BURNS, Anthony,
fugitive slave, b. in Virginia about 1830; d. in St. Catharines, Canada, 27
July, 1862. He effected his escape from slavery in Virginia, and was at work in
Boston in the winter of 1853-'4. On 23 May, 1854, the U. S. house of
representatives passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill repealing the Missouri
compromise, and permitting the extension of negro slavery, which had been
restricted since 1820. The news caused great indignation throughout the free
states, especially in Boston, where the anti-slavery party had its headquarters.
Just at this crisis Burns was arrested by U. S. Marshal Watson Freeman, under
the provisions of the fugitive-slave act, on a warrant sworn out by Charles F.
Suttle. He was confined in the Boston court-house under a strong guard, and on
25 May was taken before U. S. Commissioner Loring for examination. Through the
efforts of Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker, an adjournment was secured to
27 May, and in the mean time a mass-meeting was called at Faneuil hall, and the
U. S. marshal summoned a large posse of extra deputies, who were armed and
stationed in and about the court-house to guard against an expected attempt at
the rescue of Burns. The meeting at Faneuil hall was addressed by the most
prominent men of Boston, and could hardly be restrained from adjourning in a
body to storm the court-house. While this assembly was in session, a premature
attempt to rescue Burns was made under the leadership of Thomas W. Higginson. A
door of the courthouse was battered in, one of the deputies was killed in the
fight, and Col. Higginson and others of the assailants were wounded. A call for
re-enforcements was sent to Faneuil hall, but in the confusion it never reached
the chairman. On the next day the examination was held before Commissioner
Loring, Richard H. Dana and Charles M. Ellis appearing for the prisoner. The
evidence showed that Burns was amenable under the law, and his surrender to his
master was ordered. When the decision was made known, many houses were draped
in black, and the state of popular feeling was such that the government
directed that the prisoner be sent to Virginia on board the revenue cutter “Morris.”
He was escorted to the wharf by a strong guard, through streets packed with
excited crowds. At the wharf the tumult seemed about to culminate in riot, when
the Rev. Daniel Foster (who was killed in action early in the civil war)
exclaimed, “Let us pray!” and silence fell upon the multitude, who stood with
uncovered heads, while Burns was hurried on board the cutter. A more
impressively dramatic ending, or one more characteristic of an excited but
law-abiding and God-fearing New England community, could hardly be conceived
for this famous case. Burns afterward studied at Oberlin college, and
eventually became a Baptist minister, and settled in Canada, where, during the
closing years of his life, he presided over a congregation of his own color.
See “Anthony Burns, A History,” by C. E. Stevens (Boston, 1854).
SOURCE: James Grant Wilson & John Fiske, Editors, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography,
Volume 1, p. 460
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