The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom: A comprehensive historySiebert, Wilbur Henry
History
The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom: A comprehensive history
Siebert, Wilbur Henry
Fugitive slaves -- United States; Underground Railroad
The following letter from Mr. Pennypacker to Mr. Still explains
itself:
"SCHUYLKILL, 11th Mo., 7th, 1857.
WILLIAM STILL, _Respected Friend_,--There are three colored
friends at my house now, who will reach the city by the
Philadelphia and Reading train this evening. Please meet them.
Thine, etc., E. F. PENNYPACKER.
We have within the past two months passed forty-three through
our hands, transported most of them to Norristown in our own
conveyance. E. F. P."
[446] Letter of Mr. Jones, Elmira, N.Y., Jan. 16, 1897.
[447] See p. 78, Chapter III.
[448] Letter of Mr. Peirce, Folcroft, Delaware Co., Pa., Feb. 1,
1893.
[449] See p. 79, Chapter III.
[450] _Ibid._
[451] _Life and Poems of John Howard Bryant_, p. 30. Mr. Bryant
made a practice of receiving fugitives in his house in Princeton,
Ill.
Along the portion of the Atlantic coast shown on the map will
be seen long lines connecting Southern with Northern ports.
These represent routes to liberty by sea. It is reported by a
station-keeper of Valley Falls, Rhode Island, that "Slaves in
Virginia would secure passage either secretly or with the consent of
the captains, in small trading vessels, at Norfolk or Portsmouth,
and thus be brought into some port in New England, where their fate
depended on circumstances;"[452] and the reporter gives several
instances coming within her knowledge of fugitives that escaped
from Virginia to Massachusetts as stowaways on vessels.[453]
Boats engaged in the lumber trade sometimes brought refugees from
Newberne, North Carolina, to Philadelphia.[454] Captain Austin
Bearse, who was active in the rescue of stowaways from vessels
arriving in Boston harbor from the South, cites two instances in
which fugitives came by sea from Wilmington, North Carolina,
and another from Jacksonville, Florida.[455] William Still gives
a number of cases of escape by boat from Richmond and Norfolk,
Virginia, and Wilmington, North Carolina, to the Vigilance Committee
at Philadelphia.[456] Negroes arriving in New York City and coming
within the horizon of Isaac T. Hopper's knowledge were often sent by
water to Providence and Boston.[457]
[452] Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, _Anti-Slavery Reminiscences_,
p. 27.
[453] _Ibid._, pp. 28, 30.
[454] R. C. Smedley, _Underground Railroad_, p. 355.
[455] _Reminiscences of Fugitive-Slave Law Days in Boston_, pp.
34, 36, 37.
[456] William Still, _Underground Railroad Records_, pp. 77, 142,
151, 163, 165, 211, etc.
[457] Letter of James S. Rogers, Chicago, Ill., April 17, 1897.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account