[3] As a politician, Tilton campaigned vigorously in Indiana for presidential candidate Franklin Pierce, and was rewarded with the position of Surveyor General of the Washington Territory.
[3] He traveled to Olympia, Washington, arriving in the spring of 1855 ahead of his wife, children, other family members, and a young mulatto slave named Charles Mitchell.
[3][4] He was discovered; Captain John Fleming intended to return him to his master and locked the boy up before sailing into Victoria on September 25.
James Tilton lodged a protest, and the story was covered by newspapers ranging from the Victoria Colonist to the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin.
[3] Tilton continued to live in Olympia for some years after his term as Surveyor General ended in 1861, when he was succeeded by Anson G.