The Christiana Riot, also known as Christiana Resistance, Christiana Tragedy, or Christiana incident, was the successful armed resistance by free Blacks and escaped slaves to a raid led by a federal marshal to recover four escaped slaves owned by Edward Gorsuch of Maryland. The raid took place in the early morning hours of September 11, 1851, at the house in Christiana, Pennsylvania, of William Parker, himself an escaped slave. This took place after the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 increased penalties for assisting escaped slaves and required state government officials, even in free states such as Pennsylvania, to assist in the recapture of slaves.
The confrontation resulted in an exchange of gunfire, the death of Edward Gorsuch, and the dispersal of the raiders. In the aftermath many of the Blacks involved quickly traveled to the safety of Canada. In total, 41 persons were indicted by the federal government for treason, including both Blacks and Whites. Castner Hanway, a white man from Christiana, was the first to be tried, beginning in November 1851. After only 15 minutes of deliberation by the jury he was acquitted, and charges against the remaining defendants were dropped. The issue became a national lightning rod, and aroused strong sectional sentiment. It was one of many events leading to the American Civil War.
Background
In the years before the abolition of slavery in the United States, slave-owners of the South pushed for increased federal and state government support for the recovery of escaped slaves. However, in the free states of the North, many residents and governments had resisted, especially given that in the free states many individuals or even state laws protected fleeing slaves.
Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which permitted slave owners or their agents to pursue fugitive slaves in free states and required state officials to aid in the recapture of the alleged slaves. Those aiding an escaping slave could face six months' imprisonment and a $1,000 fine.
In 1849 Edward Gorsuch, who farmed in Monkton, Maryland, owned twelve slaves. He considered himself a good slaveholder, freeing some of his slaves at the age of 28 and offering them paid seasonal work after that. With changes in crops and other conditions, slavery was no longer as necessary in Maryland, and there were a relatively high proportion of free blacks. Gorsuch did not sell his excess slaves to the Deep South as many other Maryland slave owners of the time did. Five bushels of wheat went missing, and Gorsuch was told that some of his slaves had stolen it. Four of his older male slaves, Noah Buley, Nelson Ford, George Hammond, and Joshua Hammond, fled north to Pennsylvania, a free state. Gorsuch believed that they had been enticed away and would willingly return if he only talked to them.
Christiana, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is north of the border with Maryland and had become a refuge for fugitive slaves. It was also an area of settlement by numerous free Blacks. This area was frequently raided by slave catchers trying to capture refugee slaves. For two decades, local Blacks had organized for self-protection, at times preventing such capture or even rescuing slaves who had been captured. Others chose to flee to Canada. The leader of the resistance in 1851 was William Parker, an escaped slave about 29 years old.
In Philadelphia, where warrants for the arrest of fugitive slaves in Pennsylvania were usually acquired at the federal court after the 1850 act was passed, another group, the Special Secret Committee, had organized to gather information and warn those being hunted.
Incident
Edward Gorsuch heard that his four escaped slaves had taken refuge in Lancaster County. On September 9, 1851, in Philadelphia, he obtained a federal warrant under the Fugitive Slave Act for the arrest of George Hammond, Joshua Hammond, Nelson Ford, and Noah Buley. Henry Kline, a deputy Federal Marshall, was authorized to make the arrests. Gorsuch hired John Agan and Thompson Tully, Philadelphia police officers, to assist in the arrest. These three were to meet with Gorsuch and some additional men at Penningtonville (now Atglen,) a station on the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad.