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CHAPTER V
STUDY OF THE MAP OF THE
UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SYSTEM
Pg. 113
THERE are
many features of the Underground Railroad that can best
be understood by means of a geographical representation
of the system. Such a representation it has been
possible to make by piecing together the scraps of
information in regard to various routes and parts of
routes gathered from the reminiscences of a large number
of abolitionists. The more or less limited area in
which each agent operated was the field within which he
was not only willing, but was usually anxious, to
confine his knowledge of underground activities.
Ignorance of one's accomplices beyond a few adjoining
stations was naturally felt to be a safeguard. The
local character of the information resulting from such
precautions places the investigator under the necessity
of patiently studying his materials for what may be
called the cumulative evidence in regard to the
geography of the system. It is because the
evidence gathered has been cumulative and corroborative
that a general map can be prepared. But a map thus
constructed cannot, of course, be considered complete,
for it cannot be supposed that after the lapse of a
generation representatives of all the important lines
and branches could be discovered. Nevertheless,
however much the map may fall short of showing the
system in its completeness, it will be found to help the
reader materially in his attempt to realize the extent
and importance of this movement.
The underground system, in accordance with the
statement of James Freeman Clarke,
is commonly understood to have extended from Kentucky
and Virginia across Ohio, and from Maryland through
Pennsylvania, New York and New Eng-
[Pg. 114]
[Pg. 115] - NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION
OF STATIONS.
[Pg. 116]
[Pg. 117] - THE SOUTHERN BRANCHES
[Pg. 118]
[Pg. 119] - MAIN CHANNELS OF FLIGHT
OF SLAVES.
[Pg. 120]
[Pg. 121] - ROUTES OF EASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA
[Pg. 122]
[Pg. 123] - ROUTES OF WESTERN
PENSYLVANIA
[Pg. 124]
[Pg. 125] - ROUTES OF NEW JERSEY
AND NEW YORK
[Pg. 126]
[Pg. 127] - ROUTES OF NEW YORK
[Pg. 128]
[Pg. 129] - ROUTES OF MASSACHUSETTS
[Pg. 130]
PHOTO
CAVES IN SALEM TOWNSHIP, WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO
The cave on the left was a rendezvous for fugitives
PHOTO
HOUSE OF MRS. ELIZABETH BUFFUM CHACE,
A Station of the Underground Railroad, Valley Falls,
Rhode Island.
[Pg. 131] - ROUTES OF VERMONG
[Pg. 132]
[Pg. 133] - ROUTES OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
AND MAINE
[Pg. 134]
[Pg. 135] - ROUTES IN THE WESTERN
STATES
[Pg. 136]
[Pg. 137] - MAPS OF LOCALITIES
EXAMINED
[Pg. 138]
[Pg. 139] - MAPS OF LOCALITIES
EXAMINED
[Pg. 140]
[Pg. 141] - MULTIPLE AND INTRICATE
TRAILS
[Pg. 142]
[Pg. 143] - ROUTES BY RAIL AND BY
WATER
[Pg. 144]
[Pg. 145] - PLACES OF DEPORTATION
[Pg. 146]
PHOTO
THE DETROIT RIVER, AT DETROIT, MICHIGAN, IN 1850,
The Favorite Place for Fugitives to Cross into Canada.
(From an engraving in possession of C. M. Burton, Esq.,
of Detroit)
PHOTO
HARBOR, ASHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO, IN 1860,
A Place of Deportation for Fugitives on Lake Erie.
(From a photograph in possession of J. D. Hulbert,
Esq., of Harbor, Ohio.)
[Pg. 147] - LINES OF BOAT SERVICE
TO CANADA
[Pg. 148]
[Pg. 149] - TERMINALS IN CANADA
Niagara. Owen Sound, Collingwood
and Oro were the northernmost resorts, so far as now
known. Toronto,
Queen's Bush, Wellesley, Gait and Hamilton occupied
territory south of these, and farther south still, in
the marginal strip fronting directly on Lake Erie, there
were not less than twenty more places of refuge.
The most important of these were naturally those
situated at either end of the strip, and along the
shore-line, namely, Windsor, Sandwich and Amherstburg.
New Canaan, Colchester and Kingsville, Gosfield and
Buxton, Port Stanley, Port Burwell and Port Royal, Long
Point, Fort Erie and St. Catherines. In the Valley
of the Thames also many refugees settled, especially at
Chatham, Dresden and Dawn, and at Sydenham, London and
Wilberforce. The names of two additional towns,
Sarnia on the Huron River and Brantford on the Grand,
complete the list of the known Canadian terminals.
This enumeration of centres cannot be supposed to be
exhaustive. A full record would take into account
the localities in the outlying country districts as well
as those adjoining or forming a part of the hamlets,
towns and cities of the whites, whither the blacks had
penetrated. The untrodden wilds of Canada, as well
as her populous places, seemed hospitable to a people
for whom the hardships of the new life were fully
compensated by the consciousness of their possession of
the rights of freemen, rights vouchsafed them by a
government that exemplified the proud boast of the poet
Cowper: -
"Slaves cannot breathe in
England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free!
They touch our country and their shackles
fall." |
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