Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
A history of the Joshua Glover case (1898)
Rescue of Joshua Glover, a Runaway Slave
Joshua Glover was a Missouri slave who sought asylum in Racine in 1854. His master, learning his whereabouts, came to Wisconsin and, under the federal Fugitive Slave Law, had Glover arrested and placed in the Milwaukee County jail. Abolitionists from all around southeastern Wisconsin surrounded the jail, broke down its doors, and got Glover safely to Canada. Their ringleader, Waukesha editor Sherman Booth, was arrested for breaking the Fugitive Slave Law, and when he appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, it denied the right of the federal government to enact legislation that would over-ride the state's own laws (essentially the argument Southern states would use six years later to secede from the Union). In this short document, journalist Henry Legler recounts the story of Joshua Glover and his escape to Canada in 1898 via the underground railroad.
| Related Topics: |
Wisconsin in the Civil War Era Abolition and Other Reforms |
| Creator: | Legler, Henry E. |
| Pub Data: | Excerpt from Leading Events of Wisconsin History. (Milwaukee: Sentinel, 1898): 226-229 |
| Citation: | Legler, Henry E. "Rescue of Joshua Glover, a Runaway Slave." Leading Events of Wisconsin History (Milwaukee: Sentinel, 1898): 226-229. Online facsimile at: http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/wireader/WER1124.html; Visited on: 4/20/2024 |
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