Frederick Douglass responds to the author of Tales of the Chesapeake, speaking of their different childhood experiences due to slavery, and defending Robert Ingersoll

“I dreaded going to Peoria as I expected to be compelled to walk the streets all that night to keep from freezing, as the last time went in Peoria no hotel in that city would receive me…

I went to Peoria that night with all the sin of my hated complexion upon me and found Robert G Ingersoll the Good Samaritan that Mr. Brown described him to be…

I shall certainly read your Tales of the Chesapeake. A child of the Eastern Shore myself, I share your sentiment for that section, though to me it was slavery and ignorance, and to you liberty and intelligence. You are wrong in saying I bought my liberty, a few friends in England bought me and made me a present of myself.”

In a letter to one of the Civil War’s great journalists, Douglass defends the character of noted atheist Robert Ingersoll, and corrects a point about Douglass’ own freedom. As a “runaway,” Douglass spent two years in England and Ireland until British friends purchased his freedom, allowing for his safe return to the United States.

★ Frederick Douglass. Autograph Letter Signed to [George Alfred] Townsend. Washington, D.C., May 5, 1880. 4 pp. #24739