S Charles Bolton - Fugitivism: Escaping Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1820-1860

I began to think seriously about runaway slaves in 2006 when James Hill of the National Park Service (NPS), National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, and Susan Ferentinos of the Organization of American Historians contacted me about a project that the NPS later published as Fugitives from Injustice: Freedom Seeking Slaves in Arkansas, 18001869. A keynote address to the Arkansas Historical Society in 2008 provided an opportunity to discuss my idea about expanding that project to the Lower Mississippi Valley.

I am grateful to Morris S. Arnold for helping me understand colonial Louisiana and reading a penultimate version of , and Vince Vinikas for reading and editing three chapters. Conevery Valenius read the entire manuscript and offered perceptive suggestions, some of which I ignored until they were reinforced by an anonymous publication referee. Brian Mitchell shared his knowledge of New Orleans at the early stages of the project, and Rod Lorenzen helped me improve the manuscript at the end.

Ottenheimer Library of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock assisted me in many ways. I am also grateful to the staffs of the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library in Memphis, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library, the UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture, the Special Collections Room at the Hill Memorial Library at LSU, the Louisiana Collection at Tulane University, and the Historical Archives of the Louisiana Supreme Court at the University of New Orleans. Amanda Paige, a historian in her own right, provided much valuable assistance on this book.

Many thanks to the people at the University of Arkansas Press and to Tom Paradise, cartographer extraordinaire.

On a personal level, I want to thank the parents of the people to whom this book is dedicated: Shannan Venable, Conevery and MattValenius, and Jesse Bolton and Angie Anderson. Bettina Brownstein encouraged my efforts on this project from beginning to end and served as a role model for the concept that retirement is a good time to do for satisfaction the useful work you used to do for money. I am also grateful for the support of my friends of many decades Gene and Diane Lyons, Judy and Davis Bullwinkle, Jeanne Joblin, and Carla Anderson. Small but very enjoyable portions of the work were done in Ada Halls kitchen with its wonderful view of Lake Winnebago. The multifarious activities of the Endorfemmes and their menfolk and associates, and the regular meetings of Earl Ramseys floating poker game, provided a conviviality for which I am grateful.