The Christiana Riots

Castner and Martha Hanway, ca. 1850

September 18, 1850. Christiana, Pennsylvania, a small town outside of Lancaster, not too far from the Maryland border.That very day, Congress had passed the Fugitive Slave Act. This law required fugitive slaves to be returned to their masters, and that citizens of free states had to cooperate with these recaptures. Isaac “Castner” Hanway was a Quaker living on a farm in this small town. Quakers were at the time notoriously anti-slavery. Hanway had no way of knowing that the passage of this law would one day in the not too-distant future lead to an indictment of treason.

Castner Hanway lived on a farm next door to William Parker, a free African-American. With Maryland being a slave state and Pennsylvania being a free state, the proximity to Maryland’s border made Parker’s farm a convenient stop along the Underground Railroad, the pathway to freedom for many slaves. Edward Gorsuch was a planter from Maryland, and he had a problem. In 1849, several of his slaves had ran away and escaped. In 1851, Gorsuch had heard a rumor that his slaves were in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and that two of them were living at Parker’s farm. Gorsuch obtained a warrant and he and his son, Dickinson, accompanied by some Federal Marshals, went to Parker’s farm to get their slaves back.

Parker was not entirely unprepared for an attack, and he and his wife Eliza quickly assembled their closest friends and neighbors to join their ranks. After Gorsuch and his party arrived however, fighting broke out. No one is entirely sure what happened in the skirmish, but when the smoke cleared, four men, including Gorsuch were dead, and Parker and his family were nowhere to be found.

Castner Hanway, Elijah Lewis, Joseph P. Scarlet

Within days authorities had rounded up the people who had fought on Parker’s behalf. Castner Hanway was believed to have been the leader of the mob, as he was one of the first men to report to the scene. Overall, thirty-eight men were indicted on 117 counts of treason, the largest of such cases in American history. This was based on the theory that using force to prevent the execution of statute or law was levying war against the nation. Because Hanway was believed to be the leader of the resistance, it was decided that his case would be tried first as a test case. If the prosecution could successfully get Hanway convicted of treason, it would bode well for future cases. Unfortunately for the prosecution, there was conflicting testimony as to whether or not Hanway had conspired to levy war against the United States. There was also conflicting testimony as to which side had started the violence. Without sufficient evidence proving guilt, Hanway was ruled innocent and released after a seventeen day trial. Because his trial was a test case, his acquittal led to the charges against the other thirty seven men being dropped.

Primary sources:

Maryland General Assembly, House of Delegates Report of the select committee appointed to consider so much of the Governor's message as relates to the murder of Edward Gorsuch, and the trial of the treason case in Philadelphia University of Maryland, College Park, Call No. J87.M3 1852 House no. 15
(accessed https://archive.org/details/reportofselectcoappoi1852mary)

Castner Hanaway's Indictment for Treason, 10/1/1851 Criminal Case Files, 1791 - 1883; Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, Record Group 21; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD [online version available through the Archival Research Catalog (ARC identifier 278946) at www.archives.gov]

Indictment for Treason for the Christiana Riot Participants, 11/13/1851 Criminal Case Files, 1791 - 1883; Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685 - 2009, Record Group 21; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD [online version available through the Archival Research Catalog (ARC identifier 278950) at www.archives.gov]