Rosetta Armstead petition from L. G. Van Slyke   Save
Ohio History Connection Archives/Library
Description: Petition by Lewis G. Van Slyke, written in the 1855 case of Rosetta Armstead (sometimes written Armistead), for the release of Rosetta from unlawful custody. Rosetta was a sixteen year old slave who was brought to Ohio by an agent of her master. As Ohio was a free state, she sued for her freedom in the Court of Common Pleas at Columbus. The judge in the lower court declared her to be free and the case was then moved to the U.S. Circuit Court in Cincinnati, and presided over by future Justice of the Supreme Court Judge John McClean. Rosetta was defended in court by Salmon Chase, who would later become governor of Ohio; Timothy Walker, a prominent lawyer and co-founder of the Cincinnati Law School; and future president Rutherford B. Hayes. According to Hayes' closing argument, and finally ruled so by the judge after a week of deliberation, Rosetta was free upon the master's agent bringing her to the free state of Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: VFM6324_04_01
Subjects: Rosetta Armstead; Fugitive slaves--Ohio--History; Law & legal affairs; Governors--Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio); Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)