Frederick Douglass invokes folklore of Barbara Fritchie, famed Frederick City Unionist immortalized in poem by John Greenleaf Whittier

In February of 1881 a standing-room crowd gathered at Washington City’s Masonic Temple in the name of the Roscoe Conkling Club of Boys of Blue. Exercises were opened by Civil War veteran and foreman of the Congressional Record Edward W. Oyster, who introduced Frederick Douglass, speaking on behalf of New York Senator Conkling. During a flag presentation Mr. Douglass spoke in eloquent personal terms about the symbolism of the American flag.  

Below is an excerpt of the remarks of Mr. Douglass.

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Out of this howling storm of war there came many utterances which found their way straight to the hearts of the American people, but none more than this: “If any man attempts to haul down the American flag shoot him on the spot.” 

The sentiment of the Nation was echoed by Barbara Frietchie –

“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,

But spare your country’s flag,” she said.

Gentlemen, there was a time when this flag was less a symbol of Universal liberty than now ; when it waved over slaves as well as freemen. It was then open to criticism, derision, and reproach. The subjects of the divine-right governments of Europe were not slow in finding this weak point in our institutions, nor delicate in calling attention to it.

Campbell, the war poet of England, thus alludes to to it:

“United States! your banner bears

Two emblems one of fame ;

Alas! the other that it wears

Reminds us of your shame.

The white man’s liberty in types

Is blazoned by your stars;

But what’s the moaning of your stripes?

They mean your negroes’ scars!”

Thanks to the “logic of events,” thanks to Abraham Lincoln, thanks to our great generals, our patriotic statesmen ; thanks to the brave Boys in Blue, thanks to the eternal principles of right and all the moral forces of the universe, this broad banner, waving over our whole Nation, looks down upon a country where there is no master, no slave, and where liberty and equality are the legal conditions of all men, “without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Take the flag, General; hand it to this club of Boys in Blue, and

“Long may it wave.

O’er the land of the free

And the home of the brave.”

Frederick City Postmaster Charles W. Miler on stage w/ US Marshal Douglass in Frederick City (April 1879)

As we continue to reverse engineer the multiple visits of Frederick Douglass to Appalachian Maryland we continue to reveal new insights into the company Mr. Douglass kept.

Speaking in Frederick City in early April 1879, U.S. Marshal Douglass shared the stage with many dignitaries, including Dr. Lewis Henry Steiner, Hon. Henry Clay Naill, Rev. Peck and others, including Frederick City Postmaster Charles Washington Miller.

Miller was nominated in 1872 to serve as Postmaster of Frederick City under the  administration of President Grant and U.S. Postmaster General John A. J. Creswell. He served until 1885, resigning with the incoming administration of Grover Cleveland.

We do ponder the further connections between Douglass and Miller within not only Republican Party politics in Maryland and Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, more specifically, but within the system of patronage. Indications are Douglass and Miller maintained connections before and after sharing a stage in Frederick City in April 1879.

Baltime County Union. Dec 18, 1880. p. 2. col. 1.

Did Miller employ Black Americans within Frederick City’s postal system? We would think so. The integration of the ranks of the United States Postal Service under the administration of Postmaster General A. J. Creswell and the Grant administration is a history that has yet to be told.

Miller is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick City.

NEWS FLASH! -> Underground Railroad Forever® Stamps -> First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony @ Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center on Saturday, March 9, 2024 @ 11AM (EST) [story from Linn’s Stamp News by Charles Snee]

On March 9, the United States Postal Service will honor the noble efforts of 10 individuals, known as operatives, who escaped slavery or assisted others to escape on the Underground Railroad.

In a fitting tribute to Harriet Tubman, one of the 10 people pictured on the stamps, the first-day ceremony for the nondenominated (68¢) Underground Railroad stamps will take place at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, 4068 Golden Hill Road, in Church Creek, Md.

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. “This stamp event is a tented outdoor event that is free and open to the public,” according to the Postal Service.

“Join us for a journey in history by walking in the footsteps of 10 heroes who escaped slavery and/or helped others escape during a pivotal resistance movement,” the USPS said.

Ronald A. Stroman, a member of the Postal Service’s board of governors, will serve as the dedicating official.

To register for the event online, visit the Postal Service’s website. Each attendee may invite up to 98 additional guests, the USPS said.

As with several recent 2024 issues, the Postal Service’s Stamp Fulfillment Services center in Kansas City, Mo., will automatically distribute panes of 20 (containing two of each stamp) of the Underground Railroad stamps to post offices.

USPS art director and designer Antonio Alcala used existing sepia photographs of the six men and four women portrayed on the stamps.

Illustrated above is the Postal Service’s preliminary image of a block of 10 Underground Railroad stamps. Pictured in the first row (left to right) are Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett, William Still, Harriet Jacobs and Jermain Loguen. The second row features (left to right) Catharine Coffin, Lewis Hayden, Frederick Douglass, William Lambert and Laura Haviland.

At the top of each design, a closely cropped image of the operative’s head is shown against a light or dark background at left. The operative’s name and “FOREVER” are lettered down the right side.

Beneath each photo are eight lines of text in capital letters: “BLACK/WHITE,” “COOPERATION,” “TRUST/DANGER,” “FLIGHT/FAITH,” “COURAGE/RISK,” “DEFIANCE/HOPE,” and “UNDERGROUND RAILROAD/USA.”

Alcala shared with Linn’s Stamp News some insights about the process the Postal Service used to pick the 10 individuals shown on the stamps.

“The design originally began with four portraits before expanding it to ten,” Alcala said. “Our goal was to represent the wide variety of people involved in helping people escape enslavement and move toward freedom.”

“Of course, we were limited to those for whom a history is known, and a portrait exists,” he recalled. “There were many anonymous contributors to the Underground Railroad.”

“What sources inspired the dynamic words printed beneath each portrait?” Alcala was asked.

“The words are not from any particular source but reflect our understanding of the Underground Railroad learned from historical materials and input from consultants who are authorities on the topic,” Alcala replied.

Alcala found the Underground Railroad a challenging subject, noting that “many early sketches were discarded.”

“It wasn’t until I added words in my sketches that this direction began to take shape,” he said.

Overall, Alcala sought to create a set of stamps that would capture the noble work of those who worked along the Underground Railroad.

“My goal was to create a design communicating the collaborative efforts of many brave individuals and communities,” Alcala said. “This is the reason the Underground Railroad succeeded.”

Illustrated above are preliminary images of both sides of the Underground Railroad pane of 20. The light brown selvage (margin paper) features a header in capital letters that reads, “The Underground Railroad.”

A plate number appears in the bottom corners. On issued panes, the plate number will be a “P” followed by four single digits. The “P” stands for printer Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. Each digit represents one of the four process colors used to print the stamps: black, cyan, magenta and yellow.

On the back of the pane is a map showing the routes along the Underground Railroad. Text below the map reads: “The Underground Railroad Network to Freedom encompassed the efforts of enslaved African Americans to escape bondage, and the efforts of people — or ‘operatives’ — of all backgrounds to assist them, in the period before the Civil War ended in 1865.

story continues on Linn’s Stamp News *HERE*

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Press Release from USPS ->February 9, 2024 -> “U.S. Postal Service Remembers Shining Beacons of the Underground Railroad on New Forever Stamps“

Sign up *HERE* -> The Underground Railroad Forever® Stamps -> First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center on Saturday, March 9, at 11 a.m. EST.

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Editor’s Note:

h/t Silver Spring Douglassonian Hon. Uncle Jerry A. McCoy for passing on the news release!

Appalachian Maryland Douglassonian Associate – Alexander Walker Wayman, 7th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

Hon. Nathan M. Richardson always on time as Historical Interpreter of Hon. Frederick Douglass; brief note

Today during a historical interpretation in Fairfax VA, a man asked Frederick Douglass (portrayed by Nathan Richardson)

“Mr. Douglass, You know there were blacks who owned slaves don’t you?”

“Yes Sir!” Douglass responded. “There were a few blacks who owned slaves, but you hold up the Black Slave Holder as if they were as plentiful as horses, when in fact they were as rare as a Unicorn.

Sir, how many horses will you have to count before you can show me a Unicorn?”

When Mr. Douglass left the stage, the gentleman was still counting horses.

~ Nathan M. Richardson (Historical Interpreter of Frederick Douglass)

[posted vis NMR February 2024]

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Editor’s Note:

Mr. Richardson, as Mr. Frederick Douglass, saved America in the summer of 2020 in portraying Mr. Douglass on succesive weeks in Washington City’s Emancipation Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

When Mr. Douglass recieves his Congress Gold Medal let it be Mr. Richardson, due his years of honorable service to his country as Veteran and a public historian and educator, continue to portray Mr. Douglass with distinction, pathos and humor.

US Representative Louis E. McComas & future Allegany County State’s Attorney David W. Sloan address Emancipation picnic in Frostburg in 1884

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While often sending delegations to Emancipation celebrations in nearby cities & towns in 3 states, archival records demonstrate citizens of Frostburg held their own independent Emancipation celebrations across several years following the War.

In August 1884 sitting US Representative and future United States Senator Louis E. McComas of Hagerstown and future Allegany County State’s Attorney & Associate Judge of the Fourth Judicial District of Maryland David W. Sloan (1850 – 1902) of Cumberland addressed an Emancipation picnic held in Frostburg.

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Editor’s Note:

 As we are working through our various research notes we are working on various ways of presenting this research. We do hope that L. Bowman, and/or others out there, do not reproduce research of Lost History Associates without proper attribution and citation. 

Opera House in Frostburg, Maryland (1907)

In March 1882 Frederick Douglass traveled by railroad from Washington City to Frostburg in western Allegany County, Maryland to deliver a benefit lecture in the Opera House. (courtesy City of Frostburg)

General John A. Steiner (1816 – 1902), on stage with US Marshal Frederick Dougass in Frederick City

An albumen photo of John A. Steiner recently sold via the Union Drummer Boy in Gettysburg.

When speaking in Frederick City United States Marshal Frederick Douglass was joined by several noted individuals on stage, including Union veteran John A. Steiner (1816 – 1902).

General Steiner was noted as an active Republican in obituaries. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick City.

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Congressman Glenn Ivey Announces Bipartisan Resolution to Bestow Congressional Gold Medal to Frederick Douglass (February 2024)

By honoring our heroes, we inspire others to follow in their footsteps. That's why I'm introducing the bipartisan Frederick Douglass Congressional Gold Medal Act. It's high time that Congress properly acknowledge the legacy of this great American. #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM pic.twitter.com/Kg6Uz0FaZk

— Rep. Glenn Ivey (@RepGlennIvey) February 14, 2024

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By honoring our heroes, we inspire others to follow in their footsteps. That’s why I’m introducing the bipartisan Frederick Douglass Congressional Gold Medal Act. It’s high time that Congress properly acknowledge the legacy of this great American. #BlackHistoryMonth#BHM

via @RepGlennIvey / [press release]

Frederick Douglass walking tours -> Old Anacostia (Saturday, February 17) & Fell’s Point (Sunday, February 18)

Join Lost History Associates this weekend as two of the most popular walking tours return!

Frederick Douglass in Old Anacostia -> Saturday, February 17, 2024 @ 9:30AM (meet at the visitor’s center of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site)

Frederick (Bailey) Douglass in Fell’s Point -> Sunday, February 18, 2024 @ 9:00AM (meet at the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park)