Oberlin-Wellington Rescue

The Oberlin–Wellington Rescue of 1858 in Lorain County, Ohio was a key event and cause celèbre in the history of the abolitionist movement in the United States shortly before the American Civil War. John Price, an escaped slave, was arrested in Oberlin, Ohio under the Fugitive Slave Law, and taken to Wellington by the US Marshal. Rescuers took him by force from the marshals and back to Oberlin, then to freedom in Canada.

Thirty-seven of the rescuers were at first indicted, but as a result of state and federal negotiations, only two were tried in federal court. The case received national attention, and defendants argued eloquently against the law. When rescue allies went to the 1859 Ohio Republican convention, they added a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 to the party platform. The rescue and continued activism of its participants kept the issue of slavery as part of the national discussion.

On September 13, 1858, a runaway slave named John Price, from Maysville, Kentucky, was arrested by a United States marshal in Oberlin, Ohio. Under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, the federal government assisted slaveholders in reclaiming their runaway slaves. The marshal knew that many Oberlin residents were committed to abolitionism, and the town and college were known for their radical anti-slavery stance. To avoid conflict with locals and to quickly get the slave to Columbus and en route to the slave's owner in Kentucky, the marshal quickly took Price to nearby Wellington, Ohio to board a train.

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