Pearl Incident

The Pearl Incident in 1848 was the largest recorded escape attempted by slaves in United States history. On April 15, 1848, seventy-seven slaves attempted to escape Washington D.C. by sailing away on a schooner called The Pearl. Their plan was to sail south on the Potomac River, then north up the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware River to the free state of New Jersey, a distance of nearly 225 miles. The attempt was organized by both whites and free blacks, who expanded the escape to include many more slaves. Paul Jennings, a former slave who had served President James Madison, helped plan the escape.

The slaves, men, women and children, found their passage delayed by winds running against the ship. Two days later, they were captured on the Chesapeake Bay near Point Lookout in Maryland by an armed posse traveling by steamboat. As punishment, the owners soon sold most of the slaves to traders who took them to the Deep South. Freedom for the two Edmonson sisters was purchased that year with funds raised by Henry Ward Beecher's Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York.

When the ship and slaves were brought back to Washington, a pro-slavery riot broke out in the city. The mob tried to attack an abolitionist newspaper and other known anti-slavery activists. Extra police patrolled for three days to try to contain the violence, until the unrest ended. The events provoked a slavery debate in Congress. They are believed to have influenced its provision in the Compromise of 1850 that ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia, although not slavery in the jurisdiction. The escape inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe in writing her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) and added to abolitionist support in the North.

Three white men were initially charged on numerous counts with aiding the escape and transporting the slaves; the captains Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres were tried and convicted in 1848. After serving four years in prison, in 1852 they were pardoned by President Millard Fillmore.