(SLAVERY ABOLITION) George C Hawkins Letter noting the regu

Sale 2598 - Lot 53

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(SLAVERY & ABOLITION.) George C. Hawkins. Letter noting the regular presence of the Underground Railroad in his small Iowa town. Autograph Letter Signed to his brother-in-law, appended to a letter by his wife Mary Elizabeth Hayward Hawkins. Together, 4 pages, 8 x 69 inches, on one folding sheet; mailing folds, a few later pencil notes. Denmark, IA, 20 December 1857

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This letter was written from Denmark in the southeastern corner of Iowa, perhaps 25 miles from the Missouri line. The town was an active stop on the underground railroad; its cemetery was recently named to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in recognition of the activists buried there. This letter by a Denmark resident acknowledges the regular presence of the fugitives in his town, although he seems to be a hostile witness: "If a nigger comes to this place he gets on to the under ground rail road mighty sudden, and the next thing he knows he is in Canada freezing to death, and I expect that is the only way to abolish slavery in the south: run them into Canada and freeze them to death."

The letter writer, George Clinton Hawkins (1835-1898), explained his politics earlier in the letter, viewing himself as a rare Buchanan supporter in a sea of abolitionists: "Everybody votes the Republican ticket but me and one other fellow. I went for old Buck and he for Filmere."