SPARKS MARKER

Resistance, not a riot. Historic sign in Baltimore County to be changed

By John Lee, WYPR

(cover) The Gorsuch Tavern marker on York Road in Baltimore County. John Lee / WYPR

The marker is in front of the building where the posse gathered in September 1851. John Lee / WYPR

The Christiana Underground Railroad Center in Christiana, PA. John Lee / WYPR

Monument to Edward Gorsuch in Christiana, PA. John Lee / WYPR

In 1851, four men who had escaped from their enslaver in Baltimore County sparked a battle in the small Pennsylvania town of Christiana. An historic marker on York Road south of Hereford calls what happened a “riot.”

That mischaracterizes what was actually an act of resistance. There are plans to correct that historical record.

The men ran away from a farm owned by Edward Gorsuch and crossed into Pennsylvania. For a time they were protected by Pennsylvania state law, but then Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required runaway slaves to be returned.

So Gorsuch decided to round up a posse and go get his property.

He was told they were in Christiana.

“When Edward Gorsuch FINISH READING HERE

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