Source: Gloryland: A History of Blacks in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, William P. Conrad (Greencastle, 1989), pp. 7-13.
The growing militancy of the abolition movement between 1840 and 1860 appears to have had little effect on the local community. Since the Underground Railroad operated in the mountains on either side of the valley, few fugitive slaves using this means of getting to Canada would have come into the local area. However, those slaves who did not use the "underground" system could have found safety in some white people's homes in both Antrim and Greencastle. It is thought that some ex-slaves, freed when their owners died, came into the area prior to the Civil War. By 1850 there was no great increase in the number of Negroes in the area. Census figures for Greencastle showed only ninety-nine blacks--forty-five males and fifty-four females, living here--only twelve more than in 1840. Records for Antrim, although unavailable, would have probably shown the same limited growth.
When war erupted in 1861, southcentral Pennsylvania became most vulnerable to raids or invasion. For eight months no one knew for certain whether Maryland would join the Confederacy or stay in the Union. Not until November of 1861 was the decision made to remain with the federal government. Despite this development slavery continued to exist there.
Virginia went with the Confederacy and its north central border lay just south of the Potomac River. Its boundary, for approximately twenty-five miles, was within five miles of the southern borders of both Fulton and Franklin Counties. Williamsport, Maryland, the terminus of a turnpike from Greencastle, was separated from Confederate territory only by the Potomac River. Therefore, throughout the war this part of Pennsylvania was in constant danger of being overrun by Southern forces.
When war came it was into this part of the Commonwealth that hundreds of fugitive slaves made their way from the Shenandoah Valley. The numbers varied from year to year, but the spring and summer months brought the most. However, the stream of blacks out of this part of Virginia ebbed and flowed with the fortunes of war. When Confederate forces controlled the greater part of the valley the influx slowed to a trickle, but as Federal armies pushed into the more southern parts of the Shenandoah the rush of fugitives intensified.
Older residents tell of hearing from their grandparents and parents how the log church on South Carlisle Street was a harbor of refuge for those escaping from bondage. Here is where they knew to come after crossing the Mason-Dixon Line. The word had passed throughout the Shenandoah country and blacks, planning to escape, knew where to head for once they got into Pennsylvania. Here church members stood watch, ready to greet the newcomers, to feed them, and guide them to local homes to rest. In the war's early years few stayed in this border region. Their goal was to find greater security beyond the Susquehanna river where capture was more unlikely. The few who stayed found employment on farms where there was a shortage of workers. As more and more men volunteered to serve in the Union armies, this shortage continued throughout the war.
The worst time for local people came during the invasion of 1863. Confederate foraging squads gathered not only horses, sheep, and cattle but Negroes to be sent back into Virginia. They were supposed to capture only runaway slaves, but anyone with colored skin was in danger of being sent back to the slave markets or plantations of Virginia. When foragers came, blacks fled into nearby fields and wooded areas as mounted horsemen pursued and hunted them down. Sometimes local whites would identify the captives as freemen who had lived in the area for years and in most cases these were released.
In Greencastle, town officials were forced to accompany Confederate foragers to help identify fugitive slaves who lived in the area. One councilman, Charles Hartman, pressed into such service, was forced to walk most of one day to assist in hunting down these unfortunate people. In the end the local official and the Southerners found none. The councilman could vouch for all the blacks they found. The exhausted Hartman never recovered from this ordeal and within a year he died, an unsung hero of this dismal affair.
Once, local pro-Unionist Thomas Pawling, who owned Greencastle's Antrim House, was instrumental in freeing slaves being returned to Virginia on wagons during the early days of the invasion. Pawling and some of his associates captured the wagons as they came down North Carlisle Street, set loose the blacks, and captured four soldiers and a chaplain accompanying them. The Confederates were taken to Waynesboro where they were imprisoned. Later the Southerners were released and returned to Greencastle. When they found their human cargo had disappeared they threatened to burn the town if $50,000 was not raised to pay for the escaped blacks. When local leaders refused to meet this demand and Confederate officers heard of the incident they told the chaplain to forget the whole business.
The invasion lasted for about two weeks and during this time all black families lived in constant fear. Some hid in homes of their white employers while others fled to stay with Negroes who lived further north or in the safety of mountain homes off the normal roadways of the area. This was the worst of times but after the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg most colored people returned to their homes and resumed normal patterns of living.
During the final years of the war, ex-slaves continued to flee into the Cumberland Valley and as the Confederate control of Northern Virginia grew weaker their numbers increased. Older blacks claim that as many as five hundred ex-slaves came into the Greencastle area. Experiences of some of these have been handed down in many families. George Hamilton in his memoirs, written in 1978, tells of his grandparents' slave experiences and eventual escape from bondage. His mother, Amanda Butler, along with her parents, John and Millie, plus a sister, Virginia, and brothers, John and Alex, lived on the Funkhouser plantation in Culpepper County, Virginia. Although they never learned to read or write they were taught to farm and work in the plantation home. Since Amanda was just a young girl she was taught more of homemaking, and from this experience George remembers her skill in knitting. She learned to knit items including stockings, gloves, and sweaters. "I have yet to see any person who could knit as fast as she could," George wrote.
The Butlers told of the hardships brought to the farmers who lived in Culpepper County during the Civil War. They recalled the occasions when Yankees would come and steal hogs, chickens, horses, and anything they wanted. The mistress, Mrs. Funkhouser, was a widow, a kind woman who permitted no one to mistreat her blacks.
The Butlers recalled a time Union soldiers came in the night when everyone was asleep. As they approached the house, all were awakened and when Mrs. Funkhouser refused to open the door they broke it down. In they rushed, looking for the family's son, Jack, who served as a captain in the Confederate army. He was thought to be hiding among the slaves. Despite the mother's pleas, in the end they located him in the attic and rode away with their captive.
While searching for the captain, the soldiers assured the Negroes that no harm would come to them and before long they would be allowed to leave. Eventually the Bulters, along with hundreds of others from other parts of the county were authorized to start their northern journey. This would have been some time after January 1, 1863, when the Emancipation Act went into effect.
Amanda remembered the leave taking and how Mrs. Funkhouser told them if they could not get along up North they were welcome to return. She had plenty of ground for all. My mother said, "tears was rolling down her cheeks as she handed her mother and father a large amount of money, gave them two horses and a wagon to come North with the family and all of the Butlers in it."
As the former slaves moved toward the Potomac River they were stopped by a man who demanded their horses. After a lengthy argument the Butlers were allowed to keep one to continue their journey to freedom. When the family reached Greencastle they met friends who came from the same community they left. The first thing John Butler did with his gift from Mrs. Funkhouser was to buy a stone house on West Franklin Street. The purchase included a half acre of land. Within a short time he went to work at the Anderson sawmill.
The story of George Hamilton's father's escape from slavery was quite different from that of the Butlers. George, Sr. was a slave in North Carolina, and one day his master directed him and another slave to fetch the horses that had been hidden in back of the plantation stables. When they returned they had with them the wrong horses. This angered the owner who ordered them to return the animals and bring back the right ones. Fearing punishment when they returned, the two blacks decided to run away. Although his partner later changed his mind, Hamilton continued his flight to freedom.
On one occasion, when Confederates were in the area, the slave hid under a hogpen. Although the lady who owned the place saw him hiding, she never reported the incident. Toward evening, after the soldiers had gone, the woman brought George a plate of food and extras to sustain him on his northward journey. (From the description of this venture it is obvious that Northerners were in the area, probably part of Sherman's army on its march from Savannah into Virginia.)
Although the memoirs fills-in no further details, we learn that in the end George Hamilton, Sr. eventually arrived in the Greencastle area and stayed. His son's story carries these words of thanks--"I am so glad he did because it was not too long after, that he met up with my mother (Amanda Butler) and later on got married, and had twelve children." Into this family George, Jr. said, "I was glad I was born."
Another story of a Negro refugee was that of Samuel Houston Rankin. He was born into slavery in Marshall, Tennessee in 1847 and as Union forces gained control of the region in which he lived, Samuel became a freeman. Young Rankin was sixteen at the time and attached himself to his liberators as they fought their way across the state. Tradition holds that he was sent northward from Knoxville with a message to be delivered to a Union leader in Virginia. His mission eventually led him from the Shenandoah Valley into Antrim Township where he found employment on the Joseph Snively farm and at a later time on the Place owned by the Rev. Frederick Klinefelter.
Samuel Rankin and Bettie Jane Gaven, the girl he married later, moved to Greencastle and established their home on West Franklin Street. Here their family was reared and grew into adulthood. At the time of his death, in 1950, Samuel was survived by his wife and two daughters, Bessie, who lived in Cleveland and Sadie, of New York City. Fred Rankin, a son, resided in Tallahassee, Florida, while Warren was still living with his parents and worked for the Landis Tool Company of Waynesboro. Warren, or Mose as he was affectionately known, died in 1976. He was the last of the children of the refugee teenager who came to the area as a free man during the Civil War.
Two other slaves who came during the war was a couple, Robert and Rebecca Henderson from Frederick County, Maryland. Since Maryland was not subject to the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery still existed in the Old Line State. Upon locating in Greencastle they changed their family name to Scott. Nine children were born to the couple at their home located on the southwest corner of West Franklin Street and South Elm Lane. There were three girls, Elizabeth, Bertha and Mattie plus six boys--Walter, Benjamin, Thomas, Melvin, Edwin and William. The mother worked at domestic jobs while Robert found employment as a general handyman.
As the children grew into adulthood they gradually moved to other towns and cities. Older residents remember that Bertha became the wife of the Rev. Robert Oliver Napper who rose to the office of presiding elder for the Harrisburg District of the A.M.E. Church. The Rev. Napper was a graduate of Wilberforce University where he had earned his doctorate. Mattie married Doctor John Davis and lived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, while Elizabeth went to New York where she secured domestic employment. She later married Fletcher Pierce.
The Scott boys, with the exception of Edwin, continued to live in the area's nearby towns or cities. Edwin Scott lost his life in a tragic accident when he was only fourteen years of age as he attempted to board a freight train running through town on Carlisle Street. (This was a common practice at the time. If a train was moving too slowly to satisfy a young man in a hurry, he simply grabbed a freight ladder, swung up between two cars, crossed to the other side, jumped clear of the moving train and continued his journey. Freights were also boarded for free rides to Hagerstown and Chambersburg or points along the way. On September 16, 1908, Edwin Scott jumped, caught the ladder but failed to hold his grip. He fell under the wheels and was dragged from Foundry Hill to Center Square before the train halted. His mangled body was buried the next day at Cedar Hill Cemetery. The tragedy brought sorrow to the entire community and a temporary halt to the dangerous practice of jumping freight trains.)
Members of the Scott family returned to Greencastle from time to time but eventually the family died out and none live today in the area.
Another Maryland slave who found sanctuary in the Greencastle area was David Ruscoe who worked on farms in the Hollowell-Marsh region of Antrim. Young Ruscoe married Mary Elizabeth Green and sixteen children were born to the couple. Most of the girls and boys left the region to work in Philadelphia or New York.
However, those who remained are still remembered by older local residents. Laura Ruscoe married Jacob Cole, Caroline became Harry Dixon's wife, and Mazzie married George Hamilton. Lance and Jones(Buck)Ruscoe were hostlers who worked at various livery stables. Watson (Tim) was a hotel employee until he went into business for himself. (Lover Ruscoe, of present day Greencastle, was named for Lance, his uncle.)
Northern victory meant the end of human bondage throughout America. It also brought a sense of pride to blacks because their men had been able to fight to free their brothers. Of the thousands of Negroes who served, there were those who came from the Greencastle area. Local records are incomplete and only a few can be identified. However, there is verification of at least eleven Negro soldiers from the Greencastle-Antrim community. They included--Gilghman Cain of Co. I, 125th U.S. Colored Infantry; George W. Lewis and John Smith of Co. C., 25th Colored Infantry; Sgt. Timothy Anderson of Co. M., 2nd. U.S. Colored Cavalry, Harrison Shipe and Meshac Smith of Co. B., 45th U.S. Colored Infantry; Henry Williams and Robert Hill of Co. C., 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry; George Young of Co. C., 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry; and Robert Henderson of the 38th U.S. Colored Infantry. John Henry Goeins and Lilman Bain also served but their units cannot be identified. Through the remainder of their lives these men could point with pride to the fact that they too were veterans. As they eventually went to their final resting place their grave stones proudly marked the units in which they had served.
Despite the many ex-slaves who came during the war, few apparently continued to live here after peace came. Many returned to Virginia while others went further north to find work in the bigger towns and cities of the state. One evidence of this can be found in the census figures of 1870 which shows only 261 Negroes living in the Greencastle-Antrim community. Compared to the 1840 census, the black population was twenty-six less. The 1870 census also revealed a population shift was taking place. Until the Civil War most local colored families lived in Antrim Township, but the post-war census revealed that 146 lived in Greencastle while only 115 resided in the rural area. This population change continued through the remainder of the century.
War's end also gave legal status to blacks in both the North and South. The thirteenth amendment to the federal consitution abolished slavery, the fourteenth made them citizens, and the fifteenth, adopted in 1870, provided that the right to vote could not be "denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." History has shown how these rights were eventually subverted and denied in parts of the nation, but Pennsylvania's black men, who at an earlier time had the right to vote, now regained this basic privilege of citizenship. The new state constitution of 1873 provided that all male citizens, twenty-one years of age who lived in the state for one year, were eligible to vote.