EDMES Grade Five Learning Tree

The American Civil War

People Who Made a Difference

Underground Railroad

For the many African Americans who lived in the Slave States prior to and during the American Civil War, the Underground Railroad provided them the opportunity and assistance for escaping slavery and finding freedom. One of the most curious characteristics of the Underground Railroad was its lack of formal organization. No one knows exactly when it started, but there were certainly isolated cases of help given to runaways as early as the 1700s. By the early 19th century, there were organized flights to freedom.  Much of the early help was provided by Quaker abolitionists in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Underground Railroad was a network of paths through the woods and fields, river crossings, boats and ships, trains and wagons.

The name probably originated from the popularity of the new railroads coupled with several legendary and publicized escapes. Underground operations generally relied heavily on secret codes as railroad jargon alerted "passengers" when travel was safe. Runaways usually commuted either alone or in small groups, and were frequently assisted by African American and White "conductors" who risked their lives and property to escort refugees to freedom. Celebrated conductors of the Underground Railroad included James Fairfield, a White abolitionist who went into the Deep South and rescued slaves by posing as a slave trader. In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and became known as "Moses" to her people when she made 19 trips to the South and helped deliver at least 300 fellow captives and loved ones to liberation. African American abolitionist John Parker of Ripley, Ohio, frequently ventured to Kentucky and Virginia and helped transport by boat hundreds of runaways across the Ohio River. Perhaps the closest the underground came to being formally organized was during the 1830s when African American abolitionists William Still, Robert Purvis, David Ruggles, and others organized and stationed vigilance committees throughout the North to help bondsmen to freedom. The intention of the vigilance committees was not to lure or personally guide runaways to freedom, but to offer whatever assistance they needed to reach their destinations."

On the road between Syracuse and Rochester, would be found a number of sympathetic Quakers and other abolitionists settled at Auburn. Here also was the home of US Senator and former New York State Governor William H. Seward. Sometime in the mid-1850s, Tubman met Seward and his wife Frances. Mrs. Seward provided a home for Tubman's favorite niece, Margaret, after Tubman helped her to escape from Maryland. In 1857, the Sewards provided a home for Tubman, to which she relocated her parents from St. Catharines. This home was later sold to her for a small sum, and became her base of operations when she was not on the road aiding fugitives from slavery, and speaking in support of the cause.

Tubman was closely associated with Abolitionist John Brown, and was well acquainted with the other Upstate abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, Jermain Loguen, and Gerrit Smith.She worked closely with Brown, and reportedly missed the raid on Harper's Ferry only because of illness.

In 1990, Congress authorized the National Park Service to conduct a study of the Underground Railroad, its routes and operations in order to preserve and interpret this aspect of United States history. This study includes a general overview of the Underground Railroad, with a brief discussion of slavery and abolitionism, escape routes used by slaves, and alternatives for commemoration and interpretation of the significance of the phenomenon.

This page last updated on 11/13/2004.