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On This Day in History, May 21, 1796, Ona Judge escaped to freedom.
On May 21, 1796 Ona Judge served George and Martha Washington their dinner and then slipped out a side door and escaped to freedom. Ona (also known as Oney) was born into slavery in 1773 on George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon. The exact details of Ona's escape and many other details of her life are known today because she was interviewed by two abolitionist newspapers in the 1840s. Due to these interviews, more is known about Ona than any of the other hundreds of slaves that were owned by George Washington or his wife Martha in their lifetimes.
In 1796 George Washington was President of the United States of America and lived in a mansion in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. Ona was Martha Washington's primary maid and accompanied the First lady nearly everywhere she went.
On the day of her escape, Martha Washington had told Ona that they would soon be leaving Philadelphia for a trip back to Mount Vernon in Virginia. Ona had gone on many trips between Philadelphia and Virginia in the previous 6 years. Abolitionist laws in Pennsylvania required that those who moved to Pennsylvania with slaves to free them within 6 months' time. Washington, like many other slave holders in the federal government living in Philadelphia at the time abused loopholes in the law to continue to hold their slaves. Such tactics included not officially establishing residency in Pennsylvania and ensuring that neither themselves nor their slaves ever resided in Pennsylvania for more than 6 consecutive months.
But this trip to Virginia was different for Ona. She was told that after arriving back in Virginia she would be given as a gift to Martha Washington's granddaughter Eliza Custis. Ona had known Eliza since they were both children on Washington's estate and held a very low opinion of her. Ona was determined to never become Eliza's slave. Additionally, she knew that if she were enslaved by Eliza, she would never again return to Philadelphia and it would be much more difficult for her to ever escape to freedom. Ona had considered escaping the President's House many times during her stay in Philadelphia, but the consequences of an unsuccessful escape were so severe that Ona was too fearful to try. But now that she knew that she was unlikely to ever have a better opportunity, she was ready to take the chance.
After serving George and Martha Washington their dinner, Ona returned to the kitchen where she had stashed her clothes and belongings and walked right out a side door. She had met members of the free black community during her time in Philadelphia and these friends assisted Ona in her escape and took her and her belongings to the Delaware River where a sympathetic ship captain named John Bowles had agreed to take her north to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
George Washington made multiple attempts to capture Ona and return her to enslavement. He published ads in Philadelphia newspapers promising a $10 reward for whoever returned her. Later, upon hearing word that Ona had moved to New Hampshire, Washington contacted Joseph Whipple, Portsmouth's collector of customs. Washington asked Whipple to look for Ona and convince her to return. Whipple had been given a job by Washington's administration and felt compelled to assist Washington. Whipple tracked Ona down on the pretense of hiring her and tried to convince her to return to Virginia. When Whipple was unable to persuade Ona, Washington ordered Whipple to return Ona by force. But Whipple was an abolitionist and was unwilling to force Ona to return if she did not wish to.
Frustrated by Whipple's lack of cooperation, Washington then sent Martha Washington's nephew Burwell Bassett Jr. to New Hampshire with orders to "to take her by force, and carry her back." At the same time, Washington did not want Bassett to cause a scene or disturbance that could be embarrassing to Washington. Upon arriving in Portsmouth, Bassett sought assistance with this delicate situation from New Hampshire's United States Senator, John Langdon. Bassett hoped that Langdon would assist in Ona's capture, but Langdon had recently freed all of his slaves and rehired them as paid workers and did not wish for Ona to be taken by force from her home. While Langdon entertained Basset he sent word to Ona to leave town to avoid capture. Ona traveled to Greenland, New Hampshire and laid low until Bassett returned unsuccessfully to Virginia.
Washington died shortly after Bassett's failed attempt to recapture Ona in 1799 and upon his death, efforts to recapture Ona ceased. Ona lived the rest of her life as a free woman in New Hampshire and married a free black sailor named Jack Staines who she started a family with. Her husband made good money as a sailor, but he died in 1803 and thereafter life was hard for Ona and her children. One of her interviewers asked her if she regretted escaping to freedom considering how difficult her life had been since her escape, but Ona did not agree.
"No, I am free, and have, I trust been made a child of God by the means."
