"NEGROES WANTED: All persons having Negroes to sell will find ready sale & liberal prices for them by calling at the new establishment of BRUIN & HILL." #AlexandriaGazette ad December 1845 from Joseph Bruin & Henry Hill On the night of April 15, 1848, at about 10 pm, the Pearl, a small rickety schooner departed from @TheWharfDC in #SW #DC with 77 enslaved persons. The escapees were assisted by Daniel Drayton, the captain in charge of the ship and Edmund Sayres, the captain in charge of the cargo. Paul Jennings, an enslaved person of #Senator Daniel Webster approached Daniel Drayton earlier in March 1848 to plan the escape. The Pearl departed from the #AnacostiaRiver and sailed down to the #PotomacRiver in #Alexandria where it spent the day. The next day the Pearl set sail for the #ChesapeakeRiver, but the trip was interrupted due to a windstorm. Sayres ordered the ship to take refuge at Point Lookout, and Drayton agreed because he was convinced that they were safely out of the reach of slaveholders in Washington. Slaveholders quickly recognized that many of their servants were nowhere to be found; and it was discovered regular chores were left unattended. A steamship quickly sailed 140 miles down river and captured the Pearl at #PointLookout with the captains and 77 escapees. Emily and Mary Edmonson were among the 14 #children on the Pearl. All of the escapees, including the Edmonson #sisters were transported back to Washington and incarcerated in the Alexandria Bruin Slave Jail. Emily & Mary were sold w other family members to slaveholders from #NewOrleans, a market known for fancy girls. Bruin's daughter begged that Mary and Emily Edmondson be excluded from the group that was eventually sent to New Orleans, including other Edmondson #siblings. Their father, Paul Edmondson, traveled north to raise funds for the #purchase of 2 of his #daughters. Edmonson met Rev Lyman Beecher, #HarriettBeecherStowe's father, who raised the $ overnight. On November 4, 1848, the Edmundson Sisters were freed, & united w #FrederickDouglass & the #abolitionist movement. #AmericanHistory #DMV #BlackLivesMatter #Sculpture #Freedom Sources: alexandriava.gov emancipation.dc.gov (at Bruin's Slave Jail)