Editing Underground Railroad (section)

===North to free states and Canada===

====Structure====
{{Further|Quakers in the abolition movement}}
[[File:Harriet Tubman.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Harriet Tubman]] (photo H. B. Lindsley), {{circa|1870}}. A worker on the Underground Railroad, Tubman made 13 trips to the South, helping to free over 70 people. She led people to the northern free states and Canada. This helped Harriet Tubman gain the name "[[Moses]] of Her People".{{sfn|Clifford Larson|2004|loc=xvii}}]]
[[File:Levi coffin.JPG|thumb|right|200px|[[Quaker]] abolitionist [[Levi Coffin]] and his wife Catherine helped more than 2,000 enslaved people escape to freedom.]]

Despite the thoroughfare's name, the escape network was neither literally underground nor a railroad. (The first literal underground railroad did not exist [[London Underground|until 1863]].) According to [[John Rankin (abolitionist)|John Rankin]], "It was so called because they who took passage on it disappeared from public view as really as if they had gone into the ground. After the fugitive slaves entered a depot on that road no trace of them could be found. They were secretly passed from one depot to another until they arrived at a destination where they were able to remain free."<ref>{{cite book|title=The soldier, the battle, and the victory : being a brief account of the work of Rev. John Rankin in the anti-slavery cause|location=Cincinnati|publisher=Western Tract and Book Society|year=1870|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ASPC0002367700/page/n96 96]–97|url=https://archive.org/details/ASPC0002367700|first=Andrew|last=Ritchie}}</ref> It was known as a railroad, using rail terminology such as stations and conductors, because that was the transportation system in use at the time.<ref>Blight, David, 2004, p. 3.</ref>

The Underground Railroad did not have a headquarters or governing body, nor were there published guides, maps, pamphlets, or even newspaper articles. It consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and [[safe house]]s, all of them maintained by [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist sympathizers]] and communicated by [[word of mouth]], although there is also a report of a numeric code used to encrypt messages.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Grave of Old John Brown's Son. It Lies Above the San Gabriel Valley and Overlooks Pasadena. Owen and Jason Brown Lived in the Mountains and Were Guides to Tourists. Uncle James Townsend, a Venerable Quaker, Knew Them Both Well and Their Father|newspaper=[[San Francisco Call]]|date=21 Jun 1896|page=24|via=[[newspapers.com]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5369067/james-townsend-john-brown/|first=Mary E.|last=Wright|access-date=September 24, 2021|archive-date=September 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925182112/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5369067/james-townsend-john-brown/|url-status=live}}</ref> Participants generally organized in small, independent groups; this helped to maintain secrecy. People escaping enslavement would move north along the route from one way station to the next. "Conductors" on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included [[free people of color|free-born blacks]], white abolitionists, the formerly enslaved (either escaped or [[manumission|manumitted]]), and Native Americans.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/undergroundrailroad/
|title=The Underground Railroad|date=November 16, 2011|work=National Geographic Society|access-date=August 1, 2017|language=en|archive-date=August 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801160322/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/undergroundrailroad/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Miles|first=Tiya|date=Summer 2011|title=Of Waterways and Runaways: Reflections on the Great Lakes in Underground Railroad History|magazine=Michigan Quarterly Review|volume=L|issue=3|issn=1558-7266|hdl=2027/spo.act2080.0050.320}}</ref> Believing that slavery was "contrary to the ethics of Jesus", Christian congregations and clergy played a role, especially the [[Religious Society of Friends]] ([[Quakers]]), [[Congregational church|Congregationalists]], [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (United States)|Wesleyan Methodists]], and [[Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America|Reformed Presbyterians]], as well as the anti-slavery branches of [[Mainline Protestant|mainstream denominations]] which entered into [[schism]] over the issue, such as the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] and the [[American Baptists|Baptists]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Salem Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan |date=1976 |publisher=Salem Area Historical Society |page=56 |language=English}}</ref> The role of free blacks was crucial; without it, there would have been almost no chance for fugitives from slavery to reach freedom safely.<ref>{{cite book| last=Pinsker| first=Matthew| title=Vigilance in Pennsylvania: Underground Railroad Activities in the Keystone State, 1837–1861| year=2000| publisher=PHMC| location=Lancaster}}</ref> The groups of underground railroad "agents" worked in organizations known as [[vigilance committee]]s.{{sfn|Foner|2015}}

[[Free Negro|Free Black]] communities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. [[Black church|Black Churches]] were stations on the Underground Railroad, and Black communities in the North hid freedom seekers in their churches and homes. Historian Cheryl Janifer Laroche explained in her book, ''Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance'' that: "Blacks, enslaved and free, operated as the main actors in the central drama that was the Underground Railroad." Laroche further explained how some authors center white abolitionists and white people involved in the antislavery movement as the main factors for freedom seekers escapes and overlook the important role of free Black communities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Laroche |first1=Cheryl J. |title=Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad The Geography of Resistance |date=2013 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252095894 |pages=1–3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d7gPBAAAQBAJ&q=free+blacks+underground+railroad}}</ref> In addition, author Diane Miller states: "Traditionally, historians have overlooked the agency of African Americans in their own quest for freedom by portraying the Underground Railroad as an organized effort by white religious groups, often Quakers, to aid 'helpless' slaves." Historian Larry Gara argues that many of the stories of the Underground Railroad belong in folklore and not history. The actions of real historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, [[Thomas Garrett]], and Levi Coffin are exaggerated, and Northern abolitionists who guided the enslaved to Canada are hailed as the heroes of the Underground Railroad. This narrative minimizes the intelligence and agency of enslaved Black people who liberated themselves, and implies that freedom seekers needed the help of Northerners to escape.<ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Diane |title=The Underground Railroad in Bleeding Kansas |url=https://www.nps.gov/npgallery/GetAsset/5c8a5ce2-d40d-4a57-bbef-703aac0b479c |website=The National Park Service |access-date=16 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250304001224/https://www.nps.gov/npgallery/GetAsset/5c8a5ce2-d40d-4a57-bbef-703aac0b479c |archive-date=2025-03-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gara |first=Larry |title=The Liberty Line The Legend of the Underground Railroad |date=2013 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=9780813143569 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WK48TBgPW-EC&q=folklore}}</ref>

====Geography====

[[File:Rail Road Suspension Bridge Near Niagara Falls v2.jpg|thumb|Freedom seekers escaped slavery and reached Canada by way of the [[Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge]].]]

The Underground Railroad benefited greatly from the geography of the U.S.–Canada border: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York were separated from Canada by water, over which transport was usually easy to arrange and relatively safe. The main route for freedom seekers from the South led up the Appalachians, Harriet Tubman going via [[Harpers Ferry]], through the highly anti-slavery [[Connecticut Western Reserve|Western Reserve]] region of northeastern Ohio to the vast shore of Lake Erie, and then to Canada by boat. A smaller number, traveling by way of New York or New England, went via [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] (home of [[Samuel May]]) and [[Rochester, New York]] (home of [[Frederick Douglass]]), crossing the [[Niagara River]] or [[Lake Ontario]] into Canada. By 1848 the [[Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge]] had been built—it crossed the Niagara River and connected New York to Canada. Enslaved runaways used the bridge to escape their bondage, and Harriet Tubman used the bridge to take freedom seekers into Canada.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Niagara River: Between Slavery and Freedom |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-niagara-river-between-slavery-and-freedom.htm |website=NPS |access-date=21 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/niagara-falls-underground-railroad-heritage-center.htm |website=NPS |access-date=21 September 2024}}</ref> Those traveling via the New York [[Adirondacks]], sometimes via Black communities like [[Timbuctoo, New York]], entered Canada via [[Ogdensburg, New York|Ogdensburg]], on the [[St. Lawrence River]], or on [[Lake Champlain]] ([[Joshua Young]] assisted). The western route, used by [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] among others, led from Missouri west to free Kansas and north to free Iowa, then east via Chicago to the [[Detroit River]].

[[Thomas Downing (restaurateur)|Thomas Downing]] was a free Black man in New York and operated his Oyster restaurant as a stop on the Underground Railroad. [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|Freedom seekers]] (runaway slaves) escaping slavery and seeking freedom hid in the basement of Downing's restaurant.<ref>{{cite web |title=Downing's Oyster House |url=https://maap.columbia.edu/place/1.html |website=Mapping the African American Past |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=20 June 2024}}</ref> Enslaved people helped freedom seekers escape from slavery. Arnold Gragstone was enslaved and helped runaways escape from slavery by guiding them across the [[Ohio River]] for their freedom.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blaisdell |first1=Bob |last2=Rudisel |first2=Christine |title=Slave Narratives of the Underground Railroad |date=2014 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=9780486780610 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0g_dAwAAQBAJ&q=civil%20war}}</ref>

[[File:William Still portrait.png|thumb|William Still was a free Black man in Philadelphia who helped hundreds of freedom seekers escape from slavery.]]

[[William Still]],<ref>Blight, David, 2004, p. 175</ref> sometimes called "The Father of the Underground Railroad", helped hundreds of slaves escape (as many as 60 a month), sometimes hiding them in his [[Philadelphia]] home. He kept careful records, including short biographies of the people, that contained frequent railway metaphors. He maintained correspondence with many of them, often acting as a middleman in communications between people who had escaped slavery and those left behind. He later published these accounts in the book ''The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts'' (1872), a valuable resource for historians to understand how the system worked and learn about individual ingenuity in escapes.

According to Still, messages were often encoded so that they could be understood only by those active in the railroad. For example, the following message, "I have sent via at two o'clock four large hams and two small hams", indicated that four adults and two children were sent by train from [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]] to Philadelphia. The additional word ''via'' indicated that the "passengers" were not sent on the usual train, but rather via [[Reading, Pennsylvania]]. In this case, the authorities were tricked into going to the regular location (station) in an attempt to intercept the runaways, while Still met them at the correct station and guided them to safety. They eventually escaped either further north or to Canada, where slavery had been [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|abolished]] during the 1830s.<ref>{{cite book| last=Still|first=William| title=The Underground Railroad: Authentic Narratives and First-Hand Accounts| date=1872| url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21243533-the-underground-railroad?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr| asin=B00264GNTU| access-date=July 25, 2015| archive-date=December 14, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214092959/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21243533-the-underground-railroad?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr| url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Desperate Conflict in a Barn.png|thumb|280px|''Struggle for freedom in a Maryland barn''. Wood-engraving from William Still's ''The Underground Rail Road'', p. 50.<ref>Dictated by Robert Jackson a.k.a. Wesley Harris on November 2, 1853. "Engravings by Bensell, Schell, and others."</ref>]]

To reduce the risk of infiltration, many people associated with the Underground Railroad [[Compartmentalization (information security)|knew only their part of the operation]] and not of the whole scheme. "Conductors" led or transported the "passengers" from station to station. A conductor sometimes pretended to be enslaved to enter a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]]. Once a part of a plantation, the conductor would direct the runaways to the North. Enslaved people traveled at night, about {{convert|10|-|20|mi|0}} to each station. They rested, and then a message was sent to the next station to let the station master know the escapees were on their way. They would stop at the so-called "stations" or "depots" during the day and rest. The stations were often located in basements,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cedarville University|date=February 12, 2018|title=Underground Railroad Hiding Places|url=https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/wyland_collection/85|journal=Slideshow Images|access-date=February 28, 2021|archive-date=April 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165353/https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/wyland_collection/85/|url-status=live}}</ref> barns,<ref>{{cite web|date=1930s|title=Point of interest at Oakland City – site of barn of Col. James W. Cockrum used as an underground railroad station|url=http://visions.indstate.edu:8888/cdm/singleitem/collection/isulib/id/7638/rec/3|url-status=live|access-date=February 27, 2021|website=Wabash Valley Visions & Voices Digital Memory Project|archive-date=April 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415024158/http://visions.indstate.edu:8888/cdm/singleitem/collection/isulib/id/7638/rec/3}}</ref> churches,<ref>{{cite web|date=March 15, 2017|title=The Underground Railroad|url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog/underground-railroad|access-date=February 28, 2021|website=National Museum of African American History and Culture|language=en|archive-date=March 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310182912/https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog/underground-railroad|url-status=live}}</ref> or in hiding places in caves.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Smith Underground Railroad Station :: Ohio :: Henry Robert Burke :: Lest We Forget|url=http://lestweforget.hamptonu.edu/page.cfm?uuid=9FEC4E64-D74A-B3E9-A15B5ED01281AC79|access-date=February 28, 2021|website=lestweforget.hamptonu.edu|archive-date=April 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415024543/http://lestweforget.hamptonu.edu/page.cfm?uuid=9FEC4E64-D74A-B3E9-A15B5ED01281AC79|url-status=live}}</ref>

The resting spots where the freedom seekers could sleep and eat were given the code names "stations" and "depots", which were held by "station masters". "Stockholders" gave money or supplies for assistance. Using biblical references, fugitives referred to Canada as the "[[Promised Land]]" or "Heaven" and the [[Ohio River]], which marked the boundary between [[slave states and free states]], as the "[[Jordan River|River Jordan]]".<ref>{{cite web| title=Underground Railroad Codes| url=http://www.safepassageohio.org/resources/weblesson.pdf| work=Myths and Codes of the Underground Railroad| series=Safe Passage| publisher=Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation| page=20| access-date=June 29, 2013| archive-date=June 12, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612135935/http://www.safepassageohio.org/resources/weblesson.pdf| url-status=usurped}}</ref>

====Traveling conditions====

[[File:4271695318-marymeachum.jpg|thumb|Mary Meachum was an Underground Railroad agent in St. Louis, Missouri]]

Although the freedom seekers sometimes traveled on boat or train,<ref>Bordewich, Fergus, 2005, p. 236</ref> they usually traveled on foot or by wagon, sometimes lying down, covered with hay or similar products, in groups of one to three escapees. Some groups were considerably larger. Abolitionist [[Charles Turner Torrey]] and his colleagues rented horses and wagons and often transported as many as 15 or 20 people at a time.<ref>{{cite book| last=Torrey| first=E. Fuller| author-link=E. Fuller Torrey|title=The Martyrdom of Abolitionist Charles Torrey| year=2013| publisher=Louisiana State University Press| location=Baton Rouge}}</ref> Free and enslaved black men occupied as mariners (sailors) helped enslaved people escape from slavery by providing a ride on their ship, providing information on the safest and best escape routes, and safe locations on land, and locations of trusted people for assistance. Enslaved African-American mariners had information about slave revolts occurring in the Caribbean, and relayed this news to enslaved people they had contact with in American ports. Free and enslaved African-American mariners assisted [[Harriet Tubman]] in her rescue missions. Black mariners provided to her information about the best escape routes and helped her on her rescue missions. In [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]], freedom seekers stowed away on ships leaving the docks with the assistance of Black and white crewmembers and hid in the ships' cargoes during their journey to freedom.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Underground Railroad: New Bedford Massachusetts |url=https://npshistory.com/publications/nebe/brochures/underground-railroad2.pdf |website=The National Park Service |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref>

Enslaved people living near rivers escaped on boats and canoes. In 1855, [[John Berry Meachum|Mary Meachum]], a free Black woman, attempted to help eight or nine slaves escape from slavery on the [[Mississippi River]] near St. Louis, Missouri to the free state of Illinois. To assist with the escape were white antislavery activists and an African American guide from Illinois named "Freeman." However, the escape was not successful because word of the escape reached police agents and slave catchers who waited across the river on the Illinois shore. Breckenridge, Burrows and Meachum were arrested. Prior to this escape attempt, Mary Meachum and her husband John, a former slave, were agents on the Underground Railroad and helped other slaves escape from slavery crossing the Mississippi River.<ref>{{cite web |title=Slave Stampedes on the Southern Borderlands |url=https://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/stampedes/meachum-1855/ |website=National Park Service Network to Freedom |date=June 20, 2019 |publisher=Dickson College |access-date=9 September 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Underground Railroad Handbook.jpg|thumb|Enslaved people living near rivers and the [[Chesapeake Bay]] escaped from slavery using canoes and boats.]]

Routes were often purposely indirect to confuse pursuers. Most escapes were by individuals or small groups; occasionally, there were mass escapes, such as with the [[Pearl incident|''Pearl'' incident]]. The journey was often considered particularly difficult and dangerous for women or children. Children were sometimes hard to keep quiet or were unable to keep up with a group. In addition, enslaved women were rarely allowed to leave the plantation, making it harder for them to escape in the same ways that men could.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Blackett| first1=Richard| s2cid=154049844| title=The Underground Railroad and the Struggle Against Slavery| journal=History Workshop Journal| date=October 2014| volume=78| issue=1| page=279| doi=10.1093/hwj/dbu012}}</ref> Although escaping was harder for women, some women were successful. One of the most famous and successful conductors (people who secretly traveled into slave states to rescue those seeking freedom) was [[Harriet Tubman]], a woman who escaped slavery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0120/p19s02-bogn.html |title=The most famous abductor on the Underground Railroad |last=Wellington |first=Darryl Lorenzo |date=January 20, 2004 |work=Christian Science Monitor |access-date=January 9, 2012 |archive-date=September 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907110326/https://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0120/p19s02-bogn.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad|title=Underground Railroad – Black History |website=history.com|access-date=August 1, 2017|archive-date=December 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215130905/https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/underground-railroad|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to the risk of discovery, information about routes and safe havens was passed along by word of mouth, although in 1896 there is a reference to a numerical code used to encrypt messages. Southern newspapers of the day were often filled with pages of notices soliciting information about fugitive slaves and offering sizable rewards for their capture and return. [[United States Marshals Service#History|Federal marshals]] and professional [[bounty hunter]]s known as [[slave catcher]]s pursued freedom seekers as far as the [[Canada–United States border|Canada–U.S. border]].{{sfn|Potter|1976|p=133}}

[[Fugitive slaves in the United States|Freedom seekers]] (runaway slaves) foraged, fished, and hunted for food on their journey to freedom on the Underground Railroad. With these ingredients, they prepared one-pot meals (stews), a West African cooking method. Enslaved and free Black people left food outside their front doors to provide nourishment to the freedom seekers. The meals created on the Underground Railroad became a part of the foodways of Black Americans called [[soul food]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Soul Food Got Its Start From Freedom Seekers Surviving Off The Land |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/soul-food-freedom-seekers-surviving-off-the-land/ |access-date=20 June 2024 |agency=CBS News |date=2022}}</ref>