The promptings of a desire to leave to posterity some realistic record of this, one of the most wonderful and thrilling features of our national history, no parallel to which is afforded in the annals of time, must be the excuse for these pages. During the eighties, the writer, who had lived amid its excitements for years, and was more or less familiar with the writings of Coffin, Pettit, the Clarkes and others, undertook a systematic research into the matter, the result of which was the accumulation of a large fund of incident and information pertaining to the Road, much of which was published in the _Home Magazine_ between the years 1883 and 1889, inclusive. Those articles, in part, carefully revised, are now placed before the reader in this more permanent form, with the hope that they may receive the generous approval of an appreciative public. THE AUTHOR. ORWELL, OHIO, MAY 20, 1894. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION 9 CHAPTER I. JO NORTON 19 LAVINIA 28 A RUSE 36 THE ORIGINAL “JERRY” 48 A COOL WOMAN 52 CHAPTER II. JACK WATSON 54 CHAPTER III. UNCLE JAKE 85 CHAPTER IV. GEORGE GREEN, OR CONSTANCY REWARDED 98 CHAPTER V. HOW SOL. JONES WAS LEFT 124 CHAPTER VI. EDWARD HOWARD 132 CHAPTER VII. PLUCKY CHARLEY 152 CHAPTER VIII. STATIE LINES 164 CHAPTER IX. GEORGE GRAY 173 [Illustration: JIM JONES IN THE BLACKSMITH SHOP. ] INTRODUCTION. The quiet of a midsummer night had settled down over the city of Washington, when, in August, 1839, a dusky form came, with stealthy tread, from among some buildings not far away, and cautiously approached the eastern entrance to the Capitol. Laying his hand upon the cold steps in the shadow of the great building, Jim Jones, a colored boy of about seventeen, attentively listened as if in expectation of some preconcerted signal. He had waited but a moment thus, when the hand of a patrol was laid heavily upon his shoulder and the rough query, “What does this mean, you black rascal?” fell upon his ear.