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
Harbor.[467] Similar enterprises were carried on at various other
points along the lake.[468] So far as known, Lake Ontario had only a
few comparatively insignificant routes: at the upper end of the lake
were two, one joining Rochester and St. Catherines, the other, St.
Catherines and Toronto; at the lower end of the lake, Oswego, Port
Ontario and Cape Vincent seem to have been connected by lines with
Kingston.
[464] See Chapter III, pp. 82, 83.
[465] Letter of John G. Weiblen, Fairview, Erie Co., Pa., Nov.
26, 1895.
[466] The _Firelands Pioneer_, July, 1888, p. 77.
[467] Conversation with Nelson Watrous, Harbor, O., Aug. 8, 1892;
conversation with J. D. Hulbert, Harbor, O., Aug. 7, 1892.
[468] The following incident given by Mr. Rush R. Sloane will
serve as an illustration: "In the summer of 1853, four fugitives
arrived at Sandusky. ... Mr. John Irvine ... had arranged for a
'sharpee,' a small sail-boat used by fishermen, with one George
Sweigels, to sail the boat to Canada with this party, for which
service Captain Sweigels was to receive thirty-five dollars. One
man accompanied Captain Sweigels, and at eight o'clock in the
evening this party in this small boat started to cross Lake Erie.
The wind was favorable, and before morning Point au Pelee Island
was reached, and the next day the four escaped fugitives were in
Canada." The _Firelands Pioneer_, July, 1888, pp. 49, 50.
It is impossible to tell how many cities, towns and villages in
Canada became terminals of the underground system. Outside of the
interlake region of Ontario it is safe to name Kingston, Prescott,
Montreal, Stanstead and St. John, New Brunswick. Within that region
the terminals were numerous, being scattered from the southern
shore of Georgian Bay to Lake Erie, and from the Detroit and Huron
rivers to the Niagara. Owen Sound, Collingwood and Oro were the
northernmost resorts, so far as now known. Toronto, Queen's Bush,
Wellesley, Galt 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
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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