Edward Howes, 1849

[Prior to and during the Civil War, the existence of an “underground railroad” and movement of black slaves from the south to safe houses on Cape Cod, and then onto fishing vessels headed to Canada, is well known; but actual documentation of this, an illegal activity at the time, is hard to find.  Most information comes by way of handed-down stories, family journals and letters.   

It is one of these journal stories that we share with you, for it also tells of a group of little men who helped one night when the movement of a black family was about to be found out…]

5, August, 1849

“We waited till dark, and then hurried the four out of the cellar and onto the hay wagon.  The invoice noted the hay to be delivered to a Provincetown ice house.  Our wagon was joined by two others and we made our way along King’s Highway, anxious about the bright moon.  Night deliveries like ours were not common, and since the uprising in Harwich the year before, there were those who were now much more incensed over the activity of moving slaves.  There was a common thread among these types and their thinking and that was to mind their own business and let the Southerner’s mind theirs as well.  They were not comfortable with the thought of interference and the consequences it might bring to the region."

  

"We made it past the three lights and were nearing Fresh Brook Village when a wagon, set in the brush just off the road beyond us, pulled its team right onto the highway, blocking our progress.  We pulled off to the side as six men came out of the thickets.  One approached my wagon.  I moved my rifle under the seat and out of view.  The man claimed to be a constable, checking on movement of goods to avoid taxing.  I showed him the invoice for the hay carried by our wagons."

"He looked at the document for several minutes, laughed and then said that hay was a great way to hide the wares of any store, and motioned for the others to come and search the wagons.  I was sure we were about to be discovered, when the horses suddenly became very agitated, including those of their wagon.  As I tried to steady my team, a sight hard to believe:  several very small men ran by us at great speed slapping the horses of these night highwaymen, causing them to bolt down the road.  The constable was suddenly no longer interested in our hay, and ran by us chasing the wagon, yelling back and forth to one another.  'Did you see them?! It’s them!  It’s them!  We should never posted guard here at night!'"

"The drivers of our other wagons never saw the little men; yet, since that night I have found that there are legends about such little people living in the towns of Eastham and Wellfleet.  I cannot prove this is the case.  I know only what I saw tonight."