The Underground Railroad in Ohio

(This chapter tells about Ohio's role in the Underground Railroad and the reason behind the 
naming of it.  Also, a secret coded memorandum written by David Putnam and a note written 
by John Stone, both from Washington County, Ohio.  Others mentioned are, Rush R. Sloane of 
Sandusky, Ohio;  Tice Davids, a runaway slave from Kentucky;  Abram Allen, a Quaker of Oakland, 
Clinton County, Ohio;  Horace Holt of Rutland, Meigs County; and Levi Coffin, a Quaker of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, called the president of the Underground Railroad).


Ohio history sketches 
Columbus: Press of F.J. Heer, 1903;  Pages 165-172

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IN OHIO
By WILBUR H. SIEBERT.

DURING the entire period of our country's history up to the time of the Civil War, numbers of 
slaves tried to gain their liberty by running away from their masters. When the fugitive's 
absence was discovered it. was the custom to publish a description of him, closing with a 
reward for his recovery, and to send out pursuers on his track. It was frequently the case 
that runaway slaves sought refuge in unfrequented islands, swamps or caves in their own 
neighborhood; but these hiding places were not safe. It was only when the ignorant slave was 
aided by intelligent friends, guides and helpers, and assisted northward to a land of freedom 
that he was tolerably sure of gaining his liberty.

These friends of the fugitives were scattered all over the Northem States, and these living in 
the same neighborhood were likely to know one another intimately through social, political or 
religious affiliations. They were many of them, Quakers, Covenanters, Free Presbyterians and 
Wesleyan Methodists, and they freely co-operated with colored people in their communities in 
receiving, concealing and forwarding escaped slaves from one "underground station" to another.

In this way a great network of "underground routes" was developed throughout the free states, 
with feeders at numberless points along the northern and eastern boundaries of the slave 
states. Slaves escaping from Delaware, Maryland, Virginia or other seaboard states, would 
either go as stowaways on vessels to some New England port and thence by an underground route 
to Canada, or taking an overland course, would pass by way of underground stations through 
eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York to Canada. Fugitives from West Virginia and 
Kentucky who once got across the Ohio River ran little risk of recapture after arriving at the 
initial "station" of one of the numerous lines or branches traversing western Pennslyvania, 
Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. From Missouri, slaves made their way to the shores of Lake Michigan 
and thence to Canada -- their "Promised Land," by the aid of friends in Kansas and Nebraska on 
the west, Iowa on the north, and Illinois on the east. For a map of these lines see the 
author's book entitled "The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom," page 113. 

All of this work of helping fugitives to escape had to be carried on secretly.  The Constitution 
and Laws of the United States provided for the restoration of escaped slaves to their masters. 
The fugitive slave law of 1793 named $500 as the penalty for hindering the arrest of a runaway 
or rescuing or harboring him, and the later law of 1850 increased the penalty "to a fine not 
exceeding $1000 and imprisonment not exceeding six months" and declared the person guilty of 
rendering aid liable for civil damages to the slave owner, in the sum of $1000 for each fugitive 
so lost. 

Secrecy was required, therefore, for the protection both of the fugitive and his friends. The 
journeys from station to station were made in the night-time, the wayfarers lying in concealment 
during the day in the barn-lofts, hazel-thickets, hollow hay-ricks or secret chambers in cellar 
of garret to which they were conducted.  These were the so-called stations.  In emergencies, 
such as pursuit, when the fugitive had to be gotten away even in day lingt, disguises were made 
use of;  and short-cuts through the woods to other routes would serve to throw the slave-hunters 
off the track.  It will thus be seen that the name "Underground Railroad: had an air of mystery 
and concealment about it, and for years it was employed as the convenient and bewildering 
designation of an extensive system of secret trails, and the methods used by abolitionists in 
guiding fugitives along these trails to places of freedom and safety.  The name was entirely 
figurative but very apt.

The incident that probably led to the naming of the Road occurred in Ohio, the state most 
favorably located for underground adventures.  This incident is related by Mr. RUSH R. SLOANE, 
of Sandusky, O., who was himself a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad and was once fined 
$3000 and costs for assisting runaways to Canada.  Mr. SLOANE says that in the year 1831, a 
fugitive named TICE DAVIDS came over the line (Mason and Dixon's) and lived just back of 
Sandusky.  He had come direct from Ripley, Ohio, wher he crossed the Ohio River.  When he was 
running away, his master, a Kentuckian, was in close pursuit and pressing him so hard that when 
the Ohio River was reached he had no alternative but to jump in and swim across.  It took his 
master some time to secure a skiff, in which he and his aid followed the swimming fugitive, 
keeping him in sight until he had landed.  Once on shore, however, the master could not find 
him.  No one had seen him;  and after a long search the disappointed slave master declared,  
"THAT NIGGER MUST HAVE GONE OFF ON AN UNDERGROUND ROAD."   The truth was that TICE had fallen 
into the hands of some of the abolitionists in Ripley and had been spirited away over the hills 
of Brown County to a safer place, whence he had been guided from station to station until 
arriving at Sandusky.  The incident made so good a story that it soon became current, and the 
abolitionists promptly adopted the named "Underground Railroad" for their operations.

Ripley was one of the intial stations of the Road in the Buckeye state.  Slaves crossed the Ohio 
River at almost any point, and once on Ohio soil, were pretty sure to recieve the directions or 
personal guidance that would bring them to one or another of the ports of entry for runaways 
along the river front.  It is difficult to say how many of these there were.  Certainly there 
were no less than twenty-three, and there were probably many more.  From these intial stations 
the routes ran in zigzag and interlacing lines, trending generally in a northestern direction, 
across the state, linking station with station till a place of deportation was reached on Lake 
Erie.

We have an interestion memorandum of the arrival and departure of fugitives at on of these 
river stations, Point Harmar in Washington County, The memorandum is that of Mr. DAVID PUTNAM, 
a wll known resident of the town, and an active "agent" there, and was made during the later 
part of August, 1843.  It is given with all the abbrevations:
     Aug. 13/43 Sunday Morn. 2 o'clock arrived.
     Sunday Eve. 8 1/2 o'clock departed for B.
     16 Wendnesday Morn. 2 o'clock arrived.
     20 Sunday Eve. 10 o'clock departed for N.
     Wife and chldren 21 Monday morn. 2o'clock arrived from B.
     Monday Eve. 10 o'clock seft for W.
     A. L. and S. J. 28 Monday morn. 1 o'clock arrived left 2 o'clock.

It will be noticed that this memorandum observes a descreet silence both as regards the names 
of those arriving and the names of places, or the persons to whom they were taken.  A bit of 
evidence containing such particulars would have been too explicit, and would have laid others 
liable to severe penalties under the fugitive slave law.

The caution here exhibited was characteristic of underground methods.  Written communications 
between those engaged in this dangerous and unlawful business were therefore avoided as much 
as possible.  When, however such communication were employed, they had to be carefully worded, 
as witness the following note, sent by JOHN STONE of Belpre, Ohio, to his friend DAVID PUTNAM, 
who is mentioned above:
                                                   BELPRE, FRIDAY MORNING
     DAVID PUTNAM--Business is arranged for Saturday night.  Be on the lookout, and if 
     practiable let a carriage come and meet the caravan.    J. S.

There must have been women and children in the "caravan" referred to in this note, otherwise it 
is improbable that Mr. STONE would have asked for a carriage.  When the fugitives were men they 
could get along on foot, but the frequency with which women and children were found in escaping 
parties, and the need of rapid transit the business of the Road increased, and pursuit became 
more common, led to the use of covered wagons, closed carriages and deep-bedded farm wagons for 
day service.  A few enterprising abolitionists of Ohio had vehicles of special construction, 
though innocent in outward appearance, in which a load of refugees could be taken on long 
journey with comparative saftey.  ABRAM ALLEN, a Quaker of Oakland, Clinton County, Ohio had a 
large, three-seated curtained wagon built about with drawers in such a way as to leave a hiding 
place in the center.  As the bookbinder drove through the country he found opportunity to help 
many fugitive on his way to Canada.  HORACE HOLT of Rutland, Meigs County, sold reeds to his 
neighbors in southern Ohio.  He was the owner of a box-bed wagon with a lid that fasted with a 
padlock.  In this he hauled his supply of reeds;  it was well understood by a few that he also 
hauled fugitive slaves.  LEVI COFFIN, a Quaker of Cincinnati, Ohio, called the president of the 
Underground Railroad, employed all sorts of devices in assisting more then 300 persons to their 
liverty.  It was by methods such as these that thousands of runaways were coveyed to places of 
safety in northern Ohio, or to ports on Lake Erie from which they went by boat to the Canadian 
shore.  Of these lake ports ther were not less than six in Ohio, that were important shipping 
poiints for fugitives, not to mention Detroit which was the terminal of some fo the western 
Ohio lines.

When the refugee arrived in Canada, he hardly knew how to conduct himself so great was his 
delight at being free.  In 1860, CAPTAIN CHAPMAN, the commander of a vessel on Lake Erie, 
landed two fugivites in Canada.  To him they seemed brutish and almost incapable of realizing 
what liberty meant.  How much he was mistaken is best told in his own words.  On being put 
ashore the slaves asked,  "Is this Canada?"  The captain said, "Yes, there are no slaves in this 
country; then,"  he continued, "I wintessed a scene I shall never forget.  They seemd to be 
tranformed;  a new light shone in their eyes, their toungues were loosed, they laughed and 
cried, prayed and sang praises, fell upon the ground and kissed it, hugged and kissed each 
other, crying,  'Bless de Lord!  Oh! Ise fre before I die!' "  Fortunate it was for people such 
as these, who had undergone all sorts of toil and hardship to reach the goal of liberty, that 
the country in which they found themselves received them hospitably, helped them in establishing 
homes, and endowed them with the right of citizenship.

It is impossible to say how many slaves were emancipated by the Underground Railroad.  A 
computation based on a record kept in one of the Ohio centers indicates that probably more than 
40,000 were aided in Ohio alone during the years 1830 to 1860.  The flight of the slaves spread 
an abhorrence of slavery in the North and caused irritation in the South.  The operation of the 
Underground lay beyond the reach of compromise.  Thus the fugitive was a missionary in the cause 
of freedom.  Personal liberty laws were passed by the free states to defend him;  UNCLE TOM'S 
CABIN was written to portray to the world his aspiration for liberty and his endeavors to secure 
it;  JOHN BROWN proposed to make used of the underground methods as a part of the Harper's Ferry 
scheme of liberation.  The South complained bitterly of the losses of slave property she 
sustained, and their losses certainly constituted one of the chief reasons for the secuession 
of the Southern States at the beginning of the Civil War.

Ohio history sketches 
Columbus: Press of F.J. Heer, 1903
Pages 165-172

Extracted by Debbie Noland Nitsche
May 2005