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The Escape of the Drennen Slave Girl

In 1850, John Drennen, a businessman from western Arkansas, and his wife, signed the register at the sumptuous Monongahela House, a five-story hotel on Water Street in Pittsburgh. Their 14-year-old Negro slave was directed below to the servant’s quarters. The trip, lasting more than a month, had been arduous, traveling southeast through navigable sections of the Arkansas River or overland by carriage. When the Drennen party reached the Mississippi River, they made their way north by steamboat, through dangerous currents and the steamy summer weather. Reaching Pittsburgh in July, a carriage at the Monongahela wharf stood ready to take the Drennens to Monongahela House, the city’s finest hotel. The slave girl followed a dray with the luggage.

The Monongahela House

The Monongahela House stood at Smithfield Street and Fort Pitt Boulevard, a handsome sentry overlooking the gentle river for which it was named. Built in 1840, it had 210 lavishly furnished rooms. When the Great Fire of 1845 destroyed the Monongahela House, the proprietor rebuilt the hotel bigger and better. Reopened in 1847, its façade was simple. It had touches of Renaissance Revival, heavy bracketed cornices, and dozens of windows. But its history and its interior were grand.

It rose five stories tall and boasted a 60-square- foot rotunda crowned with an opulent dome that showered natural light. It then had nearly 300 rooms, and its guests, who over time included presidents, royalty, and a multitude of celebrities, gushed about its white marble floors, leather furniture, and massive staircases. Service was premium. Scores of free Black waitstaff catered to guests’ every whim. In a region known for its fierce abolitionist zeal, much of the Black staff used the hotel’s airy corridors to conduct secret antislavery activity.

The Escape of the Henry 'Box' Brown

Henry Box Brown’s escape was so simple it seems unbelievable—he mailed himself to freedom. Unlike many slaves, Brown’s life in captivity was not riddled with horror stories of physical abuse. Born into slavery in 1815 in Louisa County, Va., Brown believed that his faithful service would earn him freedom after his master’s death. Instead, the man bequeathed Brown to his son, asking on his deathbed that the younger man treat Brown, a smart man and good worker, fairly. In 1830, Brown was sent to Richmond to work in a tobacco factory. Again, his overseers were ordered not to abuse him. He was given suitable clothing and money to buy items to send back to his mother. 

In time, Brown was permitted to marry another slave, Nancy, with the promise from her slaveholder that he would not sell her. The couple had three children and Brown reimbursed Nancy’s owner for the time she spent caring for them. Despite the slaveholder’s promise, however, Nancy and the children changed owners several times before a final sale to a Methodist minister in 1848 took her and their three children to North Carolina.