Fugitive Slave in the Gold Rush

by Williams, James

• ISBN13: 9780803298125
• ISBN10: 0803298129
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

For understandable reasons, black American records of the Gold Rush are very rare, and so are underground railroad accounts from those fleeing to freedom; yet here in this single book is the account of a self-taught escaped slave and underground railroad worker who also succumbed to the lure of the California Gold Rush. James Williams was all of these things and more, a fascinating individual who in this memoir manages to cram more life into fewer pages than almost anyone, a habit of a traveling life that must have served him well. We learn about Williams's birth and escape from the South, his travels and exciting experiences on the West Coast in the mid-nineteenth century, and we become privy to his views on the many people he met, including Chinese immigrants, and his observations on notable events of his time, such as the Modoc War in California.The clear voice and keen eye of James Williams provide a unique glimpse into a complex, rapidly changing world, an America bustling and growing on two shores of a continent yet poised to soon divide itself in a civil conflict.Malcolm J. Rohrbough is a professor of history at the University of Iowa. His books include Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation (1996).

Author Biography

Malcolm J. Rohrbough is a professor of history at the University of Iowa. His books include Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and The American Nation.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Preface	xv
When and where born	1	(4)
Why I ran away	5	(1)
First contact with the Underground Railroad	6	(1)
In the riot against the Killers	7	(1)
Escape from pursuers	8	(3)
Raffling for geese, and what came of it	11	(3)
Making coffee out of salt water	14	(2)
Dancing with the Irish girls and swollen feet	16	(1)
Off for California	17	(1)
Find a friend on the Isthmus	17	(5)
Arrive in California and go to Mining	22	(2)
Leave California for Mexico	24	(1)
Ship for Talcahuano	25	(1)
Again in California in 1853	26	(1)
Go to Vancouver Island, come back, and go to Washoe	27	(3)
Agency of A. M. E. Church	30	(4)
Perseverance and Apple Dumplings	34	(3)
The mission of the flowers	37	(7)
Lizey Thompson	44	(1)
Linchcomb's Story	45	(1)
I am wounded	45	(1)
Why they so dislike me	46	(1)
Who will make laws?	47	(1)
Not to be the man	47	(1)
What did I do to them?	48	(1)
Anxious for the office	49	(3)
Sketches of the Catholic and Protestant Churches	52	(1)
Blessed are ye	53	(1)
Collecting for the Church	53	(2)
Susan Neal	55	(1)
Story of Charles Thompson	56	(2)
Story of Henry Box Brown	58	(3)
Story of a Young Woman---name unknown	61	(2)
Story of Harry Grimes	63	(2)
Story of George Laws	65	(1)
Story of Pete Mathews	66	(2)
Story of Leah Green	68	(2)
Liberty, or Jim Bowlegs	70	(2)
Story of Abram Galoway and Richard Easler	72	(2)
Story of Ann Johnson and Lavina Woolfley	74	(1)
Story of William and Ellen Craft	75	(8)
Story of Barnaby Grigby and others	83	(2)
Report cut from Maryland Examiner	85	(1)
Name of Stockholders in the U. G. R. R.	86	(1)
Spiritualism	86	(2)
Bigamy	88	(1)
Modoc War	89	(1)
Precious Scripture Words	89	(2)
California	91	(1)
Chinese in California	92	(2)
Opinions of the Press	94	(1)
Execution of Charles A. Russell	95	(3)
The Modocs---Hanging of Capt. Jack	98	(4)
Antecedents of the Modoc War	102	(3)
Fire in Yellow Jacket Mine, Gold Hill	105	(8)
The Christian's Voyage	113	(2)
Index	115