and was a lock keeper on the canal. Pehaps in that capacity he encountered and apprehended the escaped Adam. This Isaac Birch may be related to the Isaac Birch who inherited the undertaking business of his father, Joseph Birch, Georgetown’s leading coffin maker.)
Adam Smith’s Mother
As noted, the August 1857 runaway advertisment placed by enslaver Isaac Scaggs notes that Adam’s mother is staying (presumbaly enslaved) at “Mr Hamelton’s" (sic) on Capitol Hill, in the District of Columbia. Who was this woman?
The 1860 slave schedule lists seven slavowners in the District of Columbia with the surname Hamilton. Of these, the most likely candidate is Jonathan C C Hamilton, a clerk, who in 1850 had been residing with his mother Matilda Hamilton (widow of the late Samuel S Hamilton). In 1860 Jonathan was living with his brother Edward M Hamitlon a merchant, and owned two women slaves, one 56 years old, the other 45 years old, either who could conceiably be the mother of Adam Smith.
Two years later, on July 15, 1862 the mother of Jonathan C C Hamilon, Matilda Hamilton claims compensation for a woman Susan Blackstone, whom she affirms she had purchased from her son, Jonathan C C Hamilton. She states, “Susan Blackstone was of the age of 50 or 51 years and of the personal description following:(1) Copper Colored a good Cook, Washer & Ironer—“ Susan Blackstone must have been born around 1820; I am not sure when she was purchased by the Hamilton family, although DC deed records may cast some light on this question.
Samuel S Hamilton appears in the 1820 census in the District of Columbia with four slaves, a male between ages 26 and 44, a female under 14, and two females, 26 through 44. He is listed in the 1830 census in the District of Columbia owning four female slaves, two under the age of 19 and two between the ages of 10 and 23 years old. He must have died prior to 1840, when his wife Matilda appears in the centus as a widow raising three boys.
I am not sure what became of the enslaved woman Susan Blackstone, freed in 1862, and if she had further contact with her son Adam Smith, who had escaped from Isaac Scaggs in 1856. (She is evidently not the Susannah Blackston, laundress, who appears in the Baltimore City Directory for 1870, residing in 18 Beal Court, since this same person appears as a free Black woman in Baltimore in 1850, married to Samuel Blackstone. )
Between 1804 to 1823, at least five Black men with the surname Blackstone from Maryland are reported as fugitives, some of them apprehended in the District of Columbia. In 1830s and 1840s, at least seven individuals with the surname Blackstone were manumitted in Anne Arundel county. I am not sure if any of these might have been related to Susan Blackstone, the mother of Adam.
Other Enslaved Persons held by Isaac Scaggs
On May 26, 1862, Isaac Scaggs filed for compensated emancipation in the District of Columbia for his 46 year old enslaved man John Stewart, who was rented out in the District at the time. Scaggs declared, “John Stewart was left petitioner by his father James Scaggs who died over thirty years ago and whose will is recorded in Marlboro' Maryland. John has been hired to persons living in the District of Columbia for the last four years & was so hired at the passage of the law under which compensation is now claimed…said Stewart is an active and industrious servant and first-rate field hand.” Scaggs was awarded $700 by the Commissioners for John Stewart. (As of this writing, I am not sure to whom John Stewart had been leased. )
This may be the same person as the John Stewart, residing at 1326 7th Street West, who on March 1, 1871 opened a Freedman’s Bank account, or the John Stewart, residing at Howard University, who on September 15 1871 opened an account with the Freedman’s Bank. listing his wife as Eliza Stewart. The latter couple seems to appear in the 1880 census, as a John Stewart, laborer, residing with his wife Bettie, laundress at 358 Prospect’s Alley, between 7th and 8th street.
Isaac Scaggs also appears in Maryland legal records in reference to a long running case, “Isaac Scaggs vs. Baltimore and Washington Rail Road Company”, in which he unsuccessfully sought damages from the railroad for the death of one of his slaves, killed by a train on a line that ran through his property. (This may have been near the “Scaggs Station, mentioned in newspaper reports in the 1850s). In December 1856, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that Scaggs was not entitled to damages as the legislative intent of the relevant statute only applied to animal livestock and not to human property. As of this writing, I do not know the name of the enslaved person who was struck and killed by the train.
In 1868 Isaac Scaggs filed for compensation for the following fourteen individuals, whom he had been forced to manumit on November 1, 1864 under the terms of the newly adopted Maryland Constitution (1st Election District, Prince George’s County Slave Statistics, 1867-1868, p. 43)
Declared Adam, age 25
Declared Ann, age 30
Declared Alick, age 10
Declared Benjamin, age 6
Declared Betsy, age 13
Declared Dale Age 17
Declared Henry Crampton, age 28 (so born 1836)
Declared Julia, age 5
Declared Lem, age 16
Declared Nancy, age 55
Declared Nicholas Beall, age 22 (so born 1842)
Declared Richard Smith, age 32 (so born 1832)
Declared Walter, age 65
Declared William, age 12
Of these, as noted above, Benjamin, Dale, Lem and William were almost certainly the children of Adam and Maria, who escaped on September 5, 1857, and who were evidently recaptured soon afterwards. It seems reasonable to infor that Richard Smith, age 32, was kin, perhaps a brother, to Adam Smith.
Henry Crampton presumably becomes William Henry Crampton, listed in the censuses for 1870, 1880 and 1900 as a cart driver, in 1900 residing in the District of Columbia at 423 N Street. He married Priscilla around 1862, and the couple had at least six children: Lavinia A, Francis, Clinton, Ida Mary, and Julia.
He seems to be the same person as, or a relative of, a William Crampton, who opened a Freedman’s Bank account on May 21, 1867, indicating the had been raised in Prince George’s County, served in Company H of the 28th United States Colored Infantry Regiment, and lived between L and K streets in the Disrict of Columbia. who lists as his daughter “Julia”, who may be the same person as Julia listed in the 1868 slave census of Isaac Scaggs. He may be the father of the infant William H Crampton, who died at age 1, on February 12, 1880, residing at 2215 D Street, between 22nd and 23rd streets NW, buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Georgetown. Another possible relative may be Selestial R Crampton, died January 28, 1881, who resided at 1513 Kingman PL between P street & 13 & 14th streets; she also was buried in Mt Zion Cemetery. William Crampton’s wife, Priscilla Crampton, a domestic, died March 10, 1895 and was buried in Columbia Harmony Cemetery.
I am not sure if these individuals any of the other persons listed in 1869 were kin to the escaped Adam Smith family. Future research may present a full picture of the lives of Adam, Maria, their children and others enslaved by the Scaggs across the years.