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Second Edition. 2009. The cover illustration for this book is taken from the ads for runaway slaves that appeared in American newspapers in the 1800's. This book documents two centuries of slave ownership by the Mudd family of Southern Maryland, including the eight slaves owned by Dr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Mudd. The Mudd's two adult male slaves ran away to freedom in 1863 as slavery collapsed during the Civil War. One of the men joined the Union Army and fought in several battles of the Civil War. Their six remaining slaves were freed when Maryland emancipated its slaves in 1864. Two of the six freed slaves remained with the Mudd family as house servants, suggesting that the Mudd's had treated some of their slaves fairly well. One of them later detailed how they had prepared a chicken and biscuit breakfast on the morning of April 15, 1865 for a visitor with a broken leg, a man later identified as John Wilkes Booth, who tipped each of them 25 cents.