Historic Marker at the Site of Charles Nalle's Rescue from Slavery

Passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 meant that African Americans who had escaped bondage, along with free people of color, could be captured and placed into slavery if a judge sided with their captors. As a consequence of the law, the 1850s witnessed a number of daring rescues of formerly enslaved people who had made it to the North but were tracked and captured by slave catchers. The law created a tribunal where only whites were permitted to testify and judges were paid extra if they deemed that the person in question was a former slave. One of the most daring rescues of someone whose freedom was at stake under the new law took place in Troy, New York when Charles Nalle was captured by a US Marshal. Although Nalle had escaped from slavery, anti-slavery women and men, including the famed Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman, were determined to free him. Rather than appeal to the law, the anti-slavery force assembled outside the jail where Nalle was held and helped him escape. The site of Nalle’s rescue is now recognized with a historic marker on 16th Street, near the parking lot of a McDonald's. There is also a plaque at the site of the former courthouse where Nalle was also held prior to his escape.

The Fugitive Slave Law, which was a part of the Compromise of 1850, is regarded by many scholars as one of the worst laws ever written by the US government. The law stated that escaped slaves must be returned, even if they had made it to a free state. The law also made it illegal to hide runaway slaves or assist them in their escape and required people with knowledge of runaways to report them. Additionally, enslaved people were denied a jury trial. Passage of the law effectively meant that even in Northern states, African Americans were not safe from the threat of capture.

One such escapee was Charles Nalle, a formerly enslaved man who escaped his enslaver in Virginia in 1858. He eventually made his way to Troy, New York, where he worked as a as a coachman for the former mayor of Troy, Uri Gilbert. Prior to working for Gilbert, he worked for an attorney in Sandlake named Horace Averill. Nalle was illiterate, as many slaves were, and often asked Averill to write letters for him. Through writing letters for Nalle, Averill came to realize that he was in fact helping an escaped slave, and under the Fugitive Slave Act, he was compelled to report Nalle.

Averill apparently wrote a letter to Nalle’s former owner, who sent someone from Virginia to work with US Marshals to arrest Nalle and bring him back to Virginia. On April 27,1860, Nalle was sent by Uri Gilbert to get bread, and while he was out, a US Marshal arrested him as a runaway slave. He was arrested, taken to the District Circuit Court, and held while a trial was quickly held to determine his fate.

When word began to spread through Troy that Nalle had been arrested, a large crowd began to form at the courthouse. By some accounts, the crowd numbered several hundred people, all of whom were adamant that Nalle must be released. As it happened, Harriet Tubman, the legendary conductor of the Underground Railroad, was in Troy that day to visit relatives. Tubman forced her way through the mob and got inside the building and helped to get Nalle out of the building. As she did this, Nalle’s would-be captors struggled to take him back, tearing the clothes off both Nalle and Tubman as they did so.

Though Nalle could have easily been taken back South and into slavery, his story ended on a happy note. A short time later, fifty-one Troy residents banded together to purchase Nalle’s freedom from his former owner. He continued to live in Troy throughout the Civil War but later moved to Washington, DC, with his family.

The Rescue of Charles Nalle , Hart Cluett Museum . February 19th 2021. Accessed May 4th 2022. https://www.hartcluett.org/rensselaer-county-blog/charlesnalle.

April 27, 1860: Harriet Tubman Helped Rescue Charles Nalle , The Zinn Education Project . Accessed May 4th 2022. https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/harriet-tubman-rescued-charles-nalle/.

An Explosion in Troy: The Charles Nalle Rescue , New York Geography. Accessed May 4th 2022. http://www.nygeo.org/nalle.html.