George Washington at Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal
Swamp c. 1792
Image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies Association
View from George Washington Birthplace, Potomac River
Image Courtesy Library of Congress
George Washington Birthplace
Colonial surveying techniques
A Gunther’s Chain, 100 links measures 66 feet so that 10
square chains equal an acre, George Washington Birthplace
photo
Artist Henry Hintermeister
Great Dismal Swamp, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine
Sep 1856
Porte Crayon
Ormaon or Osmon
Porte Crayon
Great Dismal Swamp, image courtesy of Dan Sayers, American Univ
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Great Dismal Swamp
Map courtesy of Professor Daniel Sayers
American University, Director, Great Dismal Swamp, Dept of Anthropology
Somerton Quaker Meeting House
Fugitive Slaves in the Dismal Swamp, David Cronin, 1888,
New York Historical Society
Slave Hunt in the Dismal Swamp in Virginia
Thomas Moran artist
John Nichols
Image courtesy of Kate Larson
Lewiston Evening Journal, April 4, 1921
A manuscript drawing of an invention by George Washington considered for raising and lowering
Boats over the Great Falls of the Potomac River in order to avoid the construction of locks.
Image courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies Association
Potomac Canal Workers, Mt Vernon Ladies Assoc
Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Church, Brooklyn
Mary & Emily Edmondson
Mount Vernon
Mt Vernon Ladies Association
Washington DC Slave Coffle
Philadelphia Pennsylvania Gazette May 24, 1796
Presumed portrait of Hercules
Attributed to Gilbert Stuart
The President’s House Memorial
Independence National Historical Park
Philadelphia, PA
The Great dismal Swamp and C&O Canal: George Washington and the
Underground Railroad
Sheri Jackson, Northeast Regional Manager, National Park Service-National Underground
Railroad Network to Freedom, Philadelphia, PA, USA
[email protected]
The Great Dismal Swamp and C&O Canal: George Washington & the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was one of the greatest clandestine networks in American History.
Enslaved Africans escaped by any means necessary, and canals were used as a conduit to
freedom. Numerous American canals were built by enslaved Africans. While working the canals,
men and women used this opportunity to resist enslavement and seek freedom via canals and
towpaths. Others who worked outside the ‘canal system’ in nearby canal communities may have
heard of its use in escapes and used them as well. The canals were not only used by escapees, but
by free blacks and others who were sometimes conductors in the Underground Railroad.
As a surveyor in the 1760s, George Washington with other Virginians, formed a company called
the Adventures for Draining the Dismal Swamp. The company, located within the Swamp, was
headquartered at what would become Washington’s Ditch. They were interested in building a
canal that would allow boat traffic between the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound. In
1785 Washington was also involved with the Potomac Canal, near what is present day
Washington, DC.
The Great Dismal Swamp Canal was used as an escape route and the swamp included secret
communities of escaped slaves. The Swamp is located in North Carolina and Virginia and was
once close to a million acres. The Great Dismal Swamp Canal was mainly built to transport
timber. An enslaved African American by the name of Moses Grandy wrote a narrative that
included his time and work in the Swamp and on the canals. Numerous advertisements from
slave owners looking for their escapees in the swamp attest to the role it played in the
Underground Railroad.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was another route on the Underground Railroad. This Canal
was built by an army of civil engineers from the Erie Canal. The C&O Canal paralleled the
Potomac River and opened a transportation route to points west. Many plantations were built
near canals which provided work for blacks on locks or on boats. Along the canal slave owners
often posted advertisements soliciting the lookout and capture of runaways.
George Washington inherited many slaves and his marriage to Martha more than doubled the
number. While Washington was president he signed into law the 1793 Fugitive Slave Law. This
Law allowed slave owners to seize ‘freedom seekers’ and any who obstructed could be charged
up to $500.00. While Washington was busy building a country (and canals) for transportation,
many enslaved blacks were using the canals for their livelihoods and as an escape route to
freedom. Washington’s enterprising canal projects changed lives in many more ways than he
intended. His canals not only provided opportunity for enterprise they also provided
opportunities for freedom.
This presentation will use power point. The discussion will be based on newspaper articles,
advertisements and archeology .
Sheri Jackson works with a national committee of National Park Service managers to provide
technical assistance related to developing sites, programs and facilities that are related to the
Underground Railroad (UGRR); in educating the public about the historical significance of the
UGRR; and in identifying and working to preserve associated sites and resources.