CHAPTER XI

EFFECT OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

The Underground Road the means of relieving the South of many despairing slaves 340

Loss sustained by slave-owners through underground channels 340

The United States census reports on fugitive slaves 342

Estimate of the number of slaves escaping into Ohio, 1830-1860 346

Similar estimate for Philadelphia, 1830-1860 346

Drain on the resources of the depot at Lawrence, Kansas, described in a letter of Col. J. Bowles, April 4, 1859 347

Work of the Underground Railroad as compared with that of the American Colonization Society 350

The violation of the Fugitive Slave Law a chief complaint of Southern states at the beginning of the Civil War 351

Refusal of the Canadian government to yield up the fugitive Anderson, 1860 352

Secession of the Southern states begun 353

Conclusion of the fugitive slave controversy 355

General effect and significance of the controversy 356

ILLUSTRATIONS, PORTRAITS, FACSIMILES AND MAPS

The Underground Railroad: Levi Coffin receiving a company of fugitives in the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

Isaac T. Hopper 17

The Runaway: a stereotype cut used on handbills advertising escaped slaves 27

Crossing-place on the Ohio River at Steubenville, Ohio 47

The Rankin House, Ripley, Ohio 47

Facsimile of an Underground Message _On page_ 57

Barn of Seymour Finney, Detroit, Michigan 65

The Old First Church, Galesburg, Illinois 65

William Still 75

Levi Coffin 87

Frederick Douglass 104

Caves in Salem Township, Washington County, Ohio 130

House of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, Valley Falls, Rhode Island 130

The Detroit River at Detroit, Michigan 147

Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio 147

Ellen Craft as she escaped from Slavery 163

Samuel Harper and Wife 163

Dr. Alexander M. Ross 180

Harriet Tubman 180

Group of Refugee Settlers at Windsor, Ontario, C.W. 190

Theodore Parker 205

Thomas Wentworth Higginson 205

Dr. Samuel G. Howe 205

Benjamin Drew 205

Church of the Fugitive Slaves, Boston, Massachusetts 235

Salmon P. Chase 254

Thomas Garrett 254

Rush R. Sloane 282

Thaddeus Stevens 282

J. R. Ware 282

Rutherford B. Hayes 282

Gerrit Smith 290

Joshua R. Giddings 290

Charles Sumner 290

Richard H. Dana 290

Bust of Rev. John Rankin 307

Harriet Beecher Stowe 321

Captain John Brown 338

Facsimile of a Leaf from the Diary of Daniel Osborn _On pages_ 344, 345

MAPS

Map of the Underground Railroad System _Facing page_ 113

Map of Underground Lines in Southeastern Pennsylvania " 113

Map of Underground Lines in Morgan County, Ohio _On page_ 136

Lewis Falley's Map of the Underground Routes of Indiana and Michigan _On page_ 138

Map of an Underground Line through Livingston and La Salle Counties, Illinois _On page_ 139

Map of Underground Lines through Greene, Warren and Clinton Counties, Ohio _On page_ 140

APPENDICES

PAGES

APPENDIX A: Constitutional Provisions and National Acts relative to Fugitive Slaves, 1787-1850 359-366

APPENDIX B: List of Important Fugitive Slave Cases 367-377

APPENDIX C: Figures from the United States Census Reports relating to Fugitive Slaves 378, 379

APPENDIX D: Bibliography 380-402

APPENDIX E: Directory of the names of Underground Railroad Operators and Members of Vigilance Committees 403-439

PREFACE

This volume is the outgrowth of an investigation begun in 1892-1893, when the writer was giving a portion of his time to the teaching of United States history in the Ohio State University. The search for materials was carried on at intervals during several years until the mass of information, written and printed, was deemed sufficient to be subjected to the processes of analysis and generalization.

Patience and care have been required to overcome the difficulties attaching to a subject that was in an extraordinary sense a hidden one; and the author has constantly tried to observe those well-known dicta of the historian; namely, to be content with the materials discovered without making additions of his own, and to let his conclusions be defined by the facts, rather than seek to cast these "in the mould of his hypothesis."

Starting without preconceptions, the writer has been constrained to the views set forth in Chapters X and XI in regard to the real meaning and importance of the underground movement. And if it be found by the reader that these views are in any measure novel, it is hoped that the pages of this book contain evidence sufficient for their justification. There is something mysterious and inexplicable about the whole anti-slavery movement in the United States, as its history is generally recounted. According to the accepted view the anti-slavery movement of the thirties and the later decades has been considered as altogether distinct from the earlier abolition period in our history, both in principle and external features, and as separated from it by a considerable interval of time. The earlier movement is supposed to have died a natural death, and the later to have sprung into full life and vigor with the appearance of Garrison and the _Liberator_. Issue is made with this view in the following pages, where Macaulay's rational account of revolutions in general may, perhaps, be thought to find illustration. Macaulay says in one of his essays: "As the history of states is generally written, the greatest and most momentous revolutions seem to come upon them like supernatural inflictions, without warning or cause. But the fact is, that such revolutions are almost always the consequences of moral changes, which have gradually passed on the mass of the community, and which ordinarily proceed far before their progress is indicated by any public measure. An intimate knowledge of the domestic history of nations is therefore absolutely necessary to the prognosis of political events." Or, the essayist might have added, to a subsequent understanding of them.

It is impossible for the author to make acknowledgments to all who have contributed, directly and indirectly, to the promotion of his research. A liberal use of foot-notes suffices to reduce his obligations in part only. But, although the great balance of his indebtedness must stand against him, his special acknowledgments are due in certain quarters. The writer has to thank Professor J. Franklin Jameson of Brown University for calling his attention to a rare and important little book, which otherwise would almost certainly have escaped his notice. To Professor Eugene Wambaugh of the Harvard Law School he is indebted for the critical perusal of