In June of 1851, Charles Wedley was kidnapped in Pittsburgh, marched to Maryland, and nearly sold to a slave master. He was a nineteen year old Black man who lived in the city’s Seventh Ward with his grandmother and four younger siblings.

Wedley’s troubles began when two visitors heard of his plans to travel to Philadelphia. They offered to bring him east. This was a set-up, however, for when they arrived at Licking Creek in Bedford County, “a gang of ruffians rushed upon Wedley, and declared that they knew him well — that he was a slave, and had escaped from Wheeling.”

Wedley was then taken into Maryland and offered for sale to a slave owner. However, this enslaver quickly realized that he “knew too much, and would not only run off himself, but cause his other slaves to escape.” He refu

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