Run to Freedom – Chapter 9 – Touching Shore

Run to Freedom
Chapter 9 – Touching Shore

The tribulations and adventures of Josiah Henson
Peter van Gorder

“You wait here in the bushes, while I go and try to find my friends,” I told my wife.
I knew some people that I had met when I had spoke there recently. I found them and asked if they would take us in. They welcomed me warmly. Soon we were taken care of by these friends who cared for us as if we were their own family. It was a risk for them, for if they were discovered they could suffer a heavy fine and imprisonment.*

After two weeks of constant fatigue and hardships we were so thankful to be refreshed by such kindness. God bless them, they deserved a rich reward for helping us. Jesus promised it:
MAT.25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
MAT.25:35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
MAT.25:36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
MAT.25:37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
MAT.25:38 ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?
MAT.25:39 ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
MAT.25:40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

They gave us a wagon ride thirty miles (about 50 km) on our way. They told us of a road that we could travel on in the daytime as it was seldom used. It was an old military road used in the war of 1812 with Great Britain. After traveling at night and following the North Star, we found the road, where there were a special large sycamore and elm tree that marked its beginning and so we set off on this road early the next day.

By this time, we had again run out of food. We had not taken much with us as we wanted to travel light. We had brought money to buy food from the people that we expected to meet on the way but there was no one to be seen.

The going was tough, as the road had not been cleared for a long time. Trees had blown over and we struggled onwards to climb over them and the thorns that were growing over the whole path.

 Our strength was at low ebb. My wife walking behind me, stumbled over a branch and fell down. Tom, who was walking next to her rushed up to me, “Pa, come quick, Ma is dying!”

I ran back to see her lying motionless. It seemed that she really might have passed away. I knelt by her side and prayed for her for several minutes until she began to stir. I gave her some dried beef. She rested awhile until she recovered her strength enough to struggle onwards.

That night as we slept, we heard wolves howling. My wife and children were terrified that this would be our end. I reassured them the best I could and stayed up all night making noise by singing and shouting and banging with sticks.

The next morning we ate a few bites of the last of the dried beef and continued on our journey. The meat was so salty that made us extremely thirsty again. We had run out of water and there were no streams to be found.

About three o’clock that afternoon, we saw four Native Americans walking on the path towards us. Our first reaction was to run, but we had no strength for that. They were carrying backpacks so they were bent downwards and did not see us clearly. As we were passing them, they looked up from their burdens and got a good look at us. Suddenly, they made an awful yelp like they had seen the devil himself. They tore off in the direction that they had just come, screaming as they ran.

My wife was alarmed, “What if they are running back to get others to murder us? We should turn back now.”

“If they had wanted to murder us, they could have done that already. We’ve come too far to turn back now and I don’t like walking over the same trees twice.”

As we walked on, we could hear stirring and see eyes peeping at us from the bushes. We came across their camp, which consisted of several wigwams*. The chief who stood with arms folded, greeted us in a friendly fashion and invited us to sit down inside his wigwam.
( *wig•wam (wig´wäm’, -wôm’) n. a traditional dwelling of Indian peoples of E North America, consisting typically of a dome-shaped framework of poles covered with rush mats or sheets of bark)

We told the chief who we were and why we were traveling in these woods. He understood enough English to catch our meaning and offered us a fine feast of food. I think he sympathized with us and understood what it meant to suffer injustice from the hand of the powerful.

As we were eating, he explained to some of the other braves not to be afraid of us. We immediately became a curiosity, as many of them had never seen a black person before.

The Indians were particularly intrigued with the children. They poked them to see what they were made of. They wondered if our black flesh was the same as theirs or maybe if like some wild creature, we would bite them. Our children jumped in fright when they were poked and the Indians jumped back as well. Our children were very shy not knowing what to think about the whole experience. They were not used to being the center of such attention.

When the Indians saw that we were normal people and not strange creatures from another world they became more relaxed and their fears were allayed. They entertained us with their music and dance until we retired to our beds. We were so thankful for the good sleep and food that we had that night.

The next day we found we were twenty-five miles (40 km) away from Lake Erie. Across this water, freedom awaited us on Canada’s shore. The chief hugged us and said his warm farewells to us. He ordered two of his Indians to guide us through the forest until we saw the lake in the distance.

We traveled on the road that led to the lake until we came across a river that was about 150 yards (137 meters) wide and four feet (1.2 meters) deep. I forded the river with a pole to find our how deep it was. Then after I knew the way, I took the two younger children, then one by one the older children and then my wife. This was very painful, as the skin on my back had been worn away where I had carried the children in the backpack. We slept one more night in the woods.

The next day we continued until we reached a woodless plain outside the village of Sandusky, Ohio. We dared not contact any one until we could find out more about this place.

We were now about a mile (1.6 km) from Lake Erie. I saw a two-masted schooner* docked with the name “Commerce” written in bright red letters across its stern . A line of people were unloading goods and loading sacks of grain from and into its hold. I hid my family in the bushes and went down to them to see if we could make a way across the lake with them. (*schooner: a ship with two or more masts, rigged fore and aft)

As I came near to them, one of them called out to me.
“Hollo there, man! you want to work?”
“Yes, sir!” shouted I.
“Come along, come along; I’ll give you a shilling* an hour. Must get off with this wind.”

(*shilling: a colonial coin – an English shilling is worth 1/20th of a pound. At this time, 5 shillings made a dollar in the US. A dollar in 1830 is worth about $20 in 2005 according to measuringworth.com
Pounds, shillings, and pence were used as the unit of account in America up until the middle of the nineteenth century. This would mean, the captain offered him about $4 an hour in today’s wages.)

As I came near and he got a good look at my maimed arm, he said, “O, you can’t work; you’re crippled.”

“Can’t I?” said I. “Watch!” I joined the line of workers, grabbed a bag of corn, and emptied it into the hold of his ship.

I took my place in the line of laborers next to the only colored man I saw. He introduced himself as ‘The Doctor”. A title he earned, he said, from his skill in setting bones and healing ailments.

Soon I got into conversation with him. “How far is it to Canada?”

He gave me a peculiar look,. “Want to go to Canada? Come along with us, then.

We’re going to Buffalo, New York. Our captain’s a fine fellow – by the name of Captain John Burnham. “

“Buffalo; how far is that from Canada?”
“Don’t you know, man? Just across the river.”
“I got a wife and four children with me as well who are coming.”
“I’ll speak to the captain,” said he.

He did so, and in a moment the captain took me aside, and said, “The Doctor says you want to go to Buffalo with your family.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Doctor says you’ve got a family.”
“Yes sir.”
“Where are they now?”
“About a mile back.”
“How long have you been here?”
“No time,” I answered, after a moment’s hesitation.
“Come, my good fellow, tell us all about it. You’re running away, ain’t you? Don’t be ashamed of it. Freedom is a fine thing.”

I saw by the look in his eye, that he was a friend, “Yes, sir. I am. I paid for my freedom but I was cheated so I have to run away or they will separate me and my loved ones.”

“How long will it take you to get ready?”
“Be here in half an hour, sir.”
“Well, go along and get them.”

I started to go; but, before I had run far, he called me back. “Wait, I just thought of something. You go on getting the grain in. When we shove off, I’ll dock the boat at that island over there, and at night, I’ll send a rowboat to pick you up. There’s a lot of regular nigger-catchers and their Kentucky spies in Sandusky, and they might catch you if they saw you and your family coming out of the bush and boarding us in daylight. It would be a shame for you to have come so far to be caught now.”

I nodded in agreement and then continued to work loading the rest of the three hundred bushes of corn aboard. The hatches were fastened down, the anchor raised, the sails hoisted, and the ship let loose its moorings to sail.

As it left, I stood on the dock wondering if I would ever see the “Commerce” again. I followed her every movement. It seemed to go almost out of sight but then just as the purple and the gold of the sky transformed to dark gray, it came about.

When it reached the island that the captain had told me of, it kept sailing. I was sure I would be left behind to fend for myself. How was I going to get across this huge lake now?

But the boat turned into the wind, her sails emptied of any breeze. The boat stood motionless just where Captain John had said he would stop to get me. A small boat with the Doctor and two other men was lowered into the water and in ten minutes it reached me. Together we rowed off to find my wife and children who were in hiding.
I was alarmed that I couldn’t find her anywhere.

I called her, “Elisabeth, I’m here. It’s Josiah. Where are you?”

There was no answer. I kept looking until I found her crouching in fear in some bushes nearby.

“It’s all right to come out.”

“Who are those men with you? They’ve come to sell us, haven’t they?” She screamed in a fit of fright.

“They are our friends who want to help us get to Canada on their boat.”

She was still reluctant to come out and after much gentle persuading by me and the other men she yielded and came out. She hugged me and cried.

We quickly got in the boat and rowed without much effort to the “Commerce”. A light on her mast showed us the way. We were greeted by three hearty shouts of welcome from the crew. It seems that all aboard were of the same sympathetic mind to our cause as was the captain.

The captain had them throw us a rope ladder and shouted in his thick Scottish accent, “Coom up on deck, and clop your wings and craw like a rooster; you’re a free nigger now, as sure as a crookit stick will throw a crookit shadow.”

We pulled in the boat and turned the boat and the wind filled the sails. The boat took off, like it was thankful to be moving – the water hissing and seething and foaming and splashing at our hull. Thankful was I for a good head of wind to carry us to freedom.

God had been good to us and reached out His hand to lift us up every time it looked like the end for us. I wept for joy at our change of fortune from despair to victory. My heart felt it would burst with praise.

The next morning we dropped anchor at a place called Black Rock. Captain John stood next to us on the deck and pointed into the distance.

“You see them trees? They grow on free soil, and as soon as your feet touch that you’re a man. I want to see you go and be a freeman. I’m poor myself, and have nothing to give you; I only sail the boat for wages; but I’ll see you across.”

A ferry operated there to bring passengers across the river to Canada. Captain John called out to him, “Here Green. What will you take this man and his family over for–he’s got no money?”

“Three shillings. (3/5ths of a dollar) ” Came the reply.

The captain then took a dollar (worth $20 in 2005) out of his pocket and gave it to me. As he put his hand on my head he said, “Be a good fellow, won’t you?”

I felt a tingle of electrical emotion running through my body, “Yes, Captain John, I’ll use my freedom well; I’ll give my soul to God.”

He stood on the deck waving his hat as we pushed off for the opposite shore. God bless him! God bless him eternally! Amen!

It was the 28th of October, 1830, in the morning, when my feet first touched Canada’s shore. I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand, seized handfuls of it and kissed them, and danced round like a lunatic.

“You must be some crazy fellow!” said a Colonel Warren, who happened to be walking past.

“O, no, master! don’t you know? I’m free!”

He burst into a shout of laughter. “Is that it? Well, I never knew freedom make a man roll in the sand before.”

I was enjoying the moment too much to answer him. I laughed, hugged, and kissed my wife and children, and they did the same to me.

Discussion Point: Talk about the difference between running away from problems and trying to change them. Give examples of when it is good to do one or the other. Why do we have to sometimes take risks to achieve a greater end? When is better not to take risks? talk about how God uses people to help us when we are at the end of our rope.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for protection. Please deliver us from evil and supply all of our needs.