| The Fugitive Slave Law finally brought about the first blood of conflict, in what became known as the "Battle of Christiana." The town was Christiana, a Pennsylvania village near the Maryland border. On September 1, 1851, a slave owner, accompanied by relatives and two deputy marshalls, arrived in the town and demanded the return of two slaves who had escaped two years earlier. The slave holders were warned to leave town; when they refused, violence broke out. When the violence ended, the owner was dead, his son was seriously wounded. The fugitives escaped to Canada. Fillmore called in the Marines, in an attempt to find the fugitives. They arrested 30 Blacks and 6 Whites, whom they charged with treason. The case was dropped, but the first blood had been spilled. |
