The Armed Resistance of 1851

In 1851, slave catchers came to kidnap a free man in Pennsylvania. They didn't expect

the entire town to be armed and waiting. Edward Gorsuch, a Maryland slave

owner, crossed into Pennsylvania with a US marshal and armed men. He had warrants

for four people who'd escaped his plantation. They were hiding at William Parker's

farmhouse, a former slave who'd built a self-defense network. But Parker had been

warned. A spy from Philadelphia tracked Gorsuch on the train and rode ahead.

When Gorsuch arrived at dawn, Parker's wife blew a horn. Three long blasts.

Within minutes, 50 armed Black men and women surrounded the house. The marshal tried