BAYLIS CONNECTION

A thorough examination of the impact of Virginia’s 1856 legislation on the Tidewater Line of the UGRR beginning with the Lambden trial not only provided a rare glimpse into the scope and involvement of individuals in the Tidewater Connection; but positively identified the previously mysterious Captain “B.” Captain “B’s” full identity was discovered within the same penitentiary census accounting listed William H. Lambden. Among that list of prisoners appeared the name William B. Baylis, described as a forty-nine year old White male sailor from Delaware sentenced in 1858 for “Carrying off slaves.” The names of eight other prisoners convicted between 1842 and 1857 of crimes against the slavocracy ranging from “Advising a slave to run” to “Aiding a slave to abscond” appeared in that very same listing. Yet the most telling characteristic of these prisoners were the states listed as their residences, i.e., Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia. In other words, the penitentiary record depicted an UGRR mission underway in Virginia which had developed into one of the Atlantic UGRR networks’ principle interest in its campaign against slavery.[1]

As if to celebrate Captain Baylis’ daring, William Still presented one of his most descriptive accounts of an UGRR operation. Still’s account of the July 1856 rescue of a party of Virginian slaves detailed Captain Baylis’ late night rendezvous with the fugitives who were described as having to resort to wading in a nearby marsh to avoid detection by area police and the secretive landing of the party on a secluded river bank outside of Philadelphia. The narrative named the schooner’s cargo (corn), the hiding places that Captain Baylis typically utilized to secret his human cargo out of bondage, and the deceptive tactics he, the captain, sometimes used to avoid detection inspectors. Additionally, Still’s account introduced the recent use of the telegraph by inspectors along the Atlantic coast to alert each other of the possible UGRR operations.[2]

Moreover, William Still’s narrative account of Captain Baylis’ July 1856 rescue included a link between the Delaware native and another significant UGRR operative, Henry Lewey. Still’s account not only identified Baylis’ passenger Rebecca Lewey as Henry Lewey ’s spouse but released his UGRR code name, “Black Beard.” In addition, Still made the unusual admission that Lewey was, “one of the most dexterous managers in the Underground Railroad in Norfolk.” Besides having linked Captain Baylis with Henry Lewey, Still’s account acknowledged the existence of a group of UGRR managers in Norfolk. Furthermore, Still’s admission proved to be the most conclusive evidence of the existence of a Tidewater Connection to the Atlantic UGRR network.[3]

A subsequent review of William Still’s narrative accounts for additional evidence of a Tidewater connection to the UGRR yielded the account of Norfolk slaves and brothers, Anthony and Albert Brown, who miraculously sailed their master’s oyster boat from somewhere along Tanner’s Creek, (presently known as the Lafayette River), north to freedom. In a letter to William Still dated June 26, 1856, one of the two brothers described only as “A. Brown” acknowledged that Henry Lewey had recently left their location, (a city name Hamelton), just two weeks earlier bound for Boston. A. Brown’s declaration, coupled with that of another runaway slave, John Atkinson, who had escaped the clutches of the slave master James Ray of Portsmouth, Virginia some time prior to September 4, 1854, placed Henry as an area operative for at least two years. Atkinson, in fact, acknowledged that Henry Lewey was depended upon to pass mail between escaped slaves and their families in Hampton Roads. The fact that Atkinson credited the steward of a Richmond steamer with his escape provided a probable connection between the mysterious steward Minkins, the Steamship City of Richmond, Captain Baylis, and possibly, the agents William Bagnall and Samuel Nixon. Blue Beard’s, (Henry Lewey), presence in Hampton Roads in 1854 also presents the probability that he may have been involved with providing information to many of the slaves, including Clarissa Davis, who sought passage on the UGRR in that period.[4]

While Henry Lewey’s exit from the Hampton Roads area conspicuously followed the institution of maritime inspectors throughout Tidewater and seemed to foretell the increasing dangers involved with resisting the slavocracy; the emerging storm did not seem to discourage Captain Baylis. Unfortunately, the captain’s overconfidence resulted in his arrest in Petersburg, Virginia and his eventual conviction for, “Carry off” slaves Anthony, Bob, Jack, Stebney and Bell in an attempt to escape.[5]

Despite the absence of any specific reference to Captain Baylis, William Still’s narratives included two separate accounts that, not only depicted the successful escape of a fugitive party from Portsmouth, but resulted in the captain’s undoing. In the narrative account that identified the five runaways, (Stebney Swan, Robert Emerson, Anthony Pugh, and Pugh’s finance, Isabella), Still, perhaps unwittingly, also identified the UGRR operative, (Captain Henry Lee), who transported the party to Captain Baylis’ schooner Kesiah. In a separate narrative Still not only acknowledged Captain Lee’s arrest and conviction, but identified Richmond’s penitentiary as the place of the Captain’s incarceration. A subsequent search uncovered the record of the preliminary sentencing in the Norfolk County Circuit Court on April 15, 1858 of an individual named Edward Lee for having “carried off” slaves. Moreover, that search revealed a series of court documents dated April 6, 1868 that not only authorized the payment of a five hundred dollar reward to the individuals credited with Lee’s capture, but, coincidentally, provided the exact same list of slave names that Still had offered in his Captain Henry Lee account. A subsequent investigation yield a summary of the free Black cook’s, William H. Thompson, had acted alone in secreting a runaway named Anthony from Baylis’s schooner the Kesiah to Captain T. J. Loveland’s New Jersey based schooner, the Francis French while the two ships were docked in Petersburg. William Still account also placed the blame for the three UGRR operative’s imprisonment to the tortured induced confession extracted from the wife of one of the fugitives by two constables and two slave owners.[6]

While Captain Baylis’ imprisonment did not result in a permanent shutdown of UGRR activities in Tidewater, it could, arguably, be considered one of many signs of a turning point in the nation’s struggle to come to grips with its “Peculiar Institution,” slavery. While the resulting Civil War altered the role that UGRR played in creating “a more perfect union” it certainly did not bring to a close the services the network could provide. Even before the publication of William Still’s narratives, the UGRR network, served as a living Data Base of timetables, destinations, births, marriages, church affiliations, residences, sanctuaries, and even deaths that provide friends and families with the possibility to reunite and even return to Tidewater with a new name and new lease on life, as in the case of Samuel Nixon who returned to Norfolk as Dr. Thomas Bayne.[7]

Notes:

[1] Ibid., 473-475; Collison, Shadrack Minkins, 49. Collison’s work describes Captain Baylis’ middle name as “D” yet the penitentiary record displays it as “B.”

[2] Booger, Free Blacks, 260; Still, Underground, 585-591. Virginia, Chief Inspector of Vessels, Virginia Quarterly reports 1856-1861; Library of Virginia, Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Section 24, Chapter 192, Code of Virginia, An Act to Amend the 24 th, 25 th, 26 th, and 28 th Sections of Chapter 192 of the Code of Virginia so as More Affectively to Prevent the Escape of Slaves Adopted March 17, 1856;

[3] Still, Underground, 589.

[4] Ibid., 300-302; Booger, Free Blacks, 251-252; Still, Underground, 308-309.

[5] Virginia, Chief Inspector of Vessels, Virginia Quarterly Report.

[6] Still, Underground, 84-87; Still, Underground, 101-102; Virginia Chief Inspector of Vessels, Quarterly Reports, 1856-1861, At a Circuit Court of Norfolk County Held on the 6 th Day of July 1858, Accession 36456, State Government Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, entry 289.  

[7] Still, Underground, 265.