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{{short description|American activist}}

'''Richard Dillingham''', ([[June 18]], [[1823]] - [[June 30]], [[1850]]), was a [[Quaker]] school teacher from Peru Township in what is now [[Morrow County, Ohio]], who was arrested in [[Tennessee]] on [[December 5]], [[1848]], while aiding the attempted escape of three slaves. Tried [[April 12]], [[1849]], he was sentenced to three years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], where he died of [[cholera]]. He was celebrated as a [[martyr]] to the [[abolitionist]] cause by novelist [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], fellow Quaker [[Levi Coffin]] and the poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier]], who wrote the poem ''The Cross'' in Dillingham's honor.

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Dillingham

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1823|6|18}}

| birth_place = [[Peru Township, Morrow County, Ohio]], U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1850|6|23|1823|6|18}}

| death_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee]], U.S.

| occupation = School teacher, abolitionist

}}

'''Richard Dillingham''', ([[June 18]], [[1823]] -&ndash; [[June 30]], [[1850]]), was a [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker]] school teacher from [[Peru Township, Morrow County, Ohio|Peru Township]] in what is now [[Morrow County, Ohio]], U.S.,<ref>Peru Township was part of [[Delaware County, Ohio|Delaware County]] when Dillingham was born. It became part of Morrow County in 1848.</ref> who was arrested in [[Tennessee]] on [[December 5]], [[1848]], while aiding the attempted escape of three slaves. Tried [[April 12]], [[1849]], he was sentenced to three years in the [[Tennessee State Prison|Tennessee State Penitentiary]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]],. where heHe died there of [[cholera]]. He was celebrated as a [[martyr]] to the [[abolitionist]] cause by novelist [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], fellow Quaker [[Levi Coffin]] and the poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier]], who wrote the poem ''The Cross'' in Dillingham's honor.

{{US-bio-stub}}

Dillingham was celebrated as a [[martyr]] to the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] cause by novelist [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], fellow Quaker [[Levi Coffin]] and the poet [[John Greenleaf Whittier]], who wrote the poem ''The Cross'' in Dillingham's honor.

In his ''Memoir of Richard Dillingham'', Levi Coffin describes Dillingham's arrest:

<blockquote>

In December, 1848, being then in Cincinnati, he was earnestly solicited by some non-white people to go to Nashville, Tennessee, and bring away their relations who were slaves there, under a hard master. He undertook the project, though fully conscious that he encountered great danger. Reaching Nashville, he made himself known to the slaves whom he had come to rescue, and made private arrangements with them about escaping. At the appointed time the party left the city, the three slaves being in a hack, which Dillingham had hired, with a free non-white man who acted as driver. Dillingham himself was on horseback. The way to freedom and safety seemed open, but treachery thwarted all their plans. A non-white man in whom Dillingham had confided, betrayed him&ndash;through what motive, it is not known--and the whole party were arrested when they reached the bridge across the Cumberland river.<ref>[http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/coffin/coffin.html#p713 Coffin, Levi. ''Memoir of Richard Dillingham,'' appendix from ''Reminiscences of Levi Coffin'' (electronic edition), Academic Affairs Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001, p. 714.] Retrieved 2015-02-02</ref>

</blockquote>

Tried and convicted for "Negro stealing," Dillingham was given the minimum sentence of three years.<ref>{{cite web

| url =http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Richard_Dillingham

| title =Ohio History Central: Richard Dillingham

| publisher =Ohio History Connection

| access-date =2015-02-02

}} See also [http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/inmate2.htm#d Transcription of Tennessee State Penitentiary record listing Richard Dillingham ("Dillionham") as inmate.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414190727/http://tennessee.gov/tsla/history/state/inmate2.htm#d |date=2009-04-14 }} Retrieved 2015-02-02.</ref> Levi Coffin's ''Memoir'' relates what happened next:

<blockquote>

Richard Dillingham was transferred from the county jail to the penitentiary, and put to hard labor, namely, sawing rock. He was allowed to write to his friends but once in three months, and his letters were inspected by the warden. His health suffered, and he became despondent. After nine months' imprisonment he was made steward of the penitentiary hospital, a post which he filled to the satisfaction of the prison officials. In the summer of 1850, the cholera broke out among the inmates of the penitentiary, and many died. Richard Dillingham dealt out medicines, and was unwearied in his attentions to his fellow prisoners, many of whom he saw die and be buried in one day. At last the solemn message came to him. One Sabbath morning he was attacked with cholera; he died at two o'clock, p. m., and was buried at half past three.<ref>Coffin, p. 718.</ref>

</blockquote>

The exact ___location of Dillingham's grave is not known. He was buried in a cemetery on the prison grounds. The site was built over in the course of Nashville's later urban development.

==Notes and references==

<references/>

*[http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/uncletom/key/keyIt.html ''The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin'' by Harriet Beecher Stowe] (''See'' pp.&nbsp;101–108.)

*[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwjqal;view=1up;seq=1 A.L. Benedict, ''Memoir of Richard Dillingham'', Philadelphia: Merrihew and Thompson, Printers, 1852.] (Full text facsimile from Hathi Trust Digital Library)

**[https://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=mayantislavery;idno=17865012;view=image;seq=1 Full text facsimile from Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection, Cornell University] {{ISBN|1-4297-1672-X}} (Cornell University Library Digital Collections reprint)

*[https://books.google.com/books?id=cms4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA174 Wilbur H. Seibert, ''The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom'', New York: Macmillan Co., 1898, pp. 174-175.]

==External links==

{{Wikisourcepar|The Cross}}

*[http://www.qhpress.org/quakerpages/qwhp/jgwh237.htm ''The Cross'' by John Greenleaf Whittier]

*[http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/coffin/coffin.html#p713 Levi Coffin's Memoir of Richard Dillingham]

{{Underground Railroad}}

[[Category:1823 births|Dillingham, Richard]]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1850 deaths|Dillingham, Richard]]

[[Category:Quakers|Dillingham, Richard]]

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:Abolitionists|Dillingham, Richard]]}}

[[Category:American1823 abolitionists|Dillingham, Richardbirths]]

[[Category:1850 deaths|Dillingham, Richard]]

[[Category:Abolitionists from Ohio]]

[[Category:Quakers|Dillingham,American RichardQuakers]]

[[Category:American people who died in prison custody]]

[[Category:Quaker abolitionists]]

[[Category:Deaths from cholera in the United States]]

[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in Tennessee]]

[[Category:People from Morrow County, Ohio]]

[[Category:Underground Railroad people]]

[[Category:Prisoners who died in Tennessee detention]]