Anthony Burns

Anthony Burns was born enslaved in Stafford County, Virginia on May 31, 1834. His mother was owned by John Suttle, who died shortly after Anthony’s birth. His mother was a cook for the Suttle family and had 13 children in total, with Anthony being her youngest. His father was rumored to be a free man and supervisor for a quarry in Virginia, and who later died from stone dust inhalation.[1] After John Suttle died, his widowed wife took over his estate and sold Burns’ siblings to prevent bankruptcy.[1] Eventually, Burns’ mother was sold and Anthony only saw her again after two years, when Mrs. Suttle went to collect the revenue from her labor. When Anthony was 6, Mrs. Suttle died and her property was left to her eldest son, Charles F. Suttle.

To repay their family’s existing debts, Charles mortgaged his slaves and continued his mother’s financial practices to prevent further bankruptcy.[2] During this time, Burns began his earliest jobs as a slave. Burns nursed his niece so his sister was available for labor, and stayed at the House of Horton where his sister lived and worked.[3] Here, Burns was introduced to education by the children that lived there; they taught Burns the alphabet in exchange for small services.[3] At the age of 7, Burns was hired out to work for $15 a year to three maidens.[4] His jobs included running necessary errands and collecting their weekly supply of cornmeal from the nearby mill.[4] It was during this time that Burns was first exposed to religion, aside from his mother in his infancy. At the age of 8, Burns went to work for $25 a year and was again offered a chance to learn.[4] In this job, the children taught Burns how to spell through their own spelling worksheets from school and in return, Anthony performed antics for their entertainment. Burns remained in this capacity for two years and ultimately left due to poor treatment.[4]

Burns found his next employment under William Brent. Brent was the husband of a rich young woman, and lived off of her wealth and slaves.[4] His wife was extremely kind to Anthony and he stayed there for two years, earning Suttle a total of $100. Under Brent’s ownership, Anthony heard of a land up North where black people were not tied to slavery by their white brethren.[5] He began dreaming of his escape and freedom, and because of this, Anthony refused to remain under Brent’s employment for a third year, despite Suttle’s wishes. Instead, Suttle humored Burns’ wishes to find his own employment since he knew it was worth more to have a willing slave than many reluctant ones.[6]

With nothing but a piece of silver, Anthony put himself in the hiring ground to find a new master.[7] Eventually, Suttle entered negotiations with a man named Foote, who wanted Anthony to work in his saw-mill for $75 a year.[7] Anthony was 12–13 years old at his time, and was not enthusiastic to work for his new owner.[7] In his new capacity, Anthony continued his education with Foote’s daughter, but otherwise dealt with many cruelties.[8] Foote and his wife proved to be Anthony’s severest owners, and even beat their youngest slaves without symptathy.[8] 2–3 months into his service, Anthony mangled his hand in the wheel after Foote turned it on without prior warning.[8] Anthony was discharged from his duties in the mill after this injury, and returned to live with Suttle as he recovered.

Although Anthony had been exposed to religion earlier in his life, he experienced a religious awakening while recovering from his hand injury.[8] Simultaneously, Millerism was introduced to his small county in Virginia and Burns was excited by the religious fervor that spread like wildfire.[9] Suttle refused his request to be baptized by saying Anthony would turn to sin if he joined the Church.[10] However, after Anthony returned to his employment under Foote, Suttle passed by him in his carriage and gave Anthony permission for his baptism.[10] Suttle took Anthony to the Baptist Church in Falmouth, which accepted everyone in its congregation, but the white freemen and black slaves were separated by a partition during mass. Two years after his baptism, Anthony was given the chance to preach to a group of church members and appointed a preacher at this church.[11] Anthony used this new position to preach to exclusively slave assemblies, although such an action was illegal in Virginia. Every time an officer discovered them in their meeting, any slaves who did not escape would be put into cages and given 39 lashes the following day.[12] Additionally, Anthony performed slave marriages and funerals as a preacher.

As previously mentioned, Anthony returned to Foote’s employment after his hand healed. He finished his year of service and was hired by a new master in Falmouth, Virginia, where his church was located.[13] His new master lent Burns to a merchant for six months of his year of service and Burns was treated horribly by the merchant, so he refused to remain after his year of service was completed.[13] For the next year, Anthony moved to Fredericksburg and worked under a tavern-keeper, and earned his owner $100 for his service. A year later, Anthony went to work in an apothecary in the same city, where he met a fortune teller who promised him freedom within the next few months.[14]

Shortly after meeting the fortune teller in Fredericksburg, Suttle hired William Brent (Anthony’s former master) to hire out his slaves each year.[14] Brent moved Anthony to Richmond at the end of his year of service, which excited Anthony since he now worked in a city with ships that sailed to the North.[14] In Richmond, Brent hired Anthony out to his brother-in-law, whom Anthony did not get along with. By this time in his life, Anthony could read and write to a considerable degree, especially compared to other slaves.[15] With his knowledge, he set up a makeshift school to teach slaves of all ages how to read and write, which was kept secret from their masters in Richmond.[15] At the end of his year of service with Brent’s brother-in-law, Burns was employed by a man named Millspaugh.[15]

Millspaugh quickly realized he did not have enough work for Anthony to earn a profit on him, so he set Anthony out into the city to work small jobs and earn money for him.[15] Although they originally set up a daily meeting, they changed it to meet up once every two weeks since Anthony only made a small sum, if any, each day.[16] In his job search, Anthony was pushed to escape by the sailors and freemen he worked with.[16] The only thing holding him back was a sense of religious duty towards his owner, but he justified his escape with the Epistle to Philemon and eliminated any religious qualms he had with leaving.[17] In one of their biweekly meetings, Anthony gave Millspaugh $25 as his earnings that month, and after being presented with such a large sum, his master required Anthony to visit him daily. Anthony refused and walked out on his master without his consent, thus making his escape much more pressing than it would have been if he had two weeks to plan and execute it.[18] Anthony devised a plan with a sailor friend he met during his work on a vessel in the harbor, and one morning in early February 1854, Anthony boarded the vessel that would take him to the North.[19]

We went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, compromise Union Whigs & waked up stark mad Abolitionists.

— Amos Adams Lawrence, Conscience Whig, on the Anthony Burns affair, 1854[20]

Anthony Burns left Richmond, Virginia one early February morning in 1854. His friend stowed him away in a small compartment on the ship, and Anthony immediately fell asleep after days of anxious and long nights.[19] Upon waking up, the ship was already miles out of the harbor and on its way to Norfolk, Virginia before heading to Boston, Massachusetts. On the journey, Burns was stuck in the same position and in the same compartment without room for movement for a little over three weeks. In that time, he suffered from dehydration, starvation, and extreme sea sickness.[19] His friend brought him food and water every 3–4 days, and it was just enough for Anthony to survive the trip to Boston.

The vessel reached Boston in late February or early March (the exact date is unknown), and Burns immediately began seeking new employment. At first, Anthony found a job as a cook on a ship, but was dismissed after one week since he could not make his bread rise. Next, Burns found employment under Collin Pitts, a colored man, in a clothing store on Brattle Street.[21] However, Anthony only enjoyed one month of freedom in this capacity before being arrested.

While in Boston, Anthony sent a letter to his enslaved brother in Richmond and revealed his new home in Boston.[22] His brother’s owner discovered the letter and conveyed the news of Burns’ escape to Suttle.[22] Suttle went to a courthouse in Alexandria County, where the judge ruled Suttle had enough proof that he owns Burns and could issue a warrant for his arrest under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.[23] The warrant was issued on May 24, 1854 and stated that the United States Marshal of Massachusetts was required to arrest Anthony Burns and bring him before Judge Edward Loring to stand trial. On that same day, Asa O. Butman, an infamous slave hunter, was charged with the execution of the warrant.

On May 24, 1854, Butman scouted out Burns in the clothing store before arresting him.[24] His goal was to make a peaceful arrest as to not incite mob violence and have them rescue Burns before he could be returned to the South. After Burns and Pitts closed down their store, they walked separate ways to go home. While walking, Butman stopped Burns at the corner of the Court and Hanover street intersection and arrested him under the guise of a jewel store robbery.[24] Burns, knowing he was innocent of that crime, complied with Butman and peacefully walked with him to the courthouse. At the courthouse, Burns expected to be confronted by the jewelry store owner, but was instead met with a United States Marshal. In this moment, Burns knew he had been caught under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.[25]

By the first day of the trial, the prosecutors had succeeded in keeping the trial hidden from the public.[26] However, Richard Henry Dana Jr. was passing by the courthouse an hour before the initial examination and heard about the proceedings of the day. Immediately, Dana entered the courthouse to talk to Burns and offer him his professional help. Initially Burns declined, citing it would be of no use, but reluctantly agreed due to Dana’s insistence.[26]

In the initial hearing, the plaintiff (Charles Suttle) put William Brent on the stand to further verify Burns’ identity along with Suttle’s testimony. Brent was also asked to recall his conversation with Burns and Suttle the previous night right after Burns’ arrest, but Dana intervened on behalf of Burns and got the evidence thrown out for the time being.[27] At the end of the hearing, commissioner Loring agreed to push further proceedings back to May 27,[27] but they were again delayed until the 29th due to Burns’ late appointment of counsel. In an interview, Theodore Parker, witness to the trial, cited that Burns hesitancy to accept counsel came from fear over how well Brent and Suttle knew him.[27]

During the duration of the trial, Burns was kept in a jury-room under constant surveillance of armed guards.[27] In this time, the guards tried to provoke and trick Anthony into slipping up and admitting to his slave status, but Burns evaded their tactics. The closest Burns came to self-admission was at the provocation of Suttle, who was outraged the public saw him as a harsh and abusive master to Anthony. Suttle asked Anthony to write a letter to prove the contrary, but Leonard Grimes, a Boston clergyman and abolitionist, had Burns destroy the letter after seeing it as evidence to be used against him in the trial.[28]

The final examination began on May 29, 1854. On the day of, armed soldiers lined the windows of the courthouse and prevented all officials and citizens from entering the courtroom.[29] Even Dana, Burns’ senior counsel, couldn’t enter the courtroom until late into the examination. Thus, Charles Ellis, Burns’ junior counsel, was forced to begin the examination by arguing that it was unfit to continue while Suttle’s counsel carried firearms, but Loring rejected this sentiment. During the plaintiff’s argument, Loring approved their request to present the conversation between Suttle and Burns as evidence from the night of his arrest.[30] As their final piece of evidence, they admitted the book that contained the Virginia court’s ruling in favor of Suttle.[31]

When Burns’ counsel presented their defense, the focused on proving that the Suttle’s timeline was off and the lacked sufficient evidence to show Burns was the slave that ran away.[22][32] They brought in William Jones, a colored man who testified that he met Anthony on the first day of March and described his relationship to Anthony through their time together in Boston.[32] In addition, the counsel knew the commissioner would be hesitant to accept the testimony of a colored man, so they called up 7 other witnesses to validate his story.[33] As one of the witnesses, the counsel called up James Whittemore, a city council member of Boston. Whittemore testified that he saw Burns in Boston around March 8, and identified him by his scars as proof.

In Loring’s final decision, he admitted that he thought the Fugitive Slave Act was a disgrace, but his job was to uphold the law.[22] Loring stated that Suttle produced sufficient evidence to prove the fugitive slave Suttle described matched Anthony’s appearance, thus he ruled in favor of Suttle.[22]

It has been estimated the government's cost of capturing and conducting Burns through the trial was upwards of $40,000 (equivalent to $1,138,000 in 2019).[34]

Among the citizens interested in Burns’ trial was the Committee of Vigilance, which was founded after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.[35] The goal of the group was to prevent the execution of the Act for fugitives in Burns’ position. It was effective due to the diversity of its ranks, ranging from people of every socioeconomic status and race.[35] In Burns’ case, the committee debated between two courses of actions: attacking the courthouse to forcibly rescue Anthony, and creating a crowd when they removed Burns from the courthouse to act as an immovable barrier. Between these two propositions, the committee ruled to go forth with the second and more peaceful plan, and additionally posted men at the courthouse to make sure the officials did not try to move Burns without their knowledge.[36]

The night of the riot at the courthouse, with Burns' cell indicated by the light in the top left window.

Although the committee itself agreed to go ahead with the peaceful plan, a faction of men planned to rescue Burns from the courthouse themselves. On Friday evening, May 26, the entire committee dispersed from their meeting in Faneuil Hall at around 9 p.m., when the men planned to hold their assault. By that time in the evening, they had gathered at least 25 men, all armed with various weapons such as, revolvers and axes.[37] The crowd picked up members from the committee meeting as they made their way to the courthouse, and began their attack by breaking down the doors with axes and wooden construction beams.[22] After breaking into the courthouse, a fight broke out between the guards and rioters, and resulted in the death of one of the guards, James Batchelder.[22]

The riot did not get far after the police arrived as back-up, resulting in the arrest of many abolitionists. However, it is highly unlikely the attack would have been successful in rescuing Anthony since he was held in an extremely secure room in the top floor of the courthouse.[38]

A grand jury indicted three of those involved in the attack at the courthouse. After an acquittal of one man and several hung juries in trials for the others, the federal government dropped the charges.[39]

After the riot, President Franklin Pierce sent the United States Marines to Boston to aid the police in preventing further violence.[40] Following the riot, the entire city of Boston was excited and awaiting the next phase of the trial. Once Loring’s decision was announced in favor of Suttle, the abolitionists began their preparations for Burns’ movement.

Following the trial, the Marshal was tasked with successfully moving Burns from the courthouse without interference from the crowd in Boston.[41] The mayor of Boston was responsible for maintaining a peaceful crowd. With this news, the citizens of Boston set up interviews and tried to persuade the mayor to join their side of the cause and free Burns.[42] Initially, the crowd succeeded in convincing the mayor to only implement one military company to guard the courthouse the day Burns was moved. Just like Loring, the mayor was against the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, but did not feel as strongly about upholding it. Despite the mayor’s orders, the Marshal felt as if one company would not be enough to maintain order while Burns was moved, and pushed the mayor to call in more troops.[42] The Marshal used the power of his position to force the mayor to reverse his original decision in the same day, and the mayor ended up implementing an entire brigade for the day of Burns’ transfer.[42]

While the mayor was planning for crowd control, the Marshal put together a band of 125 unreputable citizens of Boston to help move Burns.[43] The Marshal swore these men in and armed them with various weapons, such as pistols and cutlasses. From the date of Loring’s decision until his departure on June 2, Burns was kept in the same jury room he was in during the trial. Throughout this time, Burns’ friends began making plans to purchase his freedom and no matter how much money they offered, Suttle refused to negotiate as long as Burns was under his service.[22]

Marshal's posse with Burns moving down State Street

At 2 p.m. on June 2, 1854, Burns was escorted from the courthouse by the Marshal and his men. The military brigade lined the streets to keep the crowd at bay and prevent anyone from interfering with their procession.[44] Along their route, citizens left symbols to indicate the funeral of Burns’ liberty and freedom.[45] One man suspended a black coffin and others draped their windows to show Burns they stood with him. At one point in their route, the guards made an unexpected turn into a road lined with spectators.[46] The officers ran at them with bayonets and beat their way through the line of bystanders. One man, William Ela, was beaten with muskets down on the pavement, cut in the face, and put into confinement.[22] Eventually, the officers and Burns reached the wharf where the vessel headed to Virginia was scheduled to depart from. At 3:20 p.m., Suttle, Brent, and Burns left Boston for Virginia.[47]

As a result of Burns’ trial, Boston passed the most progressive liberty law the nation had seen up until 1854.[22] The law stated that slave claimants were not allowed to be on state property, fugitive slaves were required to have a trial by jury, and slave claimants had to produce two credible and unbiased witnesses to prove the evidence in their case.[22] Burns’ trial was the last rendition hearing for a fugitive slave in Massachusetts. Additionally, Loring suffered severe consequences at the hands of abolitionists in Boston. Harvard University refused to re-hire Loring in his faculty position in their school, and the Massachusetts legislature voted to remove Loring from his state position as a probate judge, but the governor never approved the removal.[22] However, in 1857, a new governor was elected to the position and signed Loring’s removal address. This action prompted severe anger from politicians in Washington, D.C., and President James Buchanan appointed Loring to the Federal Court of Claims when a position opened up.[22]

After leaving Massachusetts, Burns spent four months in a Richmond jail where he was prohibited from being in contact with other slaves. In November, Suttle sold Burns to David McDaniel for $905 and McDaniel brought Burns to his plantation in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.[48] As an owner, McDaniel was firm and strong businessman, who constantly sold and traded his slaves.[49] At times, he had as low as 75 slaves on his plantation and as many as 150. Burns was employed to be McDaniel’s coachman and stable-keeper, which was a relatively light workload compared to that of other slaves on the plantations.[49] Instead of lodging with the other slaves, Burns received an office and ate meals in his master’s house. Due to this level of respect, Burns vowed never to runaway from McDaniel as long as he was his master.[49]

In addition to Burns’ level of care as a slave, Burns was able to go to church twice in his four months of service under McDaniel. Burns even held preacher meetings for his fellow slaves and once he was discovered, his master refused to severely punish him as he would if it had been any other slave.[50] The overseer on the plantation resented this level of special treatment, and went so far as to threaten Burns with a pistol during one of their quarrels. Instead, Burns reported to McDaniel as his supervisor and only recognized his orders.[50] Amongst his months in slavery, Burns forgot about his Northern friends and failed to notify them of his location in the South.

One afternoon, Burns took his mistress on an outing to a neighbor’s house. In the outing, one of the neighbors recognized Burns as the slave that caused commotion with his trial in the North.[50] A young lady overheard the neighbor recalling the story, and repeated it in a letter to her sister in Massachusetts. Her sister, after receiving the letter, told the story to her social circle, including Reverend Stockwell, who told Mr. Grimes.[50] Leonard Grimes was a known abolitionist and spent his life helping fugitive slaves escape in Washington, D.C., and later built the Church of Fugitive Slaves in Boston. Stockwell immediately wrote to McDaniel to begin negotiations for Burns’ purchase, and McDaniel replied saying he would sell Burns for $1300.[50] For two weeks before they were scheduled to leave for Baltimore and meet Burns, Grimes was able to collect sufficient funds for Burns’ purchase, while Stockwell covered the expenses for their journey. On the day of their departure, Grimes left by himself after Stockwell failed to show up.[50]

In North Carolina, McDaniel knew he was going against public sentiment by selling Burns to the North, so he swore Anthony to secrecy regarding their endeavor.[50] On their train to Norfolk, one of McDaniel’s few confidants spread the rumor that the fugitive slave who caused chaos in Boston was onboard the train. This outraged many passengers and even the conductor, who said he would not have let Burns onboard if he had known who he was in the first place.[50] However, McDaniel held a firm stance and kept the crowd at bay in their journey. When they arrived in Norfolk, Burns boarded their ship to Baltimore before McDaniel did, and on it he was met with another unruly crowd. When McDaniel arrived, their hate was directed towards him and they even tried to buy Burns for more money than Grimes was paying for his freedom.[50] However, bound by a sense of duty, McDaniel refused and finally compromised by agreeing to sell Burns if the purchasers never arrived.[50]

In Baltimore, Burns and McDaniel met Grimes at Barnum’s Hotel. They arrived two hours after Grimes and immediately begun negotiations. The payment was delayed after McDaniel demanded cash instead of the cheque Grimes produced.[50] Eventually, the cash was exchanged and Anthony’s freedom was purchased. Upon leaving the hotel, Grimes and Burns met Stockwell on the entrance, who accompanied the men to the train station. Burns spent his first night as a free man in Philadelphia.[50]

Anthony Burns finally returned to Boston in early March, where he was met with a public celebration for his freedom.[22] Eventually, Burns enrolled at Oberlin College with a scholarship and joined a seminary in Cincinnati to continue his religious studies. After briefly preaching in Indianapolis, Burns moved to St. Catharine's, Ontario, Canada in 1860 to accept a call from Zion Baptist Church.[51] Burns died from tuberculosis in on July 17, 1862.[52]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony Burns.

• Slavery in Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau's reaction to the Burns trial

• Barker, Gordon S. Imperfect Revolution: Anthony Burns and the Landscape of Race in Antebellum America, Kent State University Press, 2011
• "Anthony Burns Biography (1834–1862)." A&E Television Networks. 2007. <http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9232120%5B%5D>
• "Anthony Burns (1834–1862)", Black Abolitionist Archive, University of Detroit Mercy. <http://image.udmercy.edu/BAA/Anthony_Burns.html%5B%5D>
• Stewart, James Brewer. Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery, revised edition. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.
• Tuttleton, James W. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Twayne Publishers, pp. 34–36
• Joseph Meredith Toner Collection. (1854). Boston slave riot, and trial of Anthony Burns: containing the report of Faneuil Hall meeting, the murder of Batchelder, Theodore Parker’s lesson for the day, speeches of counsel on both sides, corrected by themselves, verbatim report of Judge Loring’s decision, and, a detailed account of the embarkation. Boston: Fetridge and Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <https://tile.loc.gov/storageservices/service/ll/llst/019/019.pdf>         
• Linder, Douglas O. (2019). The (Fugitive Slave) Trials of Anthony Burns: An Account. Famous Trials. Retrieved from <https://www.famous-trials.com/anthonyburns/2425-the-fugitive-slave-trials-of-anthony-burns-an-account>      
• Von Frank, Albert J. (1998). The Trials of Anthony Burns: Freedom and Slavery in Emerson’s Boston. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press.
• Bowditch, William Ingersoll. (1854). The Rendition of Anthony Burns. Boston, Massachusetts: Robert F. Wallcut. Retrieved from <https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Rendition_of_Anthony_ Burns/0jFcAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0>
• Barker, Gordon S. (2010). The Imperfect Revolution: Anthony Burns and the Landscape of Race in America. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press. Retrieved from <https://oaks.kent.edu/abolitionism/imperfect-revolution-anthony-burns-and-landscape-race-antebellum-america>        
• Stevens, Charles Emery. (1856). Anthony Burns: A History. John P. Jewett and Company.    
• Espiritu, A. (2020, February 7). Anthony Burns (1834-1862). Retrieved from <https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/burns-anthony-1834-1862/>             
• Linder, Douglas O. (2019). Orders of President Franklin Pierce in the Anthony Burns Affair (1854). Famous Trials. Retrieved from <https://www.famous-trials.com/anthonyburns/2407-orders-of-president-franklin-pierce-in-the-anthony-burns-affair-1854>   
• Linder, Douglas O. (2019). Warrant for the Arrest of Anthony Burns. Famous Trials. Retrieved from <https://www.famous-trials.com/anthonyburns/2404-warrant-for-the-arrest-of-anthony-burns>                                 

• PBS Resource Bank: People and Events: Anthony Burns captured, 1854
• Ronica Roth (2003): "The Trial of Anthony Burns", in Humanities, May/June 2003, Volume 24/Number 3.
• Virginia Hamilton, Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave
• Gordon S. Barker, The Imperfect Revolution: Anthony Burns and the Landscape of Race in Antebellum America
• Henry David Thoreau (July 4, 1854): "Slavery in Massachusetts"
• Walt Whitman, "A Boston Ballad"
• "Burns, Anthony" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.

• Anthony Burns at Virginia Memory