Delaware fined him into poverty for helping slaves escape—so he freed 2,700 more

Garrett and Hunn’s Costly Stand Against Chief Justice Taney

In 1845, the Hawkins family fled Maryland in a winter storm, seeking freedom from slavery. They found help at John Hunn’s Delaware farm until slavehunters caught them.

Thomas Garrett soon stepped in, got them freed on legal grounds, and sent them to Pennsylvania. But the story didn’t end there.

In 1848, both men faced Chief Justice Taney in the New Castle Court House, where a jury hit them with massive fines that nearly ruined them.

Yet after losing almost everything, Garrett stood up and boldly invited more fugitives to his door. The New Castle Court House Museum now tells this remarkable story of courage that cost everything.

A Free Man’s Desperate Plan to Save His Family

Sam Hawkins lived a strange life in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.

Though free with his own home, his wife Emeline and their six children stayed slaves owned by Charles Glanding and Elizabeth Turner. Sam tried for years to buy his family’s freedom, but both owners always said no.

When talk spread in November 1845 that Turner needed money and might sell the children, Sam knew they had to run. The family risked being split up forever if they stayed.

Sam asked Samuel Burris, a free Black man who helped the Underground Railroad, to help them reach Pennsylvania.

Winter Weather Nearly Doomed Their Escape

The Hawkins family left Maryland on November 29, 1845, with Samuel Burris leading them toward Delaware. They picked the worst time as they hit a December snowstorm.

Sam drove a wagon carrying Emeline and the children while other escaped slaves walked through six inches of snow. The group of 13 people pushed through freezing weather for 27 miles.

A Quaker named Ezekiel Jenkins gave them a letter for his cousin John Hunn, who ran the next safe house. When they reached Hunn’s farm near Middletown on December 17, they were badly hurt from the cold.

Betrayed by a Nosy Neighbor

The Hawkins family barely warmed up at John Hunn’s farm before trouble found them. A neighbor saw the group arrive and quickly told local authorities.

Richard Hayes, the Middletown constable, showed up with five slave hunters from Queen Anne’s County looking for the Hawkins family.

The hunters showed a runaway slave ad that valued the family at one thousand dollars and told Hunn to hand them over. They first questioned Sam’s freedom papers, but one hunter knew Sam was free.

In a trick, one hunter pulled Sam aside and promised if he gave up his two older sons, the rest could go north.

A Sheriff Spots a Legal Loophole

The whole Hawkins family ended up in the New Castle County jail, but Sheriff Jacob Caulk changed their luck. The sheriff checked the papers the slave hunters had and found a problem.

Caulk told the hunters their paperwork wasn’t legal and they needed proper documents. While the hunters left town to fix their papers, Caulk told Thomas Garrett about the family’s situation.

Meanwhile, the four other escaped slaves who traveled with the Hawkins family stayed hidden at Hunn’s farm. They later made it safely to Garrett’s hardware store in Wilmington.

Quick Thinking Saves the Hawkins Family

Thomas Garrett ran a hardware store in Wilmington and helped many people escape on the Underground Railroad.

When he got Sheriff Caulk’s message, he rushed to the jail and filed legal papers with Delaware Chief Justice James Booth.

The judge looked at a copy of James Glanding’s will and found no proof that the Hawkins family were legally slaves. Judge Booth ordered their release right away.

Garrett quickly got a coach to take the family to his home in Wilmington.

From there, he helped them reach Pennsylvania where they changed their name to Hackett to avoid slave catchers.

Slave Owners Seek Revenge Through the Courts

The slave owners didn’t give up. Six weeks after the escape, in May 1846, Charles Glanding and Elizabeth Turner sued both Thomas Garrett and John Hunn.

They used the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act, which made helping slaves escape a crime with a $500 fine per person. The case turned into six separate trials: two against Hunn and four against Garrett.

The owners hired James Bayard, who later became U.S. District Attorney, while U.S. Senator John Wales stood for the defense.

The Nation’s Top Judge Takes the Case

The trials started in May 1848 at the New Castle Court House with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney in charge.

Supreme Court justices often handled trials in district courts back then when the high court wasn’t busy.

Taney came from a slave-owning Maryland family and would later become known for his 1857 Dred Scott decision saying Black people could never be citizens. He sat with District Judge Willard Hall.

The jury included only slaveholding farmers from southern Delaware, making things hard for the defendants.

Garrett Boldly Admits Helping Thousands Escape

The trials ran from May 24 through May 29, 1848, with the two defendants taking different paths. John Hunn pled guilty on May 25, hoping to avoid a public show.

Thomas Garrett did the opposite, using his trial to share his anti-slavery beliefs.

He openly told the court he had helped over 2,700 runaway slaves escape and would keep doing so no matter what the law said. The jury of slaveholding farmers quickly found both men guilty on all counts.

Judge Taney ruled that the $500 fine applied to each person helped, not as one total penalty.

Financial Ruin Was the Intended Punishment

The court gave both men huge fines meant to ruin them.

Thomas Garrett got fined $5,400 total for his four cases, more money than the slave owners even asked for. John Hunn received a $2,500 fine for his two cases.

These amounts were huge for that time and meant to bankrupt the men so they could never help runaway slaves again. Both lost nearly everything they owned to pay the fines.

Lawyer James Bayard reportedly offered to drop Hunn’s fines if he promised to stop helping runaway slaves. Hunn said no to the deal.

Defiance in the Face of Ruin

After hearing his sentence, Thomas Garrett stood before the packed courtroom and made a statement no one there would ever forget.

He told Judge Taney and everyone present that while the court had left him without a dollar, his principles remained completely unchanged.

Garrett boldly declared that if anyone knew a fugitive who needed shelter and a friend, they should send that person to Thomas Garrett. The courtroom fell silent at his defiance.

Then something remarkable happened.

One of the slaveholding jurors from southern Delaware rose from his seat, walked over to Garrett, and shook his hand in apology, showing that even some who enforced slavery laws felt troubled by the verdict.

Their Work Continued Despite Everything

The legal punishment hit both men hard. John Hunn’s farm and all his possessions were sold at a sheriff’s sale in mid-1848, leaving his family with nothing.

Hunn moved his family to live with relatives in Magnolia, Delaware, but never stopped helping those escaping slavery.

Thomas Garrett’s home and business also faced seizure, but friends in the Quaker and abolitionist communities helped him pay the fines and restart his hardware store.

Both men continued their Underground Railroad work despite their devastating financial losses. Garrett went on to help approximately 2,700 people escape slavery over his lifetime.

The trial that was meant to stop their work only strengthened their resolve to fight against slavery until it was abolished.

Visiting New Castle Historic Green, Delaware

The New Castle Court House Museum at 211 Delaware St tells the story of Thomas Garrett and John Hunn’s 1848 trial for helping enslaved people escape.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney convicted both Underground Railroad stationmasters, giving them huge fines that nearly ruined them financially.

Free guided tours run Wednesday-Saturday at 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and Sundays at 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 3:30pm. Tours last 45 minutes and groups over 10 need reservations.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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