Town That Started the Civil War

¶ … Town That Started the Civil War

In the years prior to the American Civil War there were many incidents of conflict between the Abolitionists, or the anti-slavery forces, and the pro-slavery forces throughout the country. While everyone has heard of "Bleeding Kansas" and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, not many have heard of the other incidents which led up to the Civil War. Nat Brown, in his book The Town That Started The Civil War described in detail one of these events, the Oberlin-Wellington rescue of a fugitive slave. In this incident, a fugitive slave had been recaptured in accordance with the federal Fugitive Slave Act, but the residents of Oberlin and Wellington Ohio rose up and rescued the former slave from the clutches of the "slave catchers." As a result, dozens of the citizens of these citizens were arrested and indicted while two were actually put on trial and found guilty. However, the fact that the Abolitionists were willing to break the law and use whatever means were necessary to free the escaped slave, was an indication that the Northerners were willing to fight for their beliefs.

For many years, those in the South who supported slavery constantly threatened to use violence and even secede from the union over the issue of slavery. During the 1850's, pro-slavery supporters had flooded into Kansas and violently clashed with anti-slavery supporters. Many in the North were tired of pro-slavery forces always getting their way. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1950 was another irritant to the Abolitionists, as it required slaves who had escaped from the South and fled to non-slave states in the North, to be captured and returned to their former masters in the South. Many Northerners viewed this as an attack on their right to outlaw the institution of slavery in their State. If former slaves could be apprehended and returned to the South without a proper trial then the Northern State's laws banning slavery were worthless. Any black person could be seized and sent off to be a slave in the South. When this actually happened to a former slave named John Price, the residents acted to stop the now free man from being sent back into captivity. The people of Oberlin Ohio, along with residents of Wellington Ohio, broke John Price out of jail, his min in safety, and eventually whisked him away to safety in Canada. For this act of defiance by the citizens of these two towns, many were indicted, and two were put on trial for breaking the law. While they were eventually found guilty, in an act of Northern spite, the two men served just a few weeks in jail as a result of their crimes.