Hours
Wednesday – Saturday 10am to 4pm
Sunday Noon to 4pm
The museum is closed on all major holidays.
Admission
Adults: $10.00
AAA Members: $9.00
Children 7 - 16: $5.00
Children 6 & under: FREE
Speaker Series: Missouri Slave Stampedes and the Underground Railroad
634 S Broadway
St. Louis
MO 63102
In the decades before the Civil War, Missouri’s unique position as a slave state bordering free states made it a flashpoint for escape attempts. Join us on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at 1:00 pm when Dr. Charles Hotle explores the dramatic “slave stampedes,” large, coordinated efforts by enslaved people to flee across the Mississippi River into Illinois or north into Iowa. While some succeeded, many were thwarted, leaving behind court records and testimony that now offer rare insights into the lives, strategies, and networks of freedom seekers. This program examines what these stampedes reveal about the realities of slavery in Missouri, the workings of the Underground Railroad, and how exaggerated reports of such escapes fueled rising sectional tensions.
This program is free with limited availability in person and on Zoom. Reservations must be made in advance on our website, by calling the Museum at 314-421-4689, or by emailing info@fieldhousemuseum.org.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Charles “Patrick” Hotle is a historian whose work centers on slavery, abolitionism, and the Underground Railroad in the Midwest. After graduating from the University of Iowa, he spent several years teaching high school history in international schools across Nicaragua, Egypt, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He later earned both his M.Phil. and PhD in History from Cambridge University.
For thirty years, Dr. Hotle served as the John Sperry Jr. Endowed Chair in the Humanities at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, where he taught European and Middle Eastern history and founded the college’s study abroad program. Now Emeritus, he is co-authoring a forthcoming book on abolitionism and the Underground Railroad in western Illinois for the University of Missouri Press. He lives in Quincy, Illinois, with his wife, Mary, and their cat, Constantine.
