Wilmington

History of Conflict and Resistance in Wilmington

Wilmington, Delaware's largest city, emerged from the violently dispossessed lands of the Lenape and Nanticoke peoples and became a key hub in the slave trade and industry. From the fraudulent Walking Purchase and indigenous genocide to the 1919 race riot and the longest military occupation of an American city since the Civil War, Wilmington's history is a chronicle of ethnic cleansing, industrial exploitation, and resilience.

Lenape Dispossession and Genocide

Before European arrival, the Wilmington area was inhabited by the Lenape (Delaware) Nation, who lived for millennia in the Delaware River watershed. Through the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737—a scheme by William Penn's sons to seize 1.2 million acres—the colonial government of Pennsylvania forcibly expelled the Lenape from their lands. Runners hired by Penn covered 70 miles in a day and a half, claiming far more territory than the Lenape had agreed to. Smallpox and other epidemics reduced the Lenape population by 90 percent. Survivors were forced westward to Ohio and eventually to Oklahoma.

Slavery and the Plantation Economy

The first recorded enslaved African in Delaware, "Anthony," was brought to the Swedish colony at Fort Christina (modern Wilmington) in 1639. Delaware remained a slave state until 1865. On the eve of the American Revolution, one-quarter of the colony's population was enslaved. Despite a gradual decline—from 9,000 slaves in 1790 to 1,798 in 1860—Delaware maintained Black Codes that restricted civil rights, voting, firearm ownership, and assembly from 1700 through the 1850s. Wilmington was a major hub of the Underground Railroad; Thomas Garrett, a Quaker businessman, assisted 2,000–3,000 enslaved people to escape, for which he was convicted in 1848.

Fort Delaware: Civil War Prison and Mass Death

During the Civil War, Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island near Wilmington became a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate soldiers. Over 33,000 prisoners were held at the fort, and approximately 2,500 died from disease and unsanitary conditions—half during a smallpox epidemic in 1863. Leading causes included diarrhea (315 deaths), pneumonia (243 deaths), typhoid and malaria (215 deaths), and scurvy (70 deaths). The fort also held Union soldiers and civilians who died there. Delaware was the only slave state that stayed in the Union, but it voted against the 13th Amendment in 1865 and did not ratify it until 1901.

The 1919 Wilmington Race Riot

On November 13, 1919, amid the "Red Summer" of racist violence across America, Wilmington erupted. Three Black Price brothers were suspected of robbing a gun store. When police raided their home, Patrolman Thomas Zebley was killed and Officer Harry Pierce wounded. After the brothers' arrest, a white mob of 300 rampaged through the Black neighborhood, firing on residents. Black resident Bannel Fields was shot in the head. The brothers were secretly moved to Philadelphia to prevent lynching.

The 1968 Wilmington Occupation: Longest Military Occupation Since the Civil War

Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, peaceful protests in Wilmington escalated into civil unrest. Governor Charles Terry deployed the Delaware National Guard—and despite the unrest ending within days, the Guard remained for nine months. Approximately 40 people were injured and 154 arrested. On April 29, Guardsman Joseph Murray shot and killed 35-year-old Black man Douglas Henry; he was never charged. Guardsmen hurled racial epithets, forced Black girls to strip at gunpoint, and destroyed journalists' film. The occupation ended in January 1969 when Governor Russell Peterson took office. Joe Biden, who had returned to Wilmington to practice law during the occupation, later credited it with shaping his understanding of racial injustice. It was the longest military occupation of an American city since the Civil War.