ARCHER ALEXANDER

In 2019, my research of Archer Alexander led me to follow his pathway from Virginia to Missouri, in hopes of understanding his experiences on that journey better, and perhaps find more information. My source was William Campbell’s journal of that journey, a day by day account, which shared the following on September 12, 1829.

Passed by the spot where two negro traders had been murdered by their chained slaves 2 or 3 weeks before. The torn fragments of their clothes were scattered about, the bushes beat down, the grass and leaves torn up, and other marks of a violent contest. Seven of the negroes are in jail and six of them will be hanged. We crossed a steep mountain, the dividing line between the Greenup and Lewis Counties, came down the valley of Montgomeries Creek and again came to the Ohio River. Traveled several miles down the river to Vanceburg, a small trifling village, on the Ohio River, of 14 houses. Saw a steamboat packet going the river, We encamped 1/2 mile above the town, near some salt furnaces which make about 100 bushels per day.*

September 12, 1829 – Seventeenth Entry

This brief account of a group of freedom seekers seeking to escape, moved me to investigate the incident further. An earlier post ( https://archeralexander.blog/2023/09/12/12-september-1829/ ) carries much more of the story.

History happened and we are all part of a much bigger story. History is bigger than all of us. There are more than 800 sites on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, and the Greenup Slave Revolt story is another one of them. https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1205/index.htm

Source

*This is the journal of William Campbell (1805-1849) leading four families from Lexington, in Rockbridge County, Virginia to St. Charles County Missouri, written in 1829. Among the enslaved is Archer Alexander, born in 1806. This journal is located in the collections of the Leyburn Library, Special Collections and Archives, located at the Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, and for which we are deeply indebted to Lisa McCown. Editor and author is Dorris Keeven-Franke. The next journal entry is September 13…https://archeralexander.blog/2023/09/13/13-september-1829/

The burial location of Archer Alexander at St. Peter’s U.C.C. Cemetery in St Louis at 2101 Lucas and Hunt Drive was added to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in September 2023.