In August 1789, four months after the inauguration of George
Washington, Thomas Garrett was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The Garretts were
Quakers, members of a faith that openly opposed slavery beginning in 1688. Soon Thomas
would become a fine example of faith in action. He was born with the nation and grew up
with it--believing in the principle of equality so eloquently stated in the Declaration of
Independence.
Little is known of his early life but its defining moment came in 1813 when he returned
home to terrifying news. A free black woman who worked as a household
servant in the
Garrett home had been kidnapped to be
sold into slavery. Thomas Garrett immediately went after the kidnappers. He found them and
returned home with the woman. This terrible
episode led him to dedicate himself to the struggle for freedom for all men and women.
Garrett married Mary Sharpless in 1813, and they moved to Wilmington in 1822.
He
ran an iron and blacksmithing business. Although he worked hard at his business, Garrett lived every day to fulfill his divine mandate.
His courage and hard work, along with his
great skill, made him successful and trusted. He became friends
with many of the world's great abolitionists, including Harriet Tubman.
Garrett was a broad, strong man who demonstrated little fear. Helping runaway slaves
was dangerous in the decades before the Civil War. The slaves were in great jeopardy, but those giving them aid were breaking the law by stealing property. From his home at 227
Shipley Street Garrett provided refuge, food, clothing, and hope to a steady stream of
runaway slaves. Like many abolitionists, Garrett was openly persecuted and hated. One southern slaveholder whose slave had run
away told
Garrett that if he ever saw him down south he would be sure to shoot him.
Garrett replied,
"Well, I think I am going that way before long, and I will call upon thee."
Shortly afterwards, while Garrett was in southern Delaware, he went to the accuser saying,
"How does thee do? Here I am, thee can shoot me if thee likes."
In 1848 Garrett and John Hunn, a fellow abolitionist, were brought to trial in the U.S.
Circuit Court at New Castle for aiding runaway slaves. The trial took three days,
and both
men were found guilty. Hunn was fined $2,500 and Garrett $5,400. Although he was not
required to pay the entire amount, Garrett almost lost everything he had worked for. At the
age of 60 he would be forced to begin again. The judge said: "Thomas, I hope you will never
be caught at this business again." But Garrett replied, "Friend, I haven't a dollar in the world, but if thee knows a fugitive who
needs a breakfast, send him to me." Afterwards he again affirmed his
conviction: "I
should have done violence to my convictions, had I not made use of all the lawful means in
my power to liberate those people, and assist them to become men and women rather than
leave them in the condition of chattels personal."
In 1860 his outspoken manner prompted a resolution from the Maryland state legislature
calling for a $10,000 reward for anyone able to arrest Garrett on the grounds of slave
stealing. When he heard about the resolution, Garrett himself wrote back that $10,000
was not enough and that for $20,000 he would turn himself in. He was seventy-one years old.
His disarming candor won the respect of his opponents, even if it did not change their minds.
On March 30, 1870, the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution
became law. Blacks
in Wilmington celebrated by carrying the elderly Garrett on their shoulders through the
streets, calling him "Our Moses." Garrett had personally helped
more than 2,700 slaves on their way to freedom. Garrett responded: "I rejoice that I
have lived to see this day, when the colored people of this favored land, by law, have
equal, privileges with the most favored." At his funeral as many as 1,500 people paid
their respects to this great humanitarian. William Lloyd Garrison, a powerful force for
abolition, described Thomas Garrett in this way: "What he promised, he fulfilled; what
he attempted, he seldom or never failed to accomplish; what he believed, he dared to
proclaim upon the housetop; what he ardently desired and incessantly longed for was the
reign of universal peace and righteousness."
Garrett left few personal records to history, but some of his letters to friends, to
Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom's Cabin), William Still (author of
The
Underground Railroad), and newspapers survive to give us personal glimpses into the
his life and the secret workings of the Underground Railroad.
Thomas Garrett