Flee North by Scott Shane

Author:Scott Shane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Celadon Books

The Sun’s account, packed with information despite the proslavery bias, included one more poignant detail. Smallwood had brought with him from Toronto “a bundle of letters” written by people formerly enslaved in Washington and now living in freedom in Toronto, addressed to relatives and friends in the nation’s capital. With families separated by hundreds of miles and worried about trusting the mail for fear of giving away new locations in Canada, Smallwood’s courier service must have been a precious gift. But now these treasures, too, fell into the hands of the police.

Smallwood had given the letters to John Bush’s wife to be distributed to the recipients, but she was now forced to turn them over to Goddard, who shared them with the reporter. “One of these letters (the latest) is dated 30th October last,” The Sun reported, “and advises them to escape from this ‘land of bondage’ and go there and join them ‘on Queen Victoria’s lands.’” By now Smallwood knew he, too, would have to make his final escape to Queen Victoria’s lands. It was his home now, and staying in the south was no longer a possibility.

One memorable visitor interrupted his week in hiding. Charles Torrey made his way to Baltimore and visited Smallwood at Gibbs’s house, delivering some money for the journey north—since Smallwood had previously turned over all the cash he had raised to Torrey. In his memoir, Smallwood does not dwell on the visit—he says merely that “Mr. Torrey arrived in Baltimore from Washington the succeeding week”—but it must have been an emotional meeting.

The unusual partnership of these two men, Black and white, the purchaser of his own freedom and the graduate of Andover and Yale, had proved most consequential. They must have compared notes on their failed mission and discussed what was behind the police ambush that had thwarted it. Smallwood, who would only speak highly of Torrey in the future, does not seem to have blamed his partner for proposing one more mission. They presumably discussed their plans, which would diverge; even Torrey must have understood that he should not press Smallwood to try again to organize escapes. They would not meet again.

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