Station Master on the Underground Railroad: The Life and Letters of Thomas GarrettMcFarland, 2005 M01 1 - 226 pages Thomas Garrett, a Quaker from Wilmington, Delaware, had a genial disposition unless provoked to defend his strong anti-slavery beliefs. Unlike most other white abolitionists who viewed slavery in more abstract and constitutional terms, Garrett, like free black abolitionists and the slaves themselves, saw slavery in very personal terms. He believed so strongly in the Underground Railroad and in helping slaves escape that he chafed under the Quaker belief in non-violence when force seemed to be the only way to win freedom for the slaves he was trying to help. When he died in 1871, Wilmington's black community saluted him as their Moses. Station Master on the Underground Railroad: The Life and Letters of Thomas Garrett was an important work in antebellum reform when it was first published in 1977. Author James McGowan disputed earlier arguments that white abolitionists were unified in their opposition to slavery and that they were largely responsible for the success of the Underground Railroad while the escaped slaves were helpless and frightened passengers who took advantage of a well-organized network. The present volume has been revised to include new information on Garrett's relationship with Harriet Tubman and the abolitionist newspaper editor William Lloyd Garrison. It also gives readers a new perspective on Thomas Garrett, recognizing his shortcomings as well as the uncompromising nature of his Quaker faith. |
Contents
Foreword by William C Kashatus 15 | 5 |
The Underground Railroad | 11 |
Early Accounts of Garretts Life | 17 |
Upper Darby Ancestry | 24 |
Quakers and Quakerism | 28 |
The Road to Damascus | 31 |
The Move to Wilmington | 37 |
Wilmington | 40 |
How Important Was Thomas Garrett? | 93 |
Thomas Garrett and Harriet Tubman | 98 |
How Many Runaways Did Garrett Assist? | 115 |
The End of the Line | 129 |
Letters to William Still J Miller McKim | 134 |
Letters to William Lloyd Garrison | 154 |
Letters to Eliza Wigham Mary Edmundson | 162 |
Miscellaneous Letters | 184 |
Rachel Mendinhall Garrett | 46 |
The Trial of 1848 | 52 |
Thomas Garrett the Man | 82 |
vi | 197 |
Chapter Notes | 211 |
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abolitionists African American anti-slavery arrived assist became believe Blockson Blue Hen's Chicken born Canada Captain Castle Chesapeake Chester County colored court Delaware died dollars Dover Eliza Wigham ESTEEMED FRIEND father free black freedom fugitive slaves Garrett LETTER gave Geoffrey Hubbard Hardcastle Harriet Tubman helped human Ibid jail James John Hunn Judge Booth Kashatus Kennett letter to Eliza letters to William Lucretia Mott Mary Edmundson Maryland McGowan Meeting House Mendinhall Middletown miles Miller McKim months mother Negro North Otwell Pennsylvania person Philadelphia Quaker Quakers and Slavery Queen Anne's County reports rescue runaway slaves safe Samuel Hawkins Sarah Bradford says sent Sheriff Siebert slaveholders slavery Smedley Society South station master Still's book thee Thomas Garrett Thompson Thos thy friend Tilden told took trial UGRR UGRR workers Underground Railroad Upper Darby Virginia wife William Lloyd Garrison Wilmington woman writes York