Charles Turner Torrey was an American pastor, journalist, and one of the most daring and politically-minded abolitionists of the 19th century. He played a major role in the fight against slavery by organizing direct actions to help enslaved Africans escape to freedom. His efforts were bold, controversial, and dangerous, and ultimately, they cost him his freedom and his life.
Born in Scituate, Massachusetts, on November 21, 1813, Charles Turner Torrey knew tragedy early. By the time he was four, tuberculosis had claimed the lives of his mother, father, and baby sister. Orphaned, he was taken in by his maternal grandparents and raised in the area that would later become Norwell. His grandfather, a former U.S. congressman, played a formative role in his upbringing, introducing him to politics and public affairs, laying the foundation for a life devoted to justice and service.
At just 16, he entered Yale College. While there, he experienced a profound religious awakening during a revival meeting, dedicating his life to Jesus Christ. After graduation, he briefly tried teaching before enrolling in Andover Theological Seminary to become a minister.
At Andover, Torrey became deeply moved by the rising debates over the enslavement of Africans. He joined the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, initially working with William Lloyd Garrison, the influential editor of The Liberator. Garrison championed “moral suasion”, the belief that slavery could be ended by persuading Americans to see its evil through lectures and pamphlets. But Torrey grew frustrated with what he saw as a passive approach. He wanted action.
In 1839, Torrey and fellow ministers like Amos Phelps and Henry Stanton tried to challenge Garrison’s leadership. When that effort failed, they formed a rival group, eventually known as the “New Organization”, which favored a more political and activist approach. This split, paved the way for the formation of the Liberty Party in 1840. Torrey helped organize the party and became its Massachusetts leader, believing that only through political pressure could slavery be dismantled in America.
In 1841, he moved to Washington, D.C., under the guise of reporting for abolitionist newspapers, but his real mission was far riskier: to set up a highly organized line of the Underground Railroad.
Torrey teamed up with Thomas Smallwood, a brave and intelligent free Black man. Their partnership was groundbreaking. In an era when many white abolitionists saw Black allies as assistants, Torrey viewed Smallwood as an equal. The two devised a plan to help enslaved Africans in the capital escape north, through Baltimore, Philadelphia, Albany, and on to freedom in Canada. Using rented wagons and relying on Quaker safe houses, they often moved 15 to 20 people at a time. They deliberately targeted enslaved Africans owned by prominent Southern politicians, hoping to make slavery not just a moral crisis, but a national embarrassment.
Between 1842 and 1843, Torrey and Smallwood helped nearly 400 people escape. Their efforts were funded largely by Gerrit Smith, a wealthy New York abolitionist who shared their radical vision. But as the stakes rose, so did the risks.
In 1844, Torrey returned to Maryland, even though he was already a wanted man. He was arrested in Baltimore that June, reportedly carrying two pistols. He was charged with stealing slaves and placed in jail to await trial.
While awaiting trial, Forrey wrote Henry B. Stanton, the abolitionist leader, “If I am a guilty man, I am a very guilty one; for I have aided nearly four hundred slaves to escape to freedom, the greater part of whom would probably, but for my exertions, have died in slavery.”
At first, Torrey saw his arrest as a chance to legally challenge the constitutionality of slavery itself. But that argument went nowhere in court.
Desperate, he tried to escape. He almost made it, but his plan was betrayed by a fellow inmate. In December 1844, Torrey was convicted and sentenced to six years in Maryland’s state penitentiary.
The prison was cold, damp, and overcrowded. The same disease that had claimed his entire immediate family, tuberculosis, returned. His health deteriorated rapidly. Back home in Massachusetts, friends and supporters formed “Torrey Committees” to raise money and petition for his release. Linus Child, a prominent Lowell industrialist, personally appealed to Maryland’s governor for a pardon. The governor finally agreed, but the letter of clemency arrived too late. On May 9, 1846, Charles Turner Torrey died in prison. He was just 32 years old.
Torrey’s body was brought back to Boston, where hundreds attended his funeral at Tremont Temple. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, beneath a monument funded by the Anti-Slavery Society and the abolitionist Photius Fisk. The statue atop his grave shows a grieving enslaved African woman, symbolic of the many lives he tried to free.
After Torrey’s death, William L. Chaplin took over the work he had begun in Washington, continuing the dangerous but vital task of helping enslaved Africans escape. Torrey’s role in the Underground Railroad, once nearly forgotten, has since been restored to its rightful place in history, thanks in part to modern scholars who uncovered the depth of his efforts.
Sources:
https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc5400/sc5496/003300/003363/html/003363bio.html
The Legend of John Brown by Boyer, Richard Owen (1973).
