The Immortal Ten were a group of militant

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

and Free-Staters in the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

who, on July 23, 1859, freed Dr. John Doy from a

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

jail, where he was being held for allegedly abducting

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Doy and his 19-year-old son Charles were fellow abolitionists who had been arrested by pro-slavery Missouri bounty hunters while trying to deliver slaves to freedom in the Nebraska Territory via the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. While his son was acquitted of the charges and released, John was sentenced to prison. The ten men who took it upon themselves to rescue Doy were led by Major James B. Abbott and included Doy's son Charles, George R. Hay,

Silas Soule Silas Stillman Soule (/ˈsoʊl/ ole (July 26, 1838 – April 23, 1865) was an American abolitionist, military officer and 'conductor' on the Underground Railroad. As a Kansas Jayhawker, he supported and was a proponent of John Brown's mov ...

, Capt. John E. Stewart, S.J. Willis, Thomas Simmons, Joseph Gardner, Jacob Senix, and Captain Joshua A. Pike. The episode occurred during a period of violent interstate ideological conflict preceding the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

known as " Bleeding Kansas".

Capture of John and Charles Doy

On January 25, 1859, the Doys were passing through

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

en route to the Nebraska Territory with thirteen slaves. John and Charles were just 12 miles outside of Lawrence when they were caught and surrounded by a group of armed pro-slavery " Border Ruffians" who had come from Missouri (a

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

) for the purpose of capturing escaped slaves and stopping activity on the Underground Railroad. When confronted, John was threatened to be killed on the spot. All that he asked was that they did not fire toward the carriage, since there were women and children inside. The option of fighting back was not in the Doys' favor as they were greatly outnumbered. Both John and Charles were arrested and thrown in jail temporarily until their trial on March 20, 1859, in

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

. Charles was eventually cleared of all charges, but the jury could not agree on a verdict for John and he was tried a second time. At the second trial, Dr. Doy was convicted of abducting slaves and sentenced to five years in the Missouri State Penitentiary.

Rescue

In the summer of 1859, while Dr. Doy was imprisoned in the St. Joseph jail, Major James B. Abbott put together a crew of ten men to rescue him. The plan was carried out on July 23. Two of the men pretended to be bounty hunters who had caught a horse thief (who was also part of the crew) and distracted the guards while the rest of the men overtook the prison and went after Doy. Doy was found very ill and unable to walk due to exhaustion and disease, so a couple of the men carried him out. A famous

ambrotype The ambrotype (from grc, ἀμβροτός — “immortal”, and — “impression”) also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. Like a pr ...

photograph of the Immortal Ten was taken in Lawrence by photographer Amon Gilbert DaLee shortly after the rescue. It depicts the whole crew together while Doy is sitting in a chair in the front, unable to stand on his own. A bounty was put on Doy's head for $100 if caught outside Missouri and $50 if caught inside Missouri. Soon after his escape, Dr. Doy left Lawrence for

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where he published a book, ''The narrative of John Doy, of Lawrence, Kansas : "A plain, unvarnished tale" (1860)'', giving an account of his trial and conviction. His book spoke kindly of the witnesses and attorneys who prosecuted him, but bitterly of the officers and jury who convicted him. He died in New York a few years later. His son Charles was hanged in southern Kansas for horse theft in the fall of 1860.

Later achievements of the Immortal Ten

One member of the Immortal Ten was acknowledged for his brave act and was able to make his own place in history.

was a well-known anti-slavery militant and a personal friend of

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

and

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

. During the American Civil War, he joined a Colorado volunteer army fighting for the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

and was eventually promoted to the rank of captain. Soule was present at the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, where he ordered his unit not to participate in the slaughter. He also later testified against the units that did participate and was murdered as a result.

Film

Doy's rescue by the Immortal Ten is the subject of a 2017 book by author Gary Jenkins, ''The Immortal 10: A Story from the Kansas Underground Railroad''. A documentary film based on the book, ''The Immortal 10 and the Rescue of Dr. John Doy'', was also released.

References

External links