The Underground Railroad
this sketch recalls the struggles of the worst years of Slavery, when
the conflict was most exciting and interesting, when more minds were
aroused, and more laborers were hard at work in the field; when more
anti-slavery speeches were made, tracts, papers, and books, were
written, printed and distributed; when more petitions were signed for
the abolition of Slavery; in a word, when the barbarism of Slavery was
more exposed and condemned than ever before, in the same length of time.
Abolitionists were then intensely in earnest, and determined never to
hold their peace or cease their warfare, until _immediate_ and
_unconditional_ emancipation was achieved.
On the other hand, during this same period, it is not venturing too much
to assert that the slave power was more oppressive than ever before;
slave enactments more cruel; the spirit of Slavery more intolerant; the
fetters more tightly drawn; perilous escapes more frequent; slave
captures and slave hunts more appalling; in short, the enslavers of the
race had never before so defiantly assumed that negro Slavery was
sanctioned by the Divine laws of God.
Thus, while these opposing agencies were hotly contesting the rights of
man, James Miller McKim, as one of the earliest, most faithful, and
ablest abolitionists in Pennsylvania, occupied a position of influence,
labor and usefulness, scarcely second to Mr. Garrison.
For at least fourteen of the eventful years referred to, it was the
writer's privilege to occupy a position in the Anti-slavery office with
Mr. McKim, and the best opportunity was thus afforded to observe him
under all circumstances while battling for freedom. As a helper and
friend of the fleeing bondman, in numberless instances the writer has
marked well his kind and benevolent spirit, before and after the
formation of the late Vigilance Committee. At all times when the funds
were inadequate, his aid could be counted upon for sure relief. He never
failed the fugitive in the hour of need. Whether on the Underground Rail
Road bound for Canada, or before a United States commissioner trying a
fugitive case, the slave found no truer friend than Mr. McKim.
If the records of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition
of Slavery, and the Pennsylvania Anti-slavery Society were examined and
written out by a pen, as competent as Mr. McKim's, two or three volumes
of a most thrilling, interesting, and valuable character could be
furnished to posterity. But as his labors have been portrayed for these
pages, by a hand much more competent than the writer's, it only remains
to present it as follows:
The subject of this sketch was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, November
14, 1810, the oldest but one of eight children. On his father's side, he
was of Scotch Irish, on his mother's (Miller) of German descent. He
graduated at Dickinson College in 1828; and entering upon the study of
medicine, attended one or more courses of lectures in the University of
Pennsylvania. Before he was ready to take his degree, his mind was
powerfully turned towards religion, and he relinquished medicine for the
study of divinity, entering the Theological Seminary at Princeton, in
the fall of 1831, and a year later, being matriculated at Andover. The
death of his parents, however, and subsequently that of his oldest
brother, made his connection with both these institutions a very brief
one, and he was obliged, as the charge of the family now devolved upon
him, to continue his studies privately at home, under the friendly
direction of the late Dr. Duffield. An ardent and pronounced disciple of
the "New School" of Presbyterians, belonging to a strongly Old School
Presbytery; he was able to secure license and ordination only by
transfer to another; and, in October, 1835, he accepted a pulpit in
Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa., where he preached for one year, to a
Presbyterian congregation, to what purpose, and with what views, may be
learned from the following passage taken from one of his letters,
written more than twenty years afterwards, to the _National Anti-Slavery
Standard_. "The first settled pastor of this little flock was one
sufficiently well-known to such of your readers as will be interested in
this, to make mention of his name unnecessary. He had studied for the
ministry with a strong desire, and a half formed purpose to become a
missionary in foreign lands. Before he had proceeded far in his studies,
however, he became alive to the claims of the 'perishing heathen' here
at home. When he received his licensure, his mind was divided between
the still felt impulse of his first purpose and the pressure of his
later convictions. While yet unsettled on this point, the case of the
little church at Womelsdorf was made known to him, followed by an urgent
request from the people and from the Home Missionary Society to take
charge of it. He acceded to the request and remained there one year,
zealously performing the duties of his office to the best of his
knowledge and ability. The people, earnest and simple-hearted, desired
the 'sincere milk of the Word,' and receiving it 'grew thereby.' All the
members of the church became avowed abolitionists. They showed their
faith by their works, contributing liberally to the funds of the
Anti-slavery Society. Many a seasonable donation has our Pennsylvania
organization received from that quarter. For though their anti-slavery
minister had left and had been followed by others of different
sentiments and though he had withdrawn from the church with which they
were in common connected, and that on grounds which subjected him to the
imputation and penalties af heresy, these good people did not feel
called upon to change their relations of personal friendship, nor did
they make it a pretext, as others have done, for abandoning the cause."
In October, 1836, he accepted a lecturing agency under the American
Anti-slavery Society, as one of the "seventy," gathered from all
professions, whom Theodore D. Weld had by his eloquence inspired to
spread the gospel of emancipation. Mr. McKim had long before this had
his attention drawn to the subject of slavery, in the summer of 1832;
and the reading of Garrison's "Thoughts on Colonization," at once made
him an abolitionist. He was an appointed delegate to the Convention
which formed the American Anti-slavery Society, and enjoyed the
distinction of being the youngest member of that body.[A] Henceforth the
object of the society, and of his ministry became inseparable in his
mind.
[Footnote A: It may be a matter of some interest to state that the
original draft of the Declaration of Sentiments adopted at this meeting,
together with the autographs of the signers, is now in the keeping of
the New York Historical Society.]
In the following summer, 1834, he delivered in Carlisle two addresses in
favor of immediate emancipation, which excited much discussion and
bitter feeling in that border community, and gained him no little
obloquy, which was of course increased when, as a lecturer, on the
regular stipend of eight dollars a week and travelling expenses,
("pocket lined with British gold" was the current charge), he traversed
his native state, among a people in the closest geographical,
commercial, and social contact with the system of slavery. His fate was
not different from that of his colleagues, in respect of interruptions
of his meetings by mob violence, personal assaults with stale eggs and
other more dangerous missiles, and a public sentiment which everywhere
encouraged and protected the rioters.
Meantime, a radical change of opinion on theological questions, led Mr.
McKim formally to sever his connection with the Presbyterian Church, and
ministry. Being now free to act without sectarian constraint, he was, in
the beginning of 1840, made Publishing Agent of the Pennsylvania
Anti-slavery Society, which caused him to settle in Philadelphia, where
he was married, in October, to Sarah A. Speakman, of Chester county. The
chief duties of his office at first, were the publication and management
of the _Pennsylvania Freeman_, including, for an interval after the
retirement of John G. Whittier, the editorial conduct of that paper. In
course of time his functions were enlarged, and under the title of
Corresponding Secretary, he performed the part of a factotum and general
manager, with a share in all the anti-slavery work, local and national.
After the consolidation of the _Freeman_ with the _Standard_, in 1854,
he became the official correspondent of the latter paper, his letters
serving to some extent as a substitute for the discontinued _Freeman_.
The operations of the Underground Rail Road came under his review and
partial control, as has already appeared in these pages, and the slave
cases which came before the courts claimed a large share of his
attention. After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, in 1851, his
duties in this respect were arduous and various, as may be inferred from
one of his private letters to an English friend, which found its way
into print abroad, and which will be found in another place. (See p.
581).
During the John Brown excitement Mr. McKim had the privilege of
accompanying Mrs. Brown in her melancholy errand to Harper's Ferry, to
take her last leave of her husband before his execution, and to bring
away the body. His companions on that painful but memorable journey,
were his wife, and Hector Tyndale, Esq., afterwards honorably
distinguished in the war as General Tyndale. Returning with the body of
the hero and martyr, still in company with Mrs. Brown, Mr. McKim
proceeded to North Elba, where he and Wendell Phillips, who had joined
him in New York with a few other friends gathered from the neighborhood,
assisted in the final obsequies.
When the war broke out, Mr. McKim was one of the first to welcome it as
the harbinger of the slave's deliverance, and the country's redemption.
"A righteous war," he said, "is better than a corrupt peace. * * *
When war can only be averted by consenting to crime, then welcome war
with all its calamities." In the winter of 1862, after the capture of
Port Royal, he procured the calling of a public meeting of the citizens
of Philadelphia to consider and provide for the wants of the ten
thousand slaves who had been suddenly liberated. One of the results of
this meeting was the organization of the Philadelphia Port Royal Relief
Committee. By request he visited the Sea Islands, accompanied by his
daughter, and on his return made a report which served his associates as
a basis of operations, and which was republished extensively in this
country and abroad.
After the proclamation of emancipation, he advocated an early
dissolution of the anti-slavery organization, and at the May Meeting of
the American Anti-slavery Society, in 1864, introduced a proposition
looking to that result. It was favorably received by Mr. Garrison and
others, but no action was taken upon it at that time. When the question
came up the following year, the proposition to disband was earnestly
supported by Mr. Garrison, Mr. Quincy, Mr. May, Mr. Johnson, and others,
but was strongly opposed by Wendell Phillips and his friends, among whom
from Philadelphia were Mrs. Mott, Miss Grew, and Robert Purvis, and was
decided by a vote in the negative.
Mr. McKim was an early advocate of colored enlistments, as a means of
lifting up the blacks and putting down the rebellion. In the spring of
1863, he urged upon the Philadelphia Union League, of which he was a
member, the duty of recruiting colored soldiers; as the result, on
motion of Thomas Webster, Esq., a movement was set on foot which led to
the organization of the Philadelphia Supervisory Committee, and the
subsequent establishment of Camp William Penn, with the addition to the