Personal Memoir of Daniel Drayton (Electronic book text)

Personal Memoir Of Daniel Drayton For Four Years And Four Months A Prisoner (For Charity's Sake) In Washington Jail was written in 1855. Also included is the narrative of the voyage and capture of the schooner Pearl. The Pearl Incident was the largest recorded escape attempt by slaves in the United States. On April 15, 1848, seventy-six slaves attempted to escape from Washington D.C. Drayton agreed to help Edward Sayres, the pilot of the Pearl in aiding Negro slaves to sail to the North. At night the 76 men, women, and children boarded the schooner. The plan was to sail up the Potomac River. There was no wind so they had to anchor for the night. Drayton wrote about the capture. ""A Mr. Dodge, of Georgetown, a wealthy old gentleman, originally from New England, missed three or four slaves from his family, and a small steamboat, of which he was the proprietor, was readily obtained. Thirty-five men, including a son or two of old Dodge, and several of those whose slaves were missing, volunteered to man her; and they set out about Sunday noon. The boat, the Salem, found the Pearl on Monday morning and took the slaves and capturers back to Washington DC." Drayton, Sayres, and English were tried for their part in the plot. Drayton and Sayres spent four years in jail.