Charles Augustus Wheaton - Abolitionist and Political Activities

Abolitionist and Political Activities

The Wheatons were part of a large network of abolitionists in Syracuse and knew John Brown personally. Their anti-slavery activities began as early as 1838, when Wheaton helped found the First Congregational Church in Syracuse. He and other pro-abolition supporters left the First Presbyterian Church, which would not take a position against slavery, to found the new congregation. Many of its members worked as activists.

Between 1839 and 1847, the Wheatons operated their house as a station on Underground Railroad, helping escaped slaves travel to Canada. His public reputation as an abolitionist was such that the family seamstress, a Mrs. MacManus, was said to have reported to a census taker that Wheaton was “president of the Underground Railroad.”

In a notable case in 1839, Syracuse abolitionists helped the slave Harriet Powell to escape from her masters, a family from Mississippi who were staying at a local hotel. Officials suspected Charles Wheaton of being involved. Local law enforcement officers searched the Wheaton’s home for Powell without success. She made it to Canada.

Wheaton was one of 600 people in Syracuse who signed a call for a meeting at the Syracuse City Hall on May 16, 1850, to discuss the proposed Compromise of 1850. Participants supported the admission of California as a free state, opposed territorial governments for New Mexico and Utah that did not prohibit slavery, opposed any fugitive slave law, and supported abolition of slavery in the national capital, stating, “We should rejoice to witness the removal of this stain upon the national character.” Despite much publicly stated opposition in the North, the southern slave states had enough votes in the US Congress to pass the Fugitive Slave Act.

The Law required all citizens to support capturing escaped slaves and returning them to their masters, even if found in northern states that prohibited slavery. US Marshals were to enforce the law. Its passage aroused the anti-slavery movement in Syracuse. On October 4, 1850, a biracial group chaired by A.H. Hovey, mayor of Syracuse, appointed a Vigilance Committee of thirteen men. They included Wheaton, Lyman Clary, Vivus W. Smith, Charles B. Sedgwick, Hiram Putnam, E.W. Leavenworth, Abner Bates, George Barnes, P.H. Agan, J.W. Loguen, minister of the AME Zion Church; John Wilkinson, R.R. Raymond, and John Thomas. They intended to resist the Fugitive Slave Law and sent copies of their resolution to the newspaper, political representatives, and Congress.

On October 15, Wheaton spoke to a meeting at the Congregational Church to make “common cause, in view of various arrests rumored to have been made, or to be made under the Fugitive Slave act, and on charges of Treason.” The meeting was led by men of both races: Enoch Marks, white, and George B. Vashon, African American. The group was committed to nonviolent action, and members pledged “our fortunes and our sacred honor, to stand by those individuals on whom this hand of government may fall; that we will help to bear with them any pecuniary losses to which they may be subjected, and manifest in every way we can, our sympathy for them, and show that we suffer as those who are bound with them.” Other speakers included the Reverend R.R. Raymond, the Rev. Samuel J. May, William H. Burleigh, Lyman Clary and George Barnes.

On October 1, 1851, Wheaton was part of a biracial group who rescued William “Jerry” Henry, an escaped slave apprehended and jailed in Syracuse. That evening, a crowd of two to three thousand people gathered outside the jail. The crowd eventually rescued and freed Henry. At the time, Wheaton was with fellow abolitionist Judge Charles Sedgwick to prepare a kidnapping complaint against the agent sent to catch Henry.

When the federal government investigated the case, it traced the file used to cut Henry’s fetters to the Wheaton house. The federal government tried to find witnesses against the Wheatons and others. Ellen Wheaton estimated that perhaps half of Syracuse residents supported the rescue. She wrote, “Charles confidently expected to be arrested, but has not been as yet. The proceedings of the U.S. District Attorney are as secret as possible—and everything wears the appearance of injustice and knavery.”

Newspapers across the state denounced the overtaking of the jail and freeing the prisoner. Some 677 Syracuse-area residents signed a petition of protest against the action. After four days of hiding Henry, abolitionists disguised him in women’s clothing and took him to Oswego on Lake Ontario. There he boarded a ship to Kingston, Ontario and freedom.

A federal grand jury indicted Wheaton and twelve other men—nine European Americans and four African Americans— for the action at the jail and Henry’s escape, but Wheaton was never arrested or tried. The event became known as the Jerry Rescue.

Wheaton ran for Canal Commissioner in 1848 on the Free Soil ticket, and in 1852 and 1854 on the Free Democratic ticket. He was defeated each time. He also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Syracuse on the Temperance ticket in 1852.