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Pendleton in Madison County, Indiana — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
 

Abolitionists Mobbed

 
 
Abolitionists Mobbed Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
1. Abolitionists Mobbed Marker
(Side One)
Inscription.
(Side One)
In 1843, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society sent speakers to New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana to hold "One Hundred Conventions" on abolition. When speakers encountered citizens with deeply held racist ideas, they were often targets of violence. On September 16, a crowd gathered near here to listen to George Bradburn, William A. White, and Frederick Douglass.

(Side Two)
During Bradburn's speech, more than thirty men marched in, armed with stones and brickbats, and demanded that the speakers leave. In the assault that followed, White, Douglass, and others were injured. Local supporters defended them and carried them to safety. Douglass spoke the next day at nearby Friends meetinghouse without incident. Rioters went unpunished.
 
Erected 2013 by Indiana Historical Bureau, Madison County Council, Madison County Council of Governments, Town of Pendleton, Historic Fall Creek Pendleton Settlement, Pendleton Business Association, and Friends. (Marker Number 48.2013.1.)
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Abolition & Underground RR. In addition, it is included in the Indiana Historical Bureau Markers series list. A significant historical month for this entry is September 1954.
 
Location. 40° 0.381′ 
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N, 85° 44.704′ W. Marker is in Pendleton, Indiana, in Madison County. Marker is on N. Pendleton Avenue north of Fall Creek Parkway, on the right when traveling north. Marker is located in the northwest corner of Falls Park north of Fall Creek. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pendleton IN 46064, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Indians Murdered 1824 (a few steps from this marker); The Falls (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Three White Men Were Hung Here (about 300 feet away); William (Bill) Walker (about 500 feet away); Falls Park (about 600 feet away); The A.B. Taylor House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Cook's Opera House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Interurban Railroad (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pendleton.
 
Regarding Abolitionists Mobbed. The recollections of Frederick Douglass on the event:

"At Pendleton this mob-ocratic spirit was even more pronounced. It was found impossible to obtain a building in which to hold our convention, and our friends, Dr. Fussell and others, erected a platform in the woods, where quite a large audience assembled. Mr. Bradburn, Mr. White, and myself were in attendance. As soon as we began to speak, a mob of about sixty of the roughest characters I ever looked upon ordered us, through its leaders, to “be silent,”
Abolitionists Mobbed Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
2. Abolitionists Mobbed Marker
(Side Two)
threatening us, if we were not, with violence. We attempted to dissuade them, but they had not come to parley but to fight, and were well armed. They tore down the platform on which we stood, assaulted Mr. White, knocking out several of his teeth; dealt a heavy blow on William A. White, striking him on the back part of the head, badly cutting his scalp and felling him to the ground. Undertaking to fight my way through the crowd with a stick which I caught up in the mélée, I attracted the fury of the mob, which laid me prostrate on the ground under a torrent of blows. Leaving me thus, with my right hand broken, and in a state of unconsciousness, the mob-ocrats hastily mounted their horses and rode to Andersonville, where most of them resided. I was soon raised up and revived by Neal Hardy, a kind-hearted member of the Society of Friends, and carried by him in his wagon about three miles in the country to his home, where I was tenderly nursed and bandaged by good Mrs. Hardy, till I was again on my feet, but as the bones broken were not properly set my hand has never recovered its natural strength and dexterity. We lingered long in Indiana, and the good effects of our labours there are felt at this day. I have lately visited Pendleton, now one of the best Republican towns in the State, and looked again upon the spot where I was beaten down, and have again taken by the hand
Frederick Douglass, circa 1850-1860 image. Click for full size.
Library of Congress
3. Frederick Douglass, circa 1850-1860
Image is available from the
United States Library of Congress
some of the witnesses of that scene, amongst whom was the kind, good lady–Mrs. Hardy–who, so like the good Samaritan of old, bound up my wounds, and cared for me so kindly."

Source: Douglass, Frederick. The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, From 1817 to 1882. London: Christian Age Office, 1882. 198-199.
 
Abolitionists Mobbed Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
4. Abolitionists Mobbed Marker
View to south along N. Pendleton Avenue
Abolitionists Mobbed Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
5. Abolitionists Mobbed Marker
View to north along N. Pendleton Avenue
Abolitionists Mobbed Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
6. Abolitionists Mobbed Marker
A tablet listing donors to the marker is affixed to the neighboring boulder
Donors to the Indiana Historical Bureau Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Duane Hall, October 10, 2013
7. Donors to the Indiana Historical Bureau Marker
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on October 12, 2013, by Duane Hall of Abilene, Texas. This page has been viewed 1,432 times since then and 25 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on October 12, 2013, by Duane Hall of Abilene, Texas.

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Mar. 28, 2024