Historian Josephine Pacheco, 87; Wrote About Slaves' Escape Effort

Josephine F. Pacheco, a historian and retired George Mason University professor who revived the little-known Washington story about one of the largest attempted slave escapes in U.S. history, died of gastric cancer Aug. 16 at her home in Falls Church. She was 87.

Dr. Pacheco's 2005 book, "The Pearl: A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac," relates the story of 76 slaves who fled from their wealthy Washington owners the night of April 15, 1848, on a small schooner called the Pearl. The runaways, aided by local abolitionists, were bound for Philadelphia.

"The plan, based on geography, was to sail down the river to the Chesapeake, then up the bay to freedom," Dr. Pacheco wrote. "It was a daring and seemingly foolproof scheme, except the planner had not taken into account the vagaries of the weather."

After waiting overnight because of calm winds, the Pearl set sail down the Potomac. But as it reached the mouth of the river, forceful currents interrupted the escape. Before the schooner could resume sailing, a posse of enraged slave owners captured the fugitives on the Chesapeake Bay near St. Mary's County.

Dr. Pacheco's book was praised for shedding light on antebellum Washington's slave community, which numbered about 4,000. The city also had about 10,000 free blacks.

The book also highlighted how the attempted escape provoked congressional debates over the slave trade that led ultimately to the Compromise of 1850 and Southern secession.

"Pacheco's story of the Pearl is riveting," Howard University history professor Joseph P. Reidy wrote in 2005. "In its broad sweep and deep engagement with the issues that eventually propelled the nation into Civil War, 'The Pearl' contributes new insights into the antebellum contest over the future of slavery in the nation's capital."

Dr. Pacheco concluded that the Pearl escape attempt was a major blow against slavery in Washington.

"Had it succeeded, it would have sent shock waves throughout the country, proving to northerners and southerners alike the vulnerability of the slave system," she wrote. "Even its failure had great import for slavery in the nation's capital, as southerners clearly recognized."

Historian Thomas C. Buchanan said in a review that the book was a "masterfully told" work that "wonderfully and convincingly illustrates how the decisions of ordinary slaves to resist helped rupture the political fabric of the nation."

Josephine Franklin Fennell, the daughter of a small Virginia farmer, was born Nov. 18, 1920, in Richmond. She was a 1941 graduate of the University of Richmond, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

From the University of Chicago, she received a master's degree in history in 1943 and a doctorate in 1950 for which she wrote a dissertation about French secret agents in the American Revolution.