It was 1848 and in Macon, Georgia a smartly dressed slave owner, Mr Johnson, boarded a train. He settled in to his comfortable first class carriage and stared nonchalantly out of the window.
A short distance away his young attendant sat discreetly in the corner of the designated carriage for slaves. A closer look at him might have seen eyes that flickered nervously as he willed the train to leave.
It was the start of a perilous journey and the next 4 days would determine the course of both their lives. Within a few days they would face either freedom or death, and they were prepared to take the risk.
For Mr Johnson, was in fact no white male slave owner, but a black enslaved woman named Ellen Craft and beneath a calm exterior her heart thumped loudly in her chest as a sweat broke out on her brow. An unwilling actor, she knew only one thing. She had to play her role to perfection if they were to survive.
And so it was that Ellen and her husband William embarked on one of the most daring and audacious escape attempts in history, and this was only their first hurdle.
Ellen was born in Clinton, Georgia in 1826. Her father was a white slave holder and her mother was a mixed race woman who was enslaved to him.
Ellen’s facial features and white skin meant that she was frequently mistaken for one of her master’s family, which would frustrate the slaveholder’s wife. So when Ellen was just eleven years old she was given as a wedding present to the woman’s daughter, Ellen’s half-sister, Eliza. Freed from the cruelty of her old mistress, but torn from her mother and those dear to her Ellen moved with Eliza and her husband to the city of Macon, a large town in the heart of Georgia.
Meanwhile William, two years older than Ellen, had been born and raised in rural Georgia. At the age of 16 his slaveowner apprenticed him out to a cabinet-maker, but finding himself with huge gambling debts, he soon put William’s family up for auction in order to raise funds.
William was forced to watch as his devoted mother and father were sold to separate owners and dragged apart knowing they would never see each other again. His brother too was sold. But, most heartbreaking of all for William was the sight of his fourteen year old sister being taken from him. Forced into a cart, she was driven away in despair having been sold to a planter, “silent tears trickling down her cheeks.”
The violent reaction of the auctioneer as William begged him to say goodbye sent “red hot indignation darting like lightning through every vein. It quenched my tears” he said “and appeared to set my brain on fire, and made me crave for power to avenge our wrongs.” But as a slave with no legal rights, there was no other option than to “smother our wounded feelings, and crouch beneath the iron heel of despotism.”
Life for enslaved men and women was brutal and cruel. Flogging was commonplace and William would later write that he had seen others “shamefully beaten, and branded with hot irons. I have seen them hunted, and even burned alive at the stake, frequently for offences that would be applauded if committed by white persons for similar purposes.”
Ellen and William were more fortunate than many. Positions of privilege within their respective households meant they escaped the gruelling and cruel torments of the 3 million agricultural labourers in the south. Even so they were still deemed as property, had no legal standing and might be sold at any time.
Ellen grew up as a house servant and it was in Macon that she met William and they fell in love. Whilst in a better position than many of their peers, they were nonetheless they were enslaved at the mercy of their white masters and Ellen was reluctant to marry and start a family.
Her own experience of being wrenched from her mother and the sight of so many other children being cruelly separated from their loved ones meant she was determined that no family of hers should have to endure the same fate. The idea that they should have to endure the hardships and miserable existence of American slavery “appeared to fill her very soul with horror.”
William assured Ellen that he would help her to devise a plan to escape, so that they might be together and raise a family in freedom.
The task they set themselves was to flee their situations and and travel 1000 miles, heading north across the slave states until they reached safety in Philadelphia.
Together they thought of numerous ways to escape, but each plan came with a set of insurmountable difficulties. It was illegal for them to go anywhere without their masters’ consent. If caught they would be dragged back, separated for life and forced to undertake at best the lowest and hardest of labour. At worst they would be tortured to death as an example to others.
Slave hunts were a common occurrence in the Southern states and William had observed that the pleasure slaveholders took in the pursuit could be likened to the English sportsman as he chased a fox or a stag.
Each plan they explored seemed doomed to fail and eventually they resolved to accept their situation and live in hope that at some future date things might change and liberty would one day be theirs.
They set their hopes aside for a time and married, but in December 1848 a plan suggested itself which they knew might just work, but they would need to act quickly.
It was William’s idea. Could it be perhaps that Ellen’s very fair skin might be their passport to freedom? What if she were to disguise herself as white slave owner and William could travel as her slave? The problem was that in the southern states ladies did not travel with their male slaves. There was only one thing for it. Ellen would have to disguise herself as a gentleman.
The plan was far fetched certainly and when William first suggested it, Ellen initially shrunk from the idea, not believing it possible that she could affect such a disguise.
But on reflection her desperation to escape overrode her qualms and whilst she struggled to see how it could work, she decided to put her trust in God and agree to his outlandish plan.
With stealth William managed to acquire most of the clothing that she would need, whilst Ellen made her trousers herself. As a favourite slave she was lucky enough to have a little room to herself and was able to lock away the disguise.
First they had to get permission to be away for a few days. This was no easy task, but it was the Christmas holiday season and they were able to persuade their owners to give them a few days off and obtained a freedom pass.
As it was unlawful to teach slaves to read or write, Ellen and William were illiterate and they saw that this would cause a problem. Ellen would be required to register their names in a visitors book on arrival at hotels and also in the Custom-House book in Charleston, South Carolina.
The realisation of this filled them with despair, but then Ellen had an idea “I think I have it” she said “I can make a poultice and bind up my right hand in a sling and ask the officers to register my name for me” It was ingenious.
Their next concern was Ellen’s lack of beard or growth on her chin. This obstacle was soon overcome with another bandage worn under her chin and tied above her head. To this were added some green spectacles to cover her eyes. Her apparent injuries not only helped her disguise, but would also give her a good excuse not to enter into conversation with the other travellers.
The escape was planned for December 21. Neither slept the night before and they sat up making final preparations and fine tuning their plans. When it was nearly time to go William cut off Ellen’s hair and she dressed ready to play her part. A fine figure of a gentleman.
They then knelt together and prayed, after which they rose, and stole silently through the door “Come my dear” said William “let us make a desperate leap for liberty!” At this the gravity of the situation sunk in and Ellen burst into violent sobs. But she recovered quickly and they took their first steps. They were on their way.
They soon parted company, each making their way to the station by different routes. William arrived and got into his designated car. Ellen took a longer route, obtained tickets for them both and with her luggage stored she stepped into the first class carriage.
Shortly before departure William looked out onto the platform and saw the cabinet maker with whom he worked speaking to the ticket seller, who then started to travel up and down the platform looking into the carriages. Heart banging in his chest William was sure that at any moment he would be dragged out and the game would be over.
The cabinet maker peered into Ellen’s carriage and looked straight at her. Not recognising her he moved on. As he was approached William’s carriage the bell rang and the train moved off.
No sooner than they had left however than Ellen looked up to find a friend of her master’s family whom she knew well had sat down beside her. Thinking quickly she feigned deafness, so as not to enter into conversation, and to her relief she was left alone to look out of the window. On this stretch of the journey Ellen was able to listen into the conversation around her all about the cotton, the slaves and the abolitionists who were opposed to oppression.
They arrived in Savannah in the early evening and were taken by omnibus to a steamer bound for Charleston. Ellen retired for an early night with the excuse of rheumatism, but the next morning she found herself seated with the captain at breakfast who warned her to take care of her slave, or she would lose him to the abolitionists in the north. A slave dealer also seated at the table offered to buy William, and again gave her a warning.
She was admonished by another officer for saying thank you to “her boy” which would surely spoil him. The only way to he would know his place, he claimed, was to “storm at him like thunder and keep him trembling like a leaf” and Ellen had to watch as the officer verbally and physically attacked his own slave as an example.
On arrival in Charleston, they waited until most passengers were gone and William assisted his “injured young master” off the ship. They were driven to the best hotel in the city. Ellen’s acting skills were working, for the landlord gave the gentleman great care believing that he was sorely afflicted with inflammatory rheumatism and supplying him with bandages and poultices.
From here they drove to the Custom’s House Office and purchased tickets for a steamer to Wilmington, North Carolina. Ellen told the officer that her arm was injured and would be be so kind as to register his name for him? This appeared to cause consternation, but thankfully a young officer who had travelled with them to Savannah recognised him and said he would vouch for him. Ellen and William’s names went down as ‘Mr Johnson and slave.’
At Wilmington they took the train to Richmond, Virginia. On the train William was questioned about his master’s illnesses and he kept to the story that his master had numerous complaints and that they were travelling to Philadelphia to seek the best advice.
Their journey continued, but in Richmond an elderly woman stepped into the carriage and on spotting William, became convinced he was her own slave, Ned who had run away some time before. She was eventually persuaded she was mistaken. On the evening of 24th December they arrived in Baltimore, the last large slave port before freedom. Now Ellen and William were the most anxious they had been. Freedom was so close and yet they were terrified of falling at the final hurdle.
The authorities were particularly vigilant here, looking out for slaves escaping into the free state of Pennysylvania. After Ellen was settled into her carriage on the final train to Philadelphia a yankee officer spotted William and asked him where he was headed.
When William told him he was travelling with his master who was in the next carriage, he was told that they must both get off the train as it was unlawful for any man to take a slave out of the state, unless they could prove they had good reason.
Panic-stricken it was all William could do to keep the faith and trust that their God would not forsake them now. He made her way to Ellen and told her the news. Terrified, they made their way together to the ticket office to find the officer.
Ellen looked him directly in the eye. “Do you wish to see me, sir?” she said. The officer repeated what he had told William that it was against their rules to take a slave into Philadelphia. “Why is that?” asked Ellen firmly.
The reason, she was told, was because if it turned out that this slave was not his, then the rightful owner might appear and demand compensation. The conversation began to attract attention and the sick gentleman was receiving sympathetic glances, but the officer continued to pronounce that without proof of ownership there was nothing he could do.
Ellen and William stood on the brink. They were so close to freedom and yet the cruel truth was that it looked like it would be stolen from them at the eleventh hour. Somehow they had to keep their cool and not give themselves away.
The bell of their train to Philadelphia rang, the officer in agitation said “I really don’t know what to do; I calculate it is all right.” He sent word to the conductor “let this gentleman and his slave pass… he is not well, and it is a pity to stop him here. We will let him go.”
Ellen thanked him politely and as fast as she was able she hobbled across the platform to the waiting train. William pushed her in unceremoniously and leaped into his carriage just as the train pulled out.
It was 8 in the evening and the train was due in Philadelphia in the early hours, but even then the journey did not run smoothly and they had to stop midway to cross the Susquehanna river by ferryboat and join a train on the other side.
William fell asleep and only woke when they were moving the luggage, so for the first time Ellen was alone as she made her way through the rain, the cold and the dark, terrified that William may have been kidnapped or worse. With no money on her she decided to get on the boat and continue on to Philadelphia on the second train. Her relief when she saw him again on the train a couple of hours later can only be imagined.
On the train William met a freedman who told him of a boarding house run by an abolitionist in Philadelphia where he could choose to stay should he ever decide to run away and where he would be safe. William made a note
Before dawn the train’s whistle blew. Flickering lights came into view in the distance and William described that at this moment he felt that “the straps that bound the heavy burden to my back began to pop and the load to roll off” At the sight of this city which represented their long sought freedom he wrote that “his sad and heavy heart had become so light and happy.”
As the train reached the platform the two hurried off the train and jumped in a cab to take them to the recommended boarding house. Ellen who had passed herself off in the most extraordinary manner for four days, was William’s master no more, but his wife. She grasped his hand “Thank God William, we are safe.” She leant into him and wept like a child.
Alone in their new room, they knelt together and prayed, thanking God for their deliverance as the bells rang out around the city for Christmas Day.
Later Ellen removed her disguise and they revealed who they really were to the landlord who was staggered at the deception and initially refused to believe it. Once they had persuaded him that their story was true he headed out and brought back several abolitionist friends who advised them that they should live in Boston, where the strength of public opinion meant it would be almost impossible for anyone to kidnap them and return them to Georgia.
They lived in Boston for two years. They learned to read and write. William got employment as a cabinet maker and Ellen became a seamstress and they became famous amongst the abolitionists community.
They would have stayed there happily, were it not for the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850 which required that inhabitants of the free states should refuse food and shelter to fugitives and if necessary seize them and turn them over to be returned to their previous owners.
Warrants were taken out on the couple by their old masters in Georgia. Bounty hunters were sent to hunt them down. Friends helped the Crafts move around the city from safe house to safe house, but eventually for their own protection it was decided that they should leave America as soon as possible and seek asylum in England.
Forced to flee and with officers on the look out for them at every port, they took the long overland route to Halifax where they eventually caught the steamer to England to safety. Ellen grew ill on the boat and William feared for her life, but on arrival in Liverpool she was able to rest and gradually recovered. Now indeed they were finally free.
They settled first in the village of Ockham, Surrey where they continued their education and later at in Hammersmith, West London. Their five children were all born in England and just as Ellen and William had wished, each one of them was born free.
They in England for nearly twenty years. Ellen became a prominent figure in reform movements including the Women's Suffrage Organisation, and their home became a campaign centre for the abolition of slavery in America and a hub of black activism.
They became well known public speakers and travelled the country lecturing about the horrors of slavery in the US. In the Anti-Slavery Advocate of 1852 Ellen strongly refuted the anti-abolitionists’ suggestion that the Crafts had regretted their flight to England saying “I had much rather starve in England, a free woman, than be a slave for the best man that ever breathed upon the American continent.”
In 1860 the couple published a bestselling book about their incredible escape entitled Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom. Whilst published in William’s name, a later re-evaluation has acknowledged Ellen’s contribution to the book and that this was a collaborative work.
After President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation in 1863 slavery came to an end and when the American Civil War ended in 1865 William and Ellen made the momentous decision to return to the United States.
They arrived back in America with three of their children and started a farming co-op where those who had been enslaved could work for themselves. Ellen also founded a Farm School for their education.
They secured a plantation in South Carolina, but not long after their first harvest the Klu Klux Klan set fire to the farm. They moved to Byron County in Georgia, but there they were hounded by white supremacists who slandered their farm and the school where Ellen was teaching 75 children free of charge. In 1876, William was charged with misuse of funds, and he lost a libel case in which he tried to clear his name.
Despite all of this they managed to hold on to the plantation until in 1891 at the age of 65 Ellen died. She was laid to rest on the plantation buried beneath her favourite tree. William died 9 years later.
The story of Ellen and William is one of courage and faith. The couple embarked on their journey knowing the consequences should they fail, but Ellen had the unfaltering conviction that no child of hers would be born enslaved. Fully supported by her husband, together they found a way to make their dream a reality.
The idea was William’s, but it was Ellen, a black enslaved woman who had the guts and self-belief to carry off her extraordinary disguise and fool every single person they met along their journey.
This year as part of the English Heritage ‘plaques for women” campaign a new plaque will be unveiled to Ellen and William Craft at their home in Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, testament to an inspirational couple, whose bravery took them on a 1000 mile journey to freedom and a new life, where they were able to help to change the world.