Never Caught: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

In the late summer of 1796, Washington is preparing to step down as president—he wants to return to Virginia. He entreats the publisher of a prominent Philadelphia newspaper to print his farewell address. On September 19th, the address is printed. It is time for America to select its next president. Amid all this, however, Washington never loses sight of his need to discreetly recover his fugitive slave, Ona. Washington is ungrateful for the reminder that just as abolitionists have long warned, enslavement is never preferable to freedom—and that even if he catches Ona, he will face a public relations nightmare.

The Washingtons bring only Moll and one other slave back to Philadelphia from Mount Vernon in the wake of Ona’s escape, relying primarily on the labor of their white servants. In September, Washington begins enlisting the help of federal slave-catching agents to bring Ona back to Mount Vernon. In letters to these agents, Washington describes the reason he has come to believe is behind Ona’s escape: he suggests that she has been lured away from bondage by a seductive Frenchman known to the Washington family.

Washington asks one of his secretaries to contact the customs officer in Portsmouth, Joseph Whipple. Washington gives Whipple written permission to sidestep the due processes for returning a slave laid out in the Fugitive Slave Act, urging Whipple to rely upon the Langdons to positively identify Ona—and to then place her on a ship bound immediately for Virginia. Washington promises to compensate Whipple handsomely for his assistance even though Washington’s own finances are in disarray, surely a fact which fuels his rage at Ona’s escape.

Whipple, an educated businessman who has emancipated all the slaves his family once held, was appointed to the station of customs collector by Washington himself in August of 1789. Now, with the formal request from Washington to aid in the recapture and the return to bondage of Ona Judge, Whipple finds himself in a difficult position: he is torn between his abolitionist views and his duty to the president.

Whipple begins his investigation into Ona’s whereabouts, using subterfuge and misleading questions to try to discern where she’s living and for whom she’s working. Through the network of free Black men and women in Portsmouth, Ona learns that the customs collector is “in need of a domestic”—she leaps at the opportunity to go to work for such a prominent man, knowing such a job will carry a higher wage and perhaps greater comforts. Ona agrees to meet with Whipple to discuss the position—but during the meeting, when Whipple begins asking increasingly intimate, probing questions of Ona, Ona catches on to the fact that she’s been deceived. There is no position available—Whipple simply created one in order to lure Ona in.

Whipple realizes that Ona has caught wise. He begins attempting to discuss the reasons she ran away—and potential alternatives to returning to slavery. Ona speaks her mind, telling Whipple that she will not return to a live of enslavement under any circumstances. Whipple tries to tell Ona that he will negotiate with the president on her behalf and try to get Washington to agree to emancipate Ona in the future. Ona, however, refuses to begin discussing a return to bondage. She lies to Whipple, telling him that she will return to the Washingtons. Whipple tells Ona that he will arrange passage on a ship to Virginia for her, and Ona agrees to meet at the docks at the appointed time. She leaves his presence, however, with no intention of following through.

Whipple waits for Ona on the docks on the appointed day, but when she fails to show up, he is apprehensive rather than angry. He writes a letter to one of Washington’s secretaries explaining that his attempt at recapturing Ona has failed. In his letter, he writes that Ona was not lured away from bondage but is rather in possession of “a thirst for compleat freedom.” Whipple includes in his letter the belief that Ona would return to the Washingtons if she were promised eventual emancipation—and also somewhat passive-aggressively reminds Washington of changing attitudes regarding slavery in the North. It is now clear that if Washington wants Ona back, he will be forced to make clear his disregard for these shifting sentiments.

Washington receives Whipple’s news with a resigned disappointment, writing a letter stating that he doesn’t feel that emancipation is practical at this time. He urges Whipple to continue on with his assignment and urge Ona to come back by using any tactic necessary. Washington instructs Whipple to place Ona on a ship bound for the South rather than try to negotiate with her further—but to use discretion all the while. Washington also indicates in his letter that he believes Ona may be pregnant—in which case he is hunting additional “property.”

Whipple does not reply to Washington’s missive until the end of December—in his reply, he apologizes for his failure to apprehend Ona and assures the president that he is doing everything he can to maintain the utmost discretion as he carries out Washington’s wishes. He agrees to continue his pursuit of Ona but offers the president, who is due to leave office in a few months, a word of advice. He suggests that the only way to stop the increasing number of fugitive slaves is to begin a process of gradual abolition. Whipple’s reply makes clear that Washington cannot rely on officials in New Hampshire to return Ona to Virginia—he never replies to Whipple’s last letter. Washington turns his attention to the transfer of power to John Adams, to finding another slave to serve Eliza, and to relocating his family smoothly to Mount Vernon.