LAMBDEN CONNECTION

Notwithstanding the continued success of the Tidewater Connection through 1856, that year marked the beginning of a new era in the UGRR’s struggle to rescue fugitive slaves from the clutches of the Tidewater slavocracy. Faced with Virginia’s increasingly stringent code enacted to provide, “Additional Protection for the Slave Property of the Citizens of this Commonwealth,” these agents of justice and freedom prevailed upon their deepest convictions to continue their part in what, for all-intents-and-purposes, was one of the most monumental periods of civil disobedience, however covert, in American History. The legislation, which established an inspection system, (complete with fulltime inspectors with a chief inspector based in Norfolk), designed specifically to thwart the escape of fugitive slaves aboard vessels, raised the penalties for anyone convicted of aiding or abetting runaways and covered the entire Tidewater Region. The Tidewater Connection’s response to the legislation-- which it should be noted threatened fines of up to $500.00, confiscation of personal property, and stiff prison sentences--became apparent in the 1856 arrest of one Captain Lambdin.[1]

Lambdin’s misfortune was introduced in William Still’s narrative account of the Norfolk fugitive Winnie Patty and her child. Still took this opportunity to introduce what, perhaps, was the first setback during this troubled era of Virginia’s History. In his account, William Still not only featured the extremes to which Winnie Patty went to save herself and her child from continued enslavement, but he took the extraordinary care to include an interesting letter from the abolitionist Thomas Garrett. Garrett, writing from Wilmington, Delaware on May 11, 1856, placed the heroic efforts of UGRR operatives in the Tidewater region along side those of Harriet Tubman mentioning that Tubman had supervised the last leg of the fugitive party’s escape from Norfolk to Philadelphia. Although William Still admitted that Captain Lambdin’s contributions had been, at best, brief; he used this opportunity to emphasize the efforts that all UGRR operatives throughout the Atlantic Network exerted at great personal risk to themselves, their families, and their friends.[2]

An exhaustive survey into the extent to which Virginia’s 1856 legislation inhibited the Tidewater Connection’s activities seemed in order and led to the discovery of several details concerning Captain Lambdin, his capture, his subsequent trial, and his eventual imprisonment. Based on Still narrative, Captain Lambdin was arrested sometime after returning from Wilmington, Delaware and the delivery of his fugitive cargo to Thomas Garrett. The June 4, 1856 edition of Norfolk’s Daily Southern Argus carried an article describing the trial of an individual named “Captain Lambden.” The brief article not only placed the date of the beginning of Lambden’s trial as a day earlier, June 3, 1856; but identified the charge brought against the Captain, “carrying off slaves,” as well as naming attorneys for the defense and the prosecution, “Messrs. Cropper and Chandler for prisoner and P. P. Mayo for the Commonwealth.”[3]

Although the differences between spellings raised suspicions that the Captain Lambden tried in Norfolk according to the Daily Southern Argus may not have actually been the same Captain Lambdin praised in William Still’s narrative; all three sources-- William Still’s narrative, Thomas Garrett’s correspondence to Still, and the Daily Southern Argus articles all described a timeline that chronicles the unfortunate experience of just one individual. An intensive search for State Records that might positively identify the UGRR captain or captains described by the three sources yielded an 1860 Census record of the Richmond, Virginia Penitentiary population that listed an individual named Wm. (William) H. Lambden.” This inmate, coincidentally, was described in the census as a thirty-one year old White male shoemaker from Delaware sentenced in 1856 on the charge of, “advising a slave to run;” details which, incidentally, correlate to each source. The different spelling of the captain’s surname thus might have been either a deliberate attempt on the part of the captain to hide his true identity or merely a misspelling. Additionally, the approximate date mentioned in Still’s narrative for Winnie Patty’s arrival in Wilmington, March 1856 coincided with the enactment of the Virginia’s Inspection Law of March 17, 1856. Coupled with William Still’s declaration that Captain Lambdin had been arrested on his return to Norfolk and Thomas Garrett’s May 11, 1856 letter to Still describing Captain Lambdin’s state of mind while awaiting trial; Captain Lambdin could be place in the same state, (Virginia), during the same time frame, (between March and June of 1856), as the shoemaker William H. Lambden who being tried, convicted, sentence, and incarcerated for what amounted to the same violation. Moreover, as if to emphasis the event, Still closed the narrative acknowledging the captain’s conviction and incarceration.[4]

Notes:

[1] Ibid., 285-289.

[2] Still, Underground, 402.

[3] Argus, June 3, 1856, 3; Argus, June 4, 1856, 3;

[4] U.S. Bureau of the Census, Population Schedules of the Eighth Census of the United States, 1860, Virginia, Third Ward of the City of Richmond, Henrico County, State Penitentiary, June 16, 1860, Roll 1353, 472; [Heritage Quest - Census Image on Line); available from http://exproxy.chesapeake.lib.va.us.:2195/ hqoweb/library/do /census results; Internet; accessed 26 February 2005.