DECEMBER 18, 1863:
William Breedlove, a blacksmith
and a “free person of colour” was convicted in Virginia for aiding and abetting
escaping slaves to enter Union lines. His punishment was to be perpetual
enslavement. Today, his Attorneys petitioned the Governor of Virginia for a
complete pardon on the grounds that everyone involved (including Breedlove and
the witnesses who testified against him) agreed that they believed the escapees
to be carrying the proper passes.
Breedlove was pardoned, and his freedom was restored in one of the few
such decisions in American history.
After the war, Breedlove helped draft the
new Virginia State Constitution, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace, Town
Councilman, and Postmaster of Tappahannock, Virginia.
