The Rendition of Anthony Burns, Part 1

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class
Episode Title: The Rendition of Anthony Burns, Part 1
Hosts: Tracy V. Wilson & Holly Fry
Release Date: February 9, 2026

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Main Theme

This episode dives into the early life and escape of Anthony Burns, an enslaved man from Virginia whose 1854 arrest in Boston under the Fugitive Slave Act ignited outrage and galvanized abolitionist sentiment in the North. The hosts use Burns’s story to explore the injustices of the Fugitive Slave Act, the personal impacts of enslavement, and the complex blend of hope, risk, and resolve in self-liberation. They draw poignant parallels between 19th-century and present-day government authority and resistance, framing the narrative in both historical and contemporary terms.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Resonance of the Past With the Present (02:29–06:03)

• Tracy opens by referencing a popular quote used on social media:
  “We went to bed one night old fashioned conservative compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad abolitionists.”
  • [03:00] Tracy: Explains its current appeal given recent US immigration enforcement controversies, ICE actions, and people’s sudden activism.
  • The quote is from Amos Adams Lawrence in response to Anthony Burns’s rendition in 1854.
  • The hosts note historical parallels without equating past and present directly, emphasizing the enduring emotional and ethical impact of activism against injustice.

2. Anthony Burns: Early Life (06:03–10:33)

• Born enslaved in Stafford County, Virginia, on May 31, 1834.

  • Parents: His mother was a cook for John F. Suttle; his father was her third husband, also enslaved.
  • After John Suttle died, his widow Susanna began selling off enslaved individuals to cover expenses, splitting up Burns’s family.
  • Anthony’s mother was hired out, separating her from Anthony for two years ([07:18] Tracy).

• Learning to Read and Write:

  • Anthony accessed books through children attending nearby schools while hired out.
  • Later, another woman left books out for him to “find.”
  • Taught himself to write by copying scraps; improved his handwriting with the help of a childhood acquaintance.

3. Hardships and Early Agency (09:06–11:18)

• Adolescent Labor & Violence: At age 12 or 13, worked tending a steam engine at a sawmill for the brutal Foote family. Suffered a mangled hand in an accident ([09:40] Holly).
• During convalescence, experienced a religious awakening and sought baptism, which Suttle initially denied but later allowed.
• Began preaching, organizing religious services and informal schooling for other enslaved people—both illegal acts at the time.

4. The Path to Liberation (11:45–13:49)

• Suttle hired William Brent to manage labor placements; Anthony eventually sent to Richmond with increasing value as a worker.
• Placed with Millspaugh, a druggist, at a labor rate of $125/year. When Millspaugh didn’t have enough work, he offered Anthony an illegal deal: find his own work, cover Millspaugh’s costs, and keep any excess, but secrecy was required.
  • Anthony’s negotiation skills are evident here, as he bargains for twice-monthly payments instead of daily ([13:13] Tracy).
• Anthony’s transient assignments (moving from place to place) were motivated by his desire to escape; he feared familiarity would hinder a future flight.

5. Planning Escape in Richmond (17:55–22:47)

• Richmond’s port offered direct contact with free northerners and sympathetic sailors, fueling Anthony’s dream of liberty.
• Internal struggle: torn between obligations to his secret school, his ministry, and a woman he loved versus desire for freedom.
• Intense reflection on biblical teachings, finding justification for escape and refuting pro-slavery interpretations.
  • [18:55] Tracy: “He found that the Bible set forth only one God for the black and white races ... no passage of holy writ by virtue of which Colonel Suttle could claim a right of property in him ...”

6. Escape and the Journey North (21:31–23:31)

• After a failed negotiation with Millspaugh over daily payments, Burns decided to flee.
• With aid from friendly sailors, he hid aboard a ship bound for Boston, unable to bring his beloved due to urgency.
• The journey was harrowing: hidden for days, seasick, and dependent on the crew for food.

7. Starting Anew in Boston (23:31–25:27)

• Burns found lodging and began work as a cook (unsuccessfully), then as an employee for abolitionist Coffin Pitts, owner of a black-owned store and deacon at the Twelfth Baptist Church (nicknamed “Fugitive Slaves’ Church” due to its congregation and activism).
• Integration into Boston’s Black community; begins to build a new life and sense of security.

8. Betrayal via a Letter Home (25:27–26:09)

• Burns writes his brother in Virginia (via Canadian postmark to hide his location), but the letter is intercepted by a postmaster and read by his former enslaver’s contacts. This triggers the legal pursuit for his return.

9. The Legal Machinery of Slavery (26:21–32:43)

• Detailed review of the constitutional “Fugitive Slave Clause” (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3) and federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850.
  • Fugitive Slave Act of 1850:
    • Harsher penalties.
    • Administrative hearings, not trials: “It was explicitly illegal for the testimony of a so called fugitive to be entered into evidence.” [32:00] Holly
    • Financial incentives for commissioners to side with enslavers (double pay if they ruled in favor of “reclaiming property”).
    • Put all Black people, free or enslaved, at risk; sparked flight to Canada.

10. The Web of Illegality Surrounding Burns and His Supporters (33:30–34:10)

• Every aspect of Anthony’s learning, teaching, traveling, and even seeking comfort in Boston was criminalized for him and those who aided him.

11. The Arrest in Boston (34:34–36:44)

• [34:55] Holly: Butman, deputized by the US, arrests Anthony Burns by deception (alleged jewelry theft).
• Burns, believing it a simple error, goes willingly—until he realizes he’s being returned to enslavement:
  • [36:15] Tracy (quoting biographer):
    “As in a dissolving view, the land of freedom faded out and the dark land of slavery usurped its place. He saw himself again a slave—far worse than that, a slave disgraced, pointed at as a runaway, punished, perhaps punished unto death ... he ... gave all up.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On sudden activism:
  “We went to bed one night old fashioned conservative compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad abolitionists.”
  — Amos Adams Lawrence, read by Tracy V. Wilson, [02:29]

• On Anthony Burns’s theology:
  “He found that the Bible set forth only one God for the black and white races ... no divine ordinance requiring ... bondage.”
  — Paraphrased by Tracy V. Wilson, [18:55]

• On Fugitive Slave Act bias:
  “If the commissioner found that the proof provided was sufficient to issue the warrant, he would be paid $10. If he found that the proof was not sufficient ... $5.”
  — Holly Fry, [30:36]

• Anthony’s horror at his capture:
  “As in a dissolving view, the land of freedom faded out and the dark land of slavery usurped its place ... he ... gave all up.”
  — Tracy V. Wilson (quoting Charles Emory Stevens), [36:15]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:29] — Introduction of the Amos Adams Lawrence quote and contemporary relevance
• [06:03] — Anthony Burns’s background and family loss under enslavement
• [09:40] — Industrial accident and religious awakening
• [13:13] — Burns’s negotiation for biweekly payment (strategy for escape)
• [17:55] — Richmond: hope and influence of the port city
• [18:55] — Burns’s religious interpretation and justification for self-liberation
• [21:31] — Escape plan, help from sailors, bittersweet departure
• [23:31] — Arrival in Boston, integration into the Black community
• [25:27] — Letter to brother triggers pursuit
• [26:21] — Review of Fugitive Slave Clause and Act of 1850
• [30:36] — Skewed incentives for slave-catching commissioners
• [34:55] — The arrest of Anthony Burns: deception and trauma
• [36:15] — The realization of recapture (Stevens quote)

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Episode Tone

The hosts maintain a tone that is factual, compassionate, and often somber in response to the grave injustices described. There is a recurring thread of admiration for Anthony Burns’s agency, intelligence, and resolve, as well as a sense of anger and incredulity at the legal and social structures engineered to thwart Black advancement and freedom.

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Conclusion

Next Episode: Will detail what happens to Anthony Burns after his arrest, the Boston community’s response, and the broader historical impact of the case.

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For More Information:
Source lists for the episode and additional reading are available on the Stuff You Missed in History Class website.
Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the continued relevance of historical injustices in understanding contemporary issues.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Saskia (Betrayal Podcast)]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately the mask came off.

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

Listen to betrayal season five on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

1969 Malcolm and Martin are gone. America is in crisis, and at Morehouse College, the students make their move.

[Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba]

These students, including a young Samuel L. Jackson, locked up. The members of the Board of trustees, including Martin Luther King Sr. It's the true story of protests and rebellion in black American history that you'll never forget. I'm Hans Charles, our menelik Lumumba. Listen to on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator (I Didn't Know Podcast)]

Black history lives in our stories, our culture, and the conversations we still having today, this Black History Month. The podcast I Didn't know. Maybe you didn't either digs into the moments, perspectives and experiences that don't always make the textbook. Let me tell you about Garrett Morgan Bruh had to pretend he didn't even exist just to sell his own invention. Listen to I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. From the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or simply wherever you get your podcast.

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[Holly Fry]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Over the past several months I have seen this quote repeatedly on social media. Quote, we went to bed one night old fashioned conservative compromise union wigs and waked up stark mad abolitionists. Some of that's because I follow historians on social media, but it's mostly because this quote has been really resonating with people in the face of what is happening with ICE in the United States. If you're not up to speed on your US Government acronyms, ICE is Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other federal agencies are also involved with this, including Border Patrol. And this all rolls up under the Department of Homeland Security, or dhs. This quote is partly in response to the horror of what these federal officers and agencies are doing. Things like pepper spraying people directly in the face when they are already on the ground, detaining U.S. citizens and legal residents, including pulling them out of their homes into freezing weather, still in their pajamas. Detaining preschoolers, deporting U.S. citizens, including at least two children who were in cancer treatment at the time. An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Goode and then casually walked away. A Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Preddy. They shot him at least 10 times while he was already on the ground in both of these cases. Afterward, multiple federal officials told transparently obvious lies about what happened. We are recording this on January 27, 2026. Then who knows what else might happen before it comes out? So that's been that. Those kinds of things have been the kinds of things that I have seen people talk about alongside this quote. But it's not just about ice. ICE is only part of it. People are also sharing this quote after seeing neighbors who had never seemed overtly very political suddenly taking a stand in the face of all of this or going through that experience themselves, like not being very political themselves. And they're suddenly like, I have to do something. Or maybe not being local to major ICE operations, but seeing, for example, what feels like the entire state of Minnesota all coming together to protect each other in this massive effort to do things like stand guard around daycares and schools, delivering food to families who are terrified to leave their homes. So this quote about becoming stark mad abolitionists, that's from a letter written by Amos Adams Lawrence to Giles Richards on June 1, 1854, during a furor over the fate of Anthony Burns, who had liberated himself from enslavement in Virginia and was captured in Boston and then returned to enslavement. It would be reductive to suggest that what is happening now is identical to what happened in 1854, or that this is like a one to one comparison. Also, we like, we don't have to go all the way back to slavery to find things that have similarities. We don't even have to leave this century to do that. But I do think Anthony Burns story resonates right now in much the same way that Amos Adams Lawrence quote Does. So we are going to talk about this over two episodes.

[Holly Fry]

Anthony Burns was born in Stafford County, Virginia, on May 31, 1834. His mother was a cook who was enslaved by John F. Suttle. His father was her third husband and was also enslaved. Although there were rumors that he had once been a free man in the north, their names are not specified in accounts of Anthony Burns's life, at least in no places that Tracy could find them.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, I did look and did not find what their names were. Anthony's father was seen as particularly intelligent. He supervised other enslaved people at a quarry that settle. Anthony didn't know his father very well, though, because he died when Anthony was still very young, apparently as a result of continually breathing in the stone dust at the quarry.

[Holly Fry]

Slavery in the United States was hereditary. Since Anthony's mother was enslaved, he was enslaved from birth as well. So were his 12 older siblings and half siblings. And after John Suttle died, his widow, Susanna Suttle, started selling them off. To try to cover her expense. She sold at least five of Anthony's immediate family members when he was still very young.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Susanna Suttle also threatened to sell Anthony's mother, but instead hired her out to work in another city. So Anthony's mother was still considered Suttle's property, but somebody else was paying Suttle for her labor. Anthony's mother begged to take him with her when she was sent away for work, but Suttle refused and they were separated for two years.

[Holly Fry]

Susanna Suttle died when Anthony was about six years old, and her son, Charles F. Suttle, inherited the estate. By that point, Anthony had been put to work on things that were considered light tasks, which included watching his baby niece so that his older sister could work. About a year after inheriting the property, Charles Suttle started hiring Anthony out so that he could bring in more income as well.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Over the next decade, Anthony learned to read. This started when he was hired out to somebody whose sister named Ms. Horton, ran a school out of her home nearby. Anthony started making friends with some of the students as he went about his work and ran errands that took him over there, and some of them shared their school books with him. Later on, he was hired out to another man whose wife ran a school from their house to and she seemed like she left books around for him to find on purpose.

[Holly Fry]

As Anthony got a little older, he also taught himself how to write. He said he was inspired to do this after being tasked with picking up the mail from the post office and realizing he could learn to write letters of his own. He Started out by copying things onto scraps of paper that he found. Eventually, he showed this work to a young woman he had met when they were both children, when she was a student at Miss Horton School, and then she helped him to improve his handwriting.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

When Anthony was 12 or 13, he was hired out to tend a steam engine that belonged to a man named Foot. Foote ran a sawmill. This was one of the more difficult times in Anthony's early life. It wasn't a kind of work he had ever done before. He wasn't used to it. And then the Foots were also particularly cruel. They beat people, including young children, using a strip of board that had been perforated and roughened with tar and sand. They also did not give them very much to eat.

[Holly Fry]

One day when Anthony had been there for a few months, Foote started the machinery without warning. And Anthony's hand was caught in a wheel and it was mangled. This is a very serious injury. And he went back to live with Suttle for a couple of months until he recovered and then he was returned to the sawmill. His hand was noticeably scarred after this with what was described as a visibly protruding piece of bone in his wrist.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

While he was recovering from this injury, Anthony had a religious awakening. He asked Suttle's permission to be baptized and to join a church. At first, Suttle refused, which Anthony attributed to his being irritated about the injury to his hand. But eventually, after Anthony had gone back to work for Foote, Suttle gave his permission. Anthony was baptized at a Baptist church in Falmouth.

[Holly Fry]

A couple of years later, Anthony started preaching to other enslaved people, and this included sermons and teaching about the Bible, as well as conducting marriage and funeral services. These marriages, of course, were not legally recognized. Even if he had been formally ordained through a church, there was no legal recognition of marriage between enslaved people.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

When Charles Suttle started essentially leasing Anthony to other people, Anthony was still a child, so people weren't paying very much for him to do things like run errands or make weekly trips to pick up cornmeal. But the amount Suttle could charge grew over time. Foote had agreed to pay subtle $75 a year for the work at the sawmill, for example.

[Holly Fry]

Eventually, Suttle hired a man named William Brent to manage the placement of the people he was hiring out. Anthony had worked for Brent before, and he was tasked with supervising other enslaved people as they traveled to Richmond for their placements. At first, Anthony worked for Brent's brother in law, and after about a year in Richmond, when he was about 20, he was placed with a druggist named Millspaugh at a rate of $125 a year.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It did not take long for Millspaugh to realize he didn't have enough work for for Anthony Burns to do, and he did not think it would be financially worth it to keep him on. So after about a week, Milspaugh took Burns aside and proposed a different arrangement. Burns would be allowed to go out and look for work on his own. He would use the money that he earned to repay Milspa the $125 that he was paying for Burns labor, and then Burns could keep what he earned beyond that minus a portion that would go to Milspa. Millsbaugh told Burns that this arrangement was illegal and had to be kept secret.

[Holly Fry]

By this point, Burns had started forming a plan to liberate himself from enslavement, which had influenced some of the choices that he had made prior to being hired out to Millspa. For example, after his first two years of working for William Brent in Falmouth, Burns had asked to be placed somewhere else. Even though he and Brent got along and Brent's wife was kind to him, Burns thought the longer he stayed in one place, the more people would get to know him and the harder it would be for him to get away unnoticed. Subtle, who of course did not know Burns's reasoning for this request, had agreed. This wasn't the only time Burns spoke up for himself with Subtle. And whether Subtle was willing to do what he asked seemed to depend on whether he thought it would make Anthony more willing and obedient in the long run.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Burns also negotiated with Milspaugh over this work arrangement. Milspaugh wanted him to deliver the money that he earned every day. But Burns thought this would be inconvenient, maybe even impossible. There might be days when he couldn't find work and had no money to turn over. So Burns convinced Millspaugh to let him hand over his money every two weeks.

[Holly Fry]

This fortnightly money delivery would also help Burns with his plan to liberate himself from enslavement, which we will get to after we pause for a sponsor break.

[Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba]

Welcome to the A Building. I'm Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

It's 1969. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr have both been assassinated and black America was out of breaking point. Rioting and protest broke out on an.

[Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba]

Unprecedented scale in Atlanta, Georgia. At Martin's alma mater, Morehouse College, the students had their own protest. It featured two prominent figures in black history. Martin Luther King. Senior and a young student, Samuel L.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

Jackson, to be in what we really.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Thought was a revolution.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

I mean, people were dying.

[Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba]

1968, the murder of Dr. King, which traumatized everyone.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The FBI had a role in the murder of a Black Panther leader in Chicago.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

This story is about protest. It echoes in today's world far more than it should. And it will blow your mind.

[Hans Charles Armenalek Lumumba]

Listen to the a Building on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

In the middle of the night, Saskia awoke in a haze. Her husband Mike was on his laptop. What was on his screen would change Saskia's life forever.

[Saskia (Betrayal Podcast)]

I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing. And immediately the mask came off.

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

You're supposed to be safe. That's your home. That's your husband.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

To keep this secret for so many.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Years, he's like a seasoned pro.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

This is a story about the end of a marriage. But it's also the story of one woman who was done living in the dark.

[Saskia (Betrayal Podcast)]

You're a dangerous person who preys on.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Vulnerable and trusting people.

[Saskia (Betrayal Podcast)]

You're a creditor. Michael Levengood.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

Listen to Betrayal Season 5 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

On June 11, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. It's an all out manhunt for John Awjay.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Every search and rescue team in LA.

[Narrator (Betrayal Podcast)]

County has been called in to help.

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

Within days, tips started flooding into the sheriff's department.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

They rule her around.

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

The drug scene was that a deputy was taken care of. Is this the story of a man who just got lost in the desert? Or of a cover up inside the nation's largest sheriff's department?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

A homicide captain saying, detective, do not find out if this guy's guilty or innocent. Who does that?

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Do you have any advice for us while looking into this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone. Listen to Valley of shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Segregation in the day, integration at night.

[Narrator (Charlie's Place Podcast)]

When segregation was the law, one mysterious black club owner had his own rules.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

We didn't worry about what went on outside. It was like stepping in another world.

[Narrator (Charlie's Place Podcast)]

Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it.

[Holly Fry]

You saw the kkk?

[Narrator (Valley of Shadows Podcast)]

Yeah, they was dressed up in their uniform.

[Narrator (I Didn't Know Podcast)]

The KKK set out to Raid Charlie.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Take him away from here.

[Narrator (A Building Podcast)]

Charlie was an example of power.

[Holly Fry]

They had to crush him.

[Narrator (Charlie's Place Podcast)]

From Atlas Obscura Rococo Punch and visit Myrtle beach comes Charlie's Place, a story that was nearly lost to time until now. Listen to Charlie's place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Unlike other places Anthony Burns had lived, Richmond, Virginia, was a major port. In the words of Charles Emory Stevens, who published a biography of Burns in 1856, quote, he was in daily sight of those northern keels that seemed to him a part of the very soil of freedom. He was in daily converse with men whose birthright was in a free land and whose language to the slave had no smack of the whip. Kind hearted sailors, having no vessels to forfeit and no trade to compromise, did not hesitate to urge him on to flight. Plainly, the time was at hand when if ever he was to achieve his freedom.

[Holly Fry]

At the same time, Burns had some potential reasons to stay. He had set up a secret school to teach enslaved people how to read. Like his work arrangement with Milspa, this was illegal. But leaving would mean that he was leaving his students.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

He had also been preaching for years, and he wrestled with the question of whether it was morally right to escape. Supporters of slavery used passages from the Bible to justify its existence. But beyond that, slavery was fully legal under the law, and escaping was not. After thinking about it and studying the Bible again, in the words of Charles Emry Stevens, he found that the Bible set forth only one God for the black and white races, that he had made of one blood all the nations of the earth, that there was no divine ordinance requiring one part of the human family to be in bondage to another, and that there was no passage of holy writ by virtue of which Colonel Suttle could claim a right of property in him any more than he could in Colonel Suttle.

[Holly Fry]

According to his biography, Burns had also fallen in love with a woman. And it is possible that he was trying to figure out how he could take her with him. But when he handed over his earnings after his first fortnight of finding his own work, he hit an unexpected snag. As we said earlier, he was supposed to repay the $125 that Milspaugh was paying for a year of his labor. But if he multiplied that first two weeks of earnings over a whole year, he was on track to earn almost three times that. Milspaugh realized he could recoup his expenses much faster than he thought. And he again told Burns to bring him the money he had earned every day. And to earn that $125 as fast as possible.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Burns did not want to do either of those things. He wanted to be able to keep some of what he earned. As long as he was not jeopardizing being able to pay back that $125. I say payback. He wasn't paying it back. This was money that someone else wanted from him. He had not taken out a loan or something like that. And as although he was living in Milspaugh's house, in a room that he shared with another boarder, it was found in feasible that he and Milspaw might not see each other every day. If Burns was leaving early to find work and then getting back late. That meant that his absence might not be noticed right away if he left. And that would not be the case if he was required to physically meet with Milspaugh every day to hand him his money. Burns and Milspaugh negotiated over this for a while, and Burns finally left the room without agreeing to this daily schedule.

[Holly Fry]

During his time in Richmond, Burns had met sailors and other workers from around the port. And during the two weeks he had been working on his own, he had mostly worked around the docks, loading and unloading cargo. He had figured out who seemed sympathetic and who did not. So over the next couple of days, he found a ship headed north that was getting ready to set sail and had crew members who were willing to hide him. He did not hand his money over to Milspaugh, and he used it instead to make arrangements, pay expenses, and provision himself. This did mean, though, that he was not able to take the woman that he had fallen in love with.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah, There just was not time to make those kinds of arrangements. Since he had to tighten up his schedule to make his escape. One night In February of 1854, three days or so after his conversation with Millspaugh, Burns put on four layers of clothing, with his work clothes as the outermost layer, and he got into bed. In the very early hours of the morning. He gathered up his possessions in a bundle, and he slipped out of the room and out of the house without waking up the other boarder or Milspa. He got to the dock, and the crew for the ship hid him on board.

[Holly Fry]

The ship was delayed leaving port, and it did not set sail that day. As expected. Burns eventually fell asleep. When he awoke, they were sailing down the James river toward the ocean.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This voyage was miserable. The ship's captain and officers did not know he was aboard, and it needed to stay that way. That meant that he could not leave his hiding spot. Bad weather and unfavorable winds meant that the journey was a lot longer and rougher than normal. He felt seasick a lot of the time. He had to rely on the crew to sneak food to him, and when they managed to do that, it did not always line up with whether he was feeling well enough to actually eat it because of how seasick he was.

[Holly Fry]

But at the end of February or The start of March 1854, Burns arrived in Boston. He found a room in a boarding house and he recovered from the journey. And that recovery took about a week. Then he found work as a cook on a mud scowling that was a barge, and the term was used both for barges that could travel over mud flats and barges that carried the mud that was hauled up by dredgers. This job did not last long, though. He didn't really have any experience as a cook, and for whatever reason, he could not get the bread to rise. Listen, I feel you, even people that cook a lot can't always get their bread to rise. So he was fired, though, after about a week.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As we've talked about in a number of previous episodes now, Boston had about 2,000 black residents in the 1850s. Some had been born free to black parents and some had been legally manumitted. But those who had liberated themselves from slavery, like Burns, were all considered to be fugitives. After he was fired from his position on the mud scow, Burns was hired by a black merchant named Coffin Pitts, who had a shop on Brattle Street. This street is not there anymore, but at the time it was home to a number of black owned businesses. It was also home to Brattle Street Church, which had been struck by cannon fire in the siege of Boston during the Revolutionary War. And it still had a cannonball lodged in the facade.

[Holly Fry]

In addition to owning this shop, Pitts was an abolitionist and he was a deacon at twelfth Baptist Church. This church was nicknamed the Fugitive Slaves Church, both because of the number of self emancipated people among its membership and because of its organizing against the Fugitive slave Act of 1850, which we are going to talk more about in a bit. Burns attended this church as well.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Over the next couple of months, Burns started building a life for himself in Boston. He wrote a letter to his brother back in Virginia telling him where he was and about his job. He did not mail this letter directly to his brother, though. He sent it to somebody in Canada so it could be postmarked from there. But when the letter arrived in Virginia. The postmaster saw the Canadian postmark and the fact that it was addressed to a slave, so he delivered it to Burns brothers enslaver who read it and then informed either Charles Sutton or William Brent of its contents. Sutton started the legal process for having his property returned to him.

[Holly Fry]

We'll get to that after a sponsor break.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution reads, quote no person held to service or labor in one state state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due. Although that doesn't have the word slavery in it, that is known as the Fugitive Slave Clause. Today this has been superseded by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery slavery except in punishment for a crime. But the text itself is still part of the document.

[Holly Fry]

The Fugitive slave Act of 1793, which was signed into law by George Washington, was written to legally enforce this clause of the Constitution. Under this law, the process of reclaiming a fugitive started with an indictment or an affidavit made before a magistrate. Authorities were then required to capture and return people who had escaped from slavery and including if they had escaped, to other states or territories. Anyone who harbored someone who had escaped or obstructed this process or rescued people as they were being transported could be fined up to $500 or imprisoned for a year.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The Fugitive slave Act of 1850 revised the 1793 act and was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore. This is part of a series of bills that are collectively described as the compromise of 18. We've talked about this a number of times on the podcast before, including fairly recently in our Charles Sumner episodes, but it is a central part of what happened to Anthony Burns, so we're going to go through it again.

[Holly Fry]

When the U.S. constitution was ratified in 1789, it left the question of whether to allow slavery up to the states. By the start of the 19th century, slavery had been abolished in most of the northern states and territories, but not in the southern states. The slave states outnumbered the free states, which meant slave states had slightly more power in the Senate, where each state gets two senators, regardless of the size of that state's population.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As new states were admitted, the United States took steps to maintain a balance between the slave states and the free states. States were generally admitted in pairs, one slave and one free. In 1820, the question of whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave State led to the Missouri Compromise, in which Missouri was admitted as a slave state, Maine was created as a free state from what had been part of Massachusetts. And the Missouri Compromise also drew a boundary line through Louisiana Territory, with slavery outlawed in territories and newly created states north of that line, but legal south of it.

[Holly Fry]

Thirty years later, the Compromise of 1850 came after California requested to join the Union as a free state, and there was no slave state ready to be admitted to keep the balance in the Senate. Slave states were also losing power in the House of Representatives as more people moved to northern cities. This set of five laws included one that admitted California as a free state, one that abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C. and the Fugitive Slave act of 1850, more formally titled An Act Respecting Fugitives from Justice and Persons Escaping from the Service of Their Masters.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This law was meant to help appease the slave states that were losing power in the Senate through the admission of California to the Union. It did not include the word slavery in the actual text. It said, if someone, quote, held to service or labor escaped to another state or territory, the quote person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney duly authorized, could pursue and reclaim, quote, such fugitive person.

[Holly Fry]

Doing so required them to procure a warrant from the courts, judges, or commissioners of the state or territory the person fled to. If a commissioner was overseeing these proceedings, he would be paid for his services. If the commissioner found that the proof provided was sufficient to issue the warrant, he would be paid $10. If he found that the proof was not sufficient to provide the warrant, he would be paid $5. In other words, it was in the financial interests of the commissioners to find in favor of the person who was claiming that another person was their property. The people who were empowered to arrest the fugitives were also paid $5 for each person they arrested.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This law also increased the monetary penalties that had been established under the previous Fugitive Slave Law, and it established new ones. Marshals or deputy marshals who refused to execute these warrants could be fined $1,000. Anyone who obstructed the process or harbored someone who had escaped or rescued them or aided them in any way, directly or indirectly, could be fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to six months. They could also have to pay civil damages to quote the party injured by such illegal conduct, up to $1,000 for each fugitive.

[Holly Fry]

This was a stronger law with harsher penalties than the 1793 version. The proceedings involved were basically administrative hearings, not trials. It was explicitly illegal for the testimony of a so called fugitive to be entered into evidence.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This law put all black people in the United States at risk, regardless of whether they were or ever had been enslaved. After it was passed, black people in the northern states started immigrating from the United States, primarily to Canada, to try to protect themselves. An estimated 5,000 black people fled from the free States to Canada after this law was passed.

[Holly Fry]

We have already talked about several things Anthony Burns had done or been involved with during his lifetime that were considered illegal. It was illegal for white people in Virginia to teach black people to read and write. Also, in the words of the 1849 Legal Code of Virginia, quote, every assemblage of Negroes for the purpose of religious worship when such worship is conducted by a Negro, and every assemblage of Negroes for the purposes of instruction in reading or writing or in the nighttime for any purpose, shall be an unlawful assembly. So Burns work as a preacher and the secret school he established were both illegal. As we said earlier, his arrangement with Millspaugh to earn his own money, also illegal.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It was also illegal for Anthony Burns to leave Virginia without his enslaver's knowledge or approval. It was illegal for him to escape to Massachusetts. It was illegal for the sailors aboard the ship to hide him there and to bring him food. It was illegal for the ship's captain and officers to transport him even though they did not know he was aboard. It was illegal for the boarding house owner in Boston to rent him a room. It was illegal for the mud scow captain to hire him as a cook. It was illegal for coffin pits to give him a job and a place to live. It was illegal for the congregation of Twelfth Baptist Church to welcome him into their number and to offer him aid and comfort.

[Holly Fry]

After learning about the letter Burns had written to his brother that revealed that he had gone to Boston, Charles Suttle went to the authorities in the state circuit court for Alexandria County, V.A. on May 16, 1854. The court determined that he had provided satisfactory proof that Byrnes owed Suttle his service. Suttle and William Brent both traveled to Boston to pursue him.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

On May 24, in Boston, United States Commissioner Edward G. Loring issued a warrant for Burns arrest. Watson Freeman, United States Marshal of Massachusetts, was empowered with arresting Burns. But the actual arrest was carried out by slave catcher Asa O. Butman, who had been deputized.

[Holly Fry]

Butman arrested Burns that evening. Butman had been in Coffin Pitts store that day, but he hadn't aroused their suspicions. Burns and Pitts usually walked to and from work together. But that night, Burns decided to take a brief walk first. Once the two men had separated, Buttman confronted Burns. At first, Burns thought he was being mugged, but then Buttman said he was being charged with robbing a jewelry store.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Burns knew that he had not robbed anyone, and he thought this was just some kind of mistake. So he willingly went with Buttman. He didn't even call out to Pitts, who was still within earshot about what was happening. Even though Burns was not trying to resist arrest, six or seven other men who had been waiting nearby rushed out and they grabbed him, lifting him up off of his feet and carrying him to the courthouse.

[Holly Fry]

Once they arrived, they were met by Marshall Freeman. Freeman told Burns he was being taken upstairs to the jury room to meet his accuser, and Burns again went willingly, only to find that there was no accuser in that room because there was no such person. It was at that point that he realized what had to be happening, that he had been captured as a fugitive slave.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the words of his biographer, Charles Emory Stevens, quote, as in a dissolving view, the land of freedom faded out and the dark land of slavery usurped its place. He saw himself again a slave far worse than that, a slave disgraced, pointed at as a runaway, punished, perhaps punished unto death. Overpowered by the prospect, he, in his own simple but expressive phrase, gave all up.

[Holly Fry]

We are gonna talk about what happened next, next time, but right now. Tracy, do you have listener mail for us?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I do have listener mail for us. This listener mail is actually from an old friend of the podcast who we have not seen in many years, Jess, who works for the National Park Service and who we worked with when we did a live show at Adams Historic park some years ago. Jess wrote and said, hi, Holly and Tracy, your friendly Massachusetts park ranger here. 1 of 2 One of my colleagues was able to brag to me that you read her letter on the show. I've made it up to September 2024 in the podcast. The 43 government shutdown put me behind, but I will catch up and just listened to the episode on Etienne Cabet and Icaria Boy. I was not expecting Nauvoo, Illinois to make an appearance. Your episode talks about Nauvoo being the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There is an Adams National Historic park connection. In 1844, Charles Francis Adams, son of John Quincy Adams, visited Nauvoo. He and his cousin were traveling and wanted to check it out. They met with Joseph Smith and were given a tour of the city by Smith. Before he left, Smith gifted Charles Francis Adams a signed copy of the Book of Mormon. Just six weeks later, Smith and his brother were murdered. Rangers would casually mention this on a tour and news of the book made its way back to a historian of Latter Day Saints history. Turns out this book was Emma Smith's personal copy, which had been listed as missing. Not only that, it's one of, if I recall correctly, from a few years ago, only three known existing signatures of Joseph Smith that still survives until today. This ended up being one of my favorite objects in the collection at Adams National Historic Park. It's amazing how far and wide the interests and reach of this family was. Again, thanks for all you do and making my 90 minute commute feel shorter Jess PS pet tax attempting to get Ms. Summer Rae to look at the camera for a Christmas photo. We have a kind of shaggy ish brown puppy dog looking very few very cute in front of a Christmas tree with the trees all lit up. Thank you so much Jess. Jess has written us a few times since we did that live show. Did we do two live shows at Adams National Historic park or did the second one get canceled because of COVID I don't remember. All blurred together. Yeah, but we did for sure do a live show there that we really enjoyed and we enjoyed meeting all the folks who worked there and working with them. And I always love hearing from folks at the National Park Service, especially folks who have been able to weather everything that has gone on with the National Park Service and honestly, folks who didn't. We have also heard from some folks who lost their jobs and the various waves of reductions in force with the Park Service and other government agencies. So thank you so much for this email and such a cute picture. And about this copy of the Book of Mormon. I had not heard that story at all and it is super interesting. So if you would like to send us a note, we're a history [e-mail] also we publish source lists for all of our episodes. You can find them on our website at Mistonhist and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you like to get your podcasts. Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast.

[Narrator (Charlie's Place Podcast)]

Guaranteed Human.