THE BATTLE OF PINE SWAMP

In nearly 1100 words, the New Jersey Mirror provided a "blow by blow" account of this infamous battle, using words like "kidnappers" and "invaders" to describe the posse seeking to capture Perry Simmons and family, who had escaped enslavement in Maryland a decade before.  In a subsequent report, the local constable that was recruited to assist in the endeavor laments being duped into joining the effort, having been told that Simmons had committed a crime.  The constable walks home to after declining to participate. 

The original article was published on December 6, 1860. This transcription was published in the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Volume 35 in 2018. It is a very clear portrait of antebellum free Black people who were victorious in their resistance to enslavement.