Whaleboat Escape from Northampton County, Virginia, 1832

In July 1832, seventeen fugitives from slavery and one free Black man stole a whaleboat and fled Northampton County, Virginia, with the goal of attaining freedom in New York City. The dataset contains the names of the eighteen freedom-seekers who stole the whaleboat, the names of their enslavers, and the locations of properties owned by the enslavers at which the freedom-seekers likely lived and worked. The place-names utilized in the transcribed census records illustrate the importance of water access on the cultural landscape of Virginia Eastern Shore’s and suggest that the freedom-seekers’ decision to run away using a small watercraft was influenced by their familiarity with maritime culture and material culture. This data set highlights a large coordinated water-based escape, sheds light on the names of several free Black residents of Northampton County, and illustrates a kinship network of free and enslaved Black individuals across the lower Delmarva (DE-MD-VA) peninsula. Although fourteen of the eighteen freedom-seekers were re-captured in New York and returned to Virginia, only four were formally tried at an Oyer and Terminer court.