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Ann G. Sprigg (c. 1799 – December 20, 1870)[1] was a Washington, D.C. antislavery activist whose Capitol Hill boardinghouse was an important meeting site for prominent abolitionists.[2]
Sprigg was born Ann G. Thornton in Virginia and married to Congressional clerk Benjamin Sprigg.[1] After Benjamin's death in 1833,[3] Sprigg
Sprigg's boardinghouse was home to the abolitionist Joshua Reed Giddings for more than a decade. Her devotion to the cause of ending slavery permitted Joshua Reed Giddings to convene frequent meetings of an increasingly bold contingent of antislavery activists and politician.[4] In addition to Giddings, William Slade, Seth M. Gates, Joshua Leavitt, and Theodore Dwight Weld lived together in Sprigg's house – which Weld nicknamed the "Abolition House" – for several sessions of Congress.[2] In 1847, newly elected congressman Abraham Lincoln stumbled upon the boarding house. He lived there when in Washington for the next two years.[5]
Sprigg retained her slaveholder status so that she could free any slaves she acquired.[4] It is not known whether Sprigg was a member of the Underground Railroad, but she had mutual acquaintances with active members and several slaves hired out to work at Sprigg's boardinghouse escaped with their help. In 1842, Thomas Smallwood and Charles Torrey facilitated the escape of Robert, a slave she hired as a cook, and John Douglass, a slave hired as a waiter.[2]
Sprigg's associations meant her household could be a target for proslavery retaliation. In early 1848, "three ruffians," armed with pistols, forced their way into her boarding house and bound and gagged her waiter, Henry Wilson. Giddings was fond of Wilson and his wife, the freedwoman Sylvia Wilson, and the kidnapping was thought to be related to Giddings' introduction in Congress of a petition signed by Washington residents to abolish slavery. Wilson, who was buying his freedom in installments, was imprisoned at Williams's Slave Pen. Sylvia lobbied for his freedom and Wilson's imprisonment became a national scandal. He was finally freed with the intervention of Sprigg's landlord, the proslavery Duff Green, and he returned to Sprigg's home.[2]
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During the Civil War, Carroll Row, the row of townhouses where Sprigg ran her boardinghouse, was used to harbor runaway slaves. http://dcpreservation.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Capitol-Hill-Brochure.pdf
In July of 1864, in a letter to the US Treasurer, Lincoln, recommended Sprigg for a clerk position in the treasury's loan branch.[5]
In 1897, the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress was moved to the former site of Sprigg's boardinghouse[s]. Sprigg is buried in an unmarked grave in the Congressional Cemetery.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b Russell, Hillary (2001). "The Operation of the Underground Railroad in Washington, D.C., c. 1800–1860" (PDF). nps.gov. The Historical Society of Washington D.C. and the National Park Service. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Harrold, Stanley (2003). Subversives: Antislavery Community in Washington, D.C., 1828–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 66, 81–82, 108–111.
- ^ "Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery". http://www.congressionalcemetery.org/. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
{{cite web}}: External link in|website= - ^ a b McKivigan, John R. and Harrold, Stanley (1999). Antislavery Violence: Sectional, Racial, and Cultural Conflict in Antebellum America. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 172–173, 182–183, 191.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Evans, Clark (March 2009). "Cornucopia of Lincolniana: Library of Congress Houses Unparalleled Collection on 16th President". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ "Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery Walk Tours" (PDF). Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
External links
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