Underground Railroad and Runaways • 9 Records • Uploaded November 1, 2021 • Data Website: www.virginiamemory.com
A “runaway slave record,” or as it is officially titled, “Runaway and Escaped Slaves Records, 1794, 1806-1863,” include accounts, correspondence, receipts, and reports concerning expenses incurred by localities related to the capture of enslaved people attempting to escape to freedom. Localities were reimbursed for the expenses of confining, feeding, and selling of self-emancipated people. The proceeds from the sale went to the state treasury, and often, records of those sales can be found in the Public Claims records from the Auditor of Public Accounts. The net proceeds were deposited into the Commonwealth’s Literary Fund for public education. The collection also includes records with information related to enslaved people from multiple localities who escaped to United States military forces during the Civil War.
This source (and description) was extracted from data provided under Creative Commons from the Library of Virginia’s VIRGINIA UNTOLD: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN NARRATIVE project. The Library’s African American Narrative project aims to provide greater accessibility to pre-1865 African American history and genealogy found in the rich primary sources in its holdings.
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