William Brinkley (Underground Railroad)

In the fall of 1856, Brinkley helped Harriet Tubman and an enslaved woman named Tilly travel north in what was called the Tilly Escape. The women had taken a steamboat from Baltimore to Seaford, Delaware, where they were nearly captured. The women were able to make it to Camden. From there, Brinkley led them to Wilmington, Delaware.[7]

In March 1857, he helped the Dover Eight travel to Philadelphia (in a free state). The Dover Eight were betrayed by Thomas Otwell, a conductor on the railroad, and were nearly captured at the Dover jail, which could have resulted in payment of $3,000 (equivalent to $94,221 in 2022) to Otwell and his conspirators. Six of the Dover Eight returned to Camden and persuaded Otwell to bring them to William Brinkley as originally planned. Brinkley brought them past Dover and Smyrna and then safely taken out of Delaware due to guidance by Thomas Garrett and other Underground Railroad operatives.[7][11] Brinkley wrote of six who had returned to Camden:

We put them through, we have to carry them 19 miles and come back the same night which makes 38 miles. It is too much for our little horses. We must do the best we can, there is much Business done on this Road. We have to go through Dover and Smyrna, the two worst places this side of the Maryland line.

— Letter to a member of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee from William Brinkley, March 23, 1857[12]

In a remarkable escape the rainy night of October 24, 1857 when two dozen people escaped from six Dorchester County, Maryland enslavers. Nearly all of Samuel Pattison's bondspeople had run away. The event is notable because of the size of the group of people, who traveled with infants and other children, through days of heavy rains.[13] Over the first three days it rained heavily and their group grew to 28 people when Marshall Dutton, George and Solomon Light, and Silas Long joined them. They prepared for run-ins with slave capturers by carrying pistols, knives, and other weapons.[13]

It was a group of 28 freedom seekers, including seventeen children and two infants, who met up with Brinkley and his associates who took them north to Centreville in the Wilmington area. In an effort to outrun any slave catchers, Brinkley drove his carriage too fast and it broke down and the horse was injured.[7][13] The group, especially the children, were exhausted, cold, hungry and ill. Some of the people were barefoot.[13] Word got to Thomas Garrett by the 31st that most the group was in Centreville, which he relayed to William Still. There was a 14-year-old-boy who became separated from the rest of the group.[13] The fugitives split into smaller groups and went to a number of places outside of Philadelphia. They pushed through unusually heavy snowstorms throughout November.[13] Most of the group made it to St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.[7][13]

Besides Brinkley, there were a number of black Underground Railroad conductors in Delaware: Samuel Burris, Harry Craige, Joseph Hamilton, Evan Lewis, Davey Moore, Comegys Munson, Severn Johnson, Abraham Shadd, Joseph G. Walker, and George Wilmer. The white conductors were John Alston, Daniel Corbit, Isaac S. Flint, Daniel Gibbons, John Hunn, Benjamin Webb, Thomas Webb, William Webb, all under the leadership of Thomas Garrett.[14]