On the Edge of Freedom: The Fugitive Slave Issue in South Central Pennsylvania, 1820-1870

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments I have incurred numerous debts completing this project, which I can only imperfectly acknowledge. Thanks to the community of scholars who encouraged this work or commented on parts of it, including Richard J. M. Blackett, Stephen Browne, Peter Carmichael, Margaret Creighton, William “Jack” Davis, Susan DeWees , Robert Engs, Barb Gannon, Lori Ginzberg, Thavolia Glymph, Ervin Jordan , Christian Keller, Sally McMurry, Angela Murphy, Mark Neely, William Pencak , Robert Sandow, Constance Schultz, Manisha Sinha, Andrew Slap, Beverly Tomek, Nan Woodruff, and Karen Younger. Particular thanks go to William A. Blair, who generously suggested sources, approaches, and improvements. He also suggested the work’s title, which became the organizing theme for the book. Special thanks also to Anne Rose, Allan Steinhardt, Beverly Tomek, and Heather Wilson for their encouragement. Christopher Densmore carefully commented on the entire manuscript, as did an anonymous reader to whom I am equally indebted. Several scholars created opportunities for me to present portions of this work, including Ted Alexander, Bill Blair (again), Carol Reardon, and James “Bud” Robertson. Peter Wallenstein and Bertram Wyatt-Brown graciously published my essay “Race and Retaliation: The Capture of African Americans During the Gettysburg Campaign,” in their collection Virginia’s Civil War (University Press of Virginia, 2005). It formed the basis for the central part of Chapter 8. Thanks also to my patient editors at Fordham University Press, Eric Newman and Wil Cerbone; to my able copy editor, Nancy Rapoport; and to Paul Cimbala, who gave this manuscript critical early encouragement. I also owe a debt to archivists and local specialists. I visited historical societies in Adams, Franklin, Cumberland, Lancaster, and Chester counties in Pennsylvania , and Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick counties in Maryland. I was greatly helped by Timothy Smith (Adams County Historical Society) and Christa Bassett and Richard L. Tritt (Cumberland County Historical Society). I also visited numerous libraries and archives; particular thanks to Christine Ameduri (Gettysburg College), Christopher Densmore (again; Friends Historical Library), and Stephen Miller and Max Grivno (Freedmen’s Bureau Papers). Independent researchers helped generously. G. Craig Caba graciously allowed me to visit the substantial resources of the J. Howard Wert Gettysburg collection xiv Acknowledgments several times. Peter Vermilyea, a pioneer in examining Adams County’s African American community, was a great encouragement. Earl “Cookie” Johnson and his brother, the late Reverend Philip Lowther, talked with me at length about race and history in Franklin County. Late in the project, I met Debra S. McCauslin, who graciously shared her extensive knowledge of the Underground Railroad and Adams County’s Quakers. Special thanks as well to W. Cullen Bengtson, who created an outstanding map of south central Pennsylvania. I have been generously supported by the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center, the Department of History, and the Graduate Research Support Office at Penn State. This included fellowships endowed by the Lewis, Gold, and Stitzer families, and the Warren Hassler award. I also received a Breckenridge Travel Grant from the American Historical Society and a Scholar-In-Residence Grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and was selected to participate in the Pew Summer Scholars Graduate Program. Those weeks in Harrisburg with Linda Shopes, Karen James, Jonathan Stayer, and the staff of the Pennsylvania State Archives were a highlight of my graduate years. So were those at Notre Dame under Vernon Burton’s able tutelage. While it has been many years since I studied at the University of Virginia, I must thank my mentors there, H. C. E. Midelfort and especially the late Martin Havran. Finally, Carl and Lawson Sperapani and their family generously allowed me to stay at their house so I could work in Virginia and study in Pennsylvania. Lawson also read the entire manuscript. My family was also a great encouragement , particularly my father as well as my twin brother, Eric, who read several chapters, suggested some valuable changes, and was supportive throughout. My father is also to be thanked for instilling a love of history in me. He passed away just as this project was being completed. The most important thanks go to my wife, Valerie, and my lovely daughter, Caroline. Both were wonderful gifts that helped me complete this project, and it is to them that this book is dedicated. On the Edge of Freedom ...